Woven Whispers at CID Grand Hornu

At the CID – Centre d’Innovation et de Design in Grand-Hornu, the exhibition Woven Whispers (28 September – 14 December 2025) celebrates Belgium’s enduring textile heritage through a distinctly contemporary lens.

The exhibition is curated by Belgium is Design, a project initiated by various design initiatives including Flanders DC, MAD Brussels and Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode, to promote Belgian design on the international scene. Woven Whispers was first presented during the 2025 Milan Design Week at Alova. At CID, it returns home to offer a tactile journey through material experimentation, sustainability, and poetic craftsmanship.

Bringing together 18 designers and studios, Woven Whispers demonstrates that Belgian textile design is thriving at the crossroads of technology, art, and ecology. From inflatable lamps made of natural pig intestines by Xavier Servas to hand-felted wool tapestries by Morevi and bioactive fabrics by Rosie Broadhead, each project threads innovation into form. “These designers are redefining what textiles can be,” says Marie Pok, director of the CID. “They remind us that weaving is not just a technique—it’s a language for expressing who we are and how we live.”

The exhibition also includes a project by designer Juraj Straka created in partnership with Ibride France, a French company specialising in interior design for over 25-years. This collaboration came about thanks to the D2B project, an annual initiative of Belgium is Design that encourages meetings between Belgian designers and international companies.

The scenography by Studio HIER mirrors this dialogue between delicacy and structure. Metallic wires suspend works in midair, creating an ethereal choreography of light and texture within the industrial space. “We wanted the pieces to feel as if they were whispering to one another,” the HIER team notes. “The installation itself becomes a woven landscape.”

Among the highlights are Charlotte Lancelot’s “Onda”, a felt-embroidered tapestry for Gan Rugs that ripples like water; Amandine Fabry’s “Wrinkles”, an ode to the tactile beauty of European wool; and La Gadoue’s “Après la Tempête”, monumental curtains sewn from repurposed clothing sourced in Belgian sorting centres. Each piece reflects a distinct approach to sustainability—one that values process and narrative as much as final form.

As Belgium is Design continues to champion national talent abroad, Woven Whispers feels both retrospective and forward-looking. “Belgium’s textile tradition is steeped in craftsmanship, but what’s fascinating now is how these artists merge that with digital tools, new materials, and ecological thinking,” says curator Giorgia Morero of Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode.

Woven Whispers is on view through December 14th, 2025. For more information visit:

CID Grand Hornu

@cidgrandhornu