Kenneth and his partner Stefanie Van Haudenhove work closely together. A partnership that allows each of their strengths to shine.
Stefanie explains: “We concoct ideas together. Kenneth is mostly present at the beginning and during the main bulk of the project we work on together. I step in more at the end.”
It’s the kind of relationship that reflects their work: they compliment each other, but also give each other room to breathe where necessary. It is a relationship of balance. That is what they often restore in their projects.
The foundation of their romantic and professional partnership is a shared passion. Stefanie believes this is the secret to avoiding conflict. She smiles: “How can you fight when you share a passion for something beautiful?”.
Their respectful creative process allows them to transcend their initial ideas. Like when they disagree about how a room or a place should look. It’ll often be a combination of their efforts to create a new, superior idea.
If only everyone could work this well together. People – take note, they might just have shared a secret there!
Stefanie describes Kenneth as having “an innate understanding for where things go”, how objects compliment each other - and how they fit together and in a space.
When Stefanie explains it, she clearly believes this is not something you can teach: “It is a 6th sense. Either you have it or you don’t.” She believes someone can learn tools to help improve skills, but that the impetus to create comes from an intrinsic feeling.
Stefanie has been an aspiring artist since a young age and has always played with the space she lives in.
She tells her childhood story: “My mother didn’t want to leave me in my bedroom by myself because she was worried about how different it would look when she came back.” Who'd know what a young, creative Stefanie might do?
Peace of mind is something that ranks high in her aspirations for life. And yet she finds peace in perfectionism.
She explains: “The creative minds of artists are often chaotic places, constantly ticking away, seeing inspiration everywhere. Coming home to where everything fits is calming and soothes my often busy mind.”
Stefanie sees the two parts of Kenneth that come together to make him who he is – the creative artistic side and the clear, measured thought that goes into what he does.
He’s not wild in his approach but he does have a slightly cheeky sense of humour that emerges in unexpected places. An example of that is Kenneth’s talent for numbers. He loves to play mind games with his accountant. Estimating the exact figure for the cost of a development project, his accountant is weary: “this time, surely he will be wrong”. But Kenneth’s quick mind comes up with the exact figure down to the cent, before his accountant was able to calculate it in detail. “And he is always right”, Stefanie laughs. That characteristic is uncanny for a lot of people - and it shows his quick mind and holistic approach to his craft.
While immersing himself in his work, he doesn’t like to be idle or inactive. Stefanie explains: “When a project starts he goes all in. He cares about every detail from the foundation of the financial numbers to the final artistic flourish.”
In other words: the creative process - the journey with all its challenges - is the exciting part. That’s what fuels Kenneth through everything - from short term projects - to his long-term goals of restoring the Borgwal Castle and Olargues.
Video: Stefanie talks about Kenneth's uncanny ability to play financial mind-games with his accountant - and about future projects like Olargues.