How long have you been living in Saint-Gilles?
‘I have been living in Saint-Gilles for one year and a half, before living in Ixelles. Eight years ago I moved from Aix-en-Provence to Brussels in light of my studies in Architecture at La Cambre. And since I was having a good time and made a lot of good friends, I stayed.’
How do you combine architecture with illustration?
‘Most of my time still goes to architecture but I try to combine it with illustration projects such as this one I’m happy about for Shirts in Brussels. I also still apply for project calls, such as the Heritage Days and an illustration festival in Prague. And for some architecture pitches, I get the chance to draw illustrations by hand as well.’
If we had one afternoon in your neighborhood, which three places in your quartier should we really go to?
'You should definitely go to Square Bethlehem. I included the circular kiosk on the shirt, by the way. I pass there often and find it a typical place of Saint-Gilles. This is where you see the local Saint-Gilles people hang around. It’s actually very different from Parvis de Saint-Gilles, not very far away where you see more new habitants, many bars and younger people. I find it intriguing how these places are so different.’
‘Another place I recommend is Place Marie Janson which locals refer to as Le carré de Moscou. I used to spend a lot of time there since I followed illustration courses in the evening at Académie des Beaux-Arts Jean-Jacques Gailliard. People even play petanque there.‘
‘Wherever you are in Saint-Gilles, you also often catch a glimpse of the Tour du Midi. We even see it from the morning until the evening in our apartment. With the different weather conditions and time this building seems to change the whole time. It can look gold from the sun and half an hour later it can have this pink glow of the sunset. I really started to love this emblematic tower more and more. This is also why I gave it a prominent place on the shirt.’
Where should I go to eat or a drink when discovering these places?
‘I moved to Saint-Gilles a little bit after the first lockdown so I haven’t been able to eat out a lot, but there are two places I really want to try. There is Café des Spores where you find mushrooms on every plate. And secondly Toki Doki, apparently a delicious Japanese restaurant.
‘For a drink I like to go to L’Union and Brasserie Verschueren, they have really nice terraces. If you would like to go a bit further from the Parvis, there is also a fun Portugese bar called Galletos.’
Is there something in your quartier, you cannot find anywhere else?
‘The Vinyl Record Shop Dust Dealers in Saint-Gilles, they are really a good reference for Jazz in Brussels. In my free time I like to mix electronic music and down tempo house so it’s great for me to get some inspiration there.’
Do you have a certain quartier habit?
‘Yes for a while I used to go to Marché du Midi a lot. Now we go often to l’Union on the corner of the Parvis de Saint-Gilles.’
Why do you love Saint-Gilles?
‘It’s a small neighborhood where you can find so many gorgeous art nouveau and art deco buildings. You can go shopping at Marche du Midi and there are plenty of little shops to discover. You also see this mix of people originally from the neighborhood from Saint-Gilles populaire and the change and gentrification that is going on.’
What would make your quartier even better?
‘Less cars and more places for pedestrians and cyclists. I enjoy seeing the initiatives for new cycle lanes in Brussels’
How did this drawing come about? What was your thought process? Did you go for example to walk in your quartier? Was it difficult to bring all of your quartier in one image?
‘I know Saint-Gilles already pretty well, but took this project as an opportunity to get to know my neighborhood even better. I used to go for walks or bicycling rides for one or two hours after work and on the weekend to get more inspiration for this project. Like this, I also discovered new projects and buildings I hadn’t seen yet.’
‘In the beginning I selected two to three buildings that I really liked graphically as for example the Gas Station Cado N°1, but then realised this was not really emblematic for Saint-Gilles. At a certain moment I even had ideas going in all directions, but then decided to choose very recognisable buildings such as the Tour du Midi, Square Bethlehem and the church on Parvis de Saint-Gilles.’
‘Then I started drawing every building separately by hand. Afterwards, I drew them with Rotring-pens, these are pens with Chinese ink often used by architects to draw plans. Once this was finished, I scanned every illustration and started to compose them together on Photoshop. In parallel I also played with how the colours could come together. In the drawing you can see I chose blue and yellow which are the colours of football club Union Saint-Gilloise.’
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If we had one afternoon in your quartier, which three places should we really go to?
Oh, you should go to the Jazz Station in Chaussée de Louvain. They curate great concerts and exhibitions. The place is so cool, it is situated in an old train station. I feel like people don’t know it enough. I would also recommend the Théâtre le Public and Botanique of course.
For the best croissants and couques au chocolat you should go to Rue Verbist 34, they are the best I had already. For cheese I usually go to cheese shop ‘A la petite Vache’. It’s one of the oldest cheese shops, the owners are so nice.
Fashionistas can also find second hand shops in Saint-Josse, mainly at Chaussée de Louvain and Rue Verbist.
What’s unique in your quartier?
Hmm… I would rather think of a fun story about my quartier that I would like to share. One of my favourite Belgian artists, René Magritte, met his wife Georgette in Charleroi. A few years later they ran into each other by coïncidence in Parc Botanique in Saint-Josse. And ever since never left each other. A little bit later they had their civil wedding in the maison communale of Saint-Josse. I really love how one of my favourite artists had an important passage in my neighborhood.
Do you have a certain quartier habit?
I like to walk around in the Square Ambiorix area. It’s not part of Saint-Josse anymore but I call it my neighborhood since it’s literally 2 minutes from where I live.
What do you love about Saint-Josse?
It is such a little multicultural quartier where you can find loads of different types of food. It’s also very convenient on a daily basis, there is good public transport and everything is closeby.
What would make your quartier even better?
It would be fun to have a cultural centre. Giving more access to art and culture was also a project of the municipality. I hope that one day, we will have one.
Is there a Brussels project, you are a big fan of and would like to give a shout out?
Shirts in Brussels of course (laughs). I’m also a big fan of the designs of Julie Menuge, a fashion designer who works in an ethical and sustainable way. She is passionate about traditional patterns and their history. I like her universe and I’m currently even working on a project with her. Stay tuned!
Malyqa, what was your reaction when Kwinten from Shirts in Brussels asked you to illustrate your quartier Saint-Josse?
It was exciting, but also challenging. I wanted to stay close to my own style which is very abstract, where forms and colours harmoniously fit together. For Shirts in Brussels, I had to make sure people could recognise certain elements of the Quartier Illustré. This was a new equilibrium I had to find. The way I worked also changed a bit, I usually draw by hand. Now I started with drawing and then continued in Illustrator. It felt a bit like drawing in two languages, it taught me a lot of new stuff!
What was your creative process for this drawing?
Every day I worked one hour on the drawing, next to my other illustration work. This illustration needed a slow creative process. I enjoyed coming back to it every day and seeing it grow.
I also perceive the illustration process as a puzzle: you start with one piece and then the other elements come along. I first chose the colors blue and orange. The orange filled shape in the middle is the mother of the drawing who guides the other elements to find their equilibrium around it.
Then I started drawing elements of Saint-Josse. It’s a small neighborhood and most people know it from passing through it. The first building I picked was the Botanique. It’s such a great cultural space. I saw how symmetrical the building was and that’s why I decided to only show half of it, which you can see in the left corner.
After that, I added the map of Saint-Josse from a birds-eye view. I also added the Astro Tower, since everybody knows it. This building was more difficult and took me more time to draw in this way. My work is minimal and I don’t like too many details. I like it as simple as possible. Then I added little clin d’oeils; in the left corner for example you can see the labyrinth, this represents the Botanique seen from the sky.
We love the result! What do you think of the illustration yourself?
I’m happy how the entire puzzle came together. It’s not a drawing that is obvious to read and understand, but besides the Saint Josse-residents I also want it to be worn outside the quartier. People should get to know Saint-Josse, I have been living here my whole life and there are really fun places to discover.
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