Graanmarkt 13House Proud

The Graanmarkt 13 house in Antwerp is much more than a residence, containing a restaurant, a high-end concept store, and a rentable apartment all under one roof. After creating an identity for this unique destination, based around poetic sentences rather than a typical logo, the launch of a branded product line and online store saw us return to the project to help it spread its influence far beyond its location and become a name recognized worldwide.

In the heart of Antwerp’s historic commercial district sits a very special house, where each floor tells a different story. With a restaurant in the basement, a fashion and lifestyle store on the first floor, a gallery on the second level, and an apartment to rent on the top, the building is a haven for those in search of objects and experiences with soul and meaning.

Conceived by Ilse Cornelissens and Tim Van Geloven as a place of discovery and for the good things in life, collaborating with exceptional talents like art director Bob Verhelst, architect Vincent Van Duysen, and chef Seppe Nobels to create an experience that’s always full of surprises.

In the spirit of "anti-branding," the Graanmarkt 13 address was kept for the name, and a tone of voice and a story was adopted rather than a fixed logo. The identity was built around poetic sentences, written on shopping bags and product tags, which have become iconic across Antwerp and serve as collectible items among fans of the house.

When Graanmarkt 13 initiated a series of products and services, the challenge for each new addition started with the same question: how to translate the atmosphere of the house into something concrete, like a perfume or a food truck?

To reach customers far beyond Antwerp, the Graanmarkt 13 website was developed beyond a tool for practical information and reservations, as a place for personal stories to be told, beauty to be explored, and carefully curated products to be bought. The user-friendly shopping interface offers a distinctive online experience that mirrors visiting the house in-person.

Over the years, Graanmarkt 13 has added a shoe store, a food truck, and a canteen at Antwerp fashion museum MoMU to its oeuvre. Storytelling remains a fundamental pillar of the identity, always with Graanmarkt 13 as the signature, but the tone of voice it adapted for each product. This has allowed the house to organically evolve from a destination in Antwerp, to a brand that reaches far beyond its own walls.