Artist’s home in Belgium

Conny has always had a passion for art. As a child she drew and painted, but did not pursue her art dream. Instead, she got a job in the financial sector, had children and never had time to nurture her artistic side. It was only 11 years ago, when the children had left home, that she start painting again. She attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Deinze for two years and learned figure drawing at Latem Creftief, but is largely self-taught as an artist.

“When I started painting there was a lot of humour and surrealism in my work. My paintings have since become more serious and thought-provoking. I don’t want to produce meaningless art. I want to draw attention to taboo topics such as child abuse, covered-up sexual assaults in religious circles, #MeToo, transgender people, etc. in my art,” says Conny Roels, who has been exhibiting her works since 2013 and has clients throughout most of the world. 

Conny’s life changed dramatically in 2019 when her husband, Bart, died suddenly and unexpectedly. She decided to rent out their former shared home and build a new house for herself in Oudenaarde. One wish in particular was high on the list for the new house: Conny wanted to have both her studio and her private residence in it.

While construction was underway, Conny met Henrik Lessél, a Dane, who was living temporarily in Belgium in connection with his job as CEO of Belux at Hedin Automotive. Conny and Henrik share a passion for design and quality.

Conny has always loved Italian design, from brands such as Cassina, Poltrona Frau and Porada, and was also unconsciously aware of many of the Danish design classics, which are a natural part of Henrik’s design universe. 

Together, they enjoyed finding the suppliers who were willing and able to supply a herringbone parquet floor for a house with underfloor heating, the right doors, and a Scandinavian bespoke kitchen with solid oak drawers. Henrik was familiar with uno form from Denmark, and he and Conny therefore visited uno form’s showroom in Gent early in the construction process.

They were met by Stephan Nimmegeers, who designed the oak and steel kitchen island set off against the neutral backdrop of the white tall cabinet wall.

“What we love most about the kitchen – besides the design – is the natural materials and the box-joint drawers. The kitchen has a warmth and expression that we both adore. The kitchen is also very practical and easy to keep clean and ordered, even though I use it a lot,” says Conny.

“Working with Stephan and Wim, who installed our kitchen, could not have gone more smoothly", says Conny. 

We have been so grateful for their patience with a building project that dragged on that we chose to order bathroom furniture from uno form as well,” says Conny with a smile. 

Conny knew exactly what the house should look like on the outside even before she got the building permit in spring 2021. But the plan for the interior changed along the way. This is because Conny always strives for the very best, to evolve, but also because Henrik introduced her to Danish design.

The result is a beautiful international-style home with Belgian and Scandinavian furniture design from Børge Mogensen, Mogens Koch, Arne Jacobsen and Bruno Mathsson, supplemented by classic Danish light fixtures and Royal Copenhagen service in the Danish bespoke kitchen from uno form.

It is clear that two people with aesthetic passion live in the house. The entire home is furnished with selected art works –

Conny’s own, and works by Belgian and Italian artists. Henrik’s car collection also includes real works of art.