a music studio in brussels
After the farmland disappeared and the whole canal became part of the city of Brussels, they were distilling and brewing beers with water from the Senne. On the boulevard the little abattoir (slaughterhouse), where Arts et Métiers was constructed later, became too small. They built another one at the end of the street, still active today. Two bull statues indicate the entrance where there is a daily market now...
The atelier where Fly studio is built in, was a former working place. Probably making the different mechanical parts for the brewing industry, and repairing different machines. In the ground we found the left-over reinforcements used for heavy machinery. A photo print in the right corner of the studio, indicates what lies written behind the box-in-box structure.
In the 1970's there were some new strict rules for butchers, so most of them closed down and the neighbourhood rapidly changed. Lebanese people fleeing their country in war, moved in and started to use the area as a second hand car sale business. Most of the cars get shipped in Antwerp and travel to the West-African cities of Accra, Abidjan, Conakry and Lagos.
The cars get filled with fridges, cooking stoves, matresses and bikes. All of these traded in the area creating interesting micro-economies. Because of all the African traders coming here, there are also some nice good cheap restaurants with african food, like Fasso du Niger on the corner and Délices de l'Afrique a little further towards l'Abattoir, run by ladies from Guinée. Authenticity guarenteed!
FLY studio tries to reflect the neighbourhood and its surroundings, the name taken from the fly being the one who would always hang around the canal and its abattoirs and meat and leftovers from the brewery. Getting an insiders view of the reelings and dealings. Buzzing happily along the borders of the canal.
The mascot is hanging on the façade - a mould of a gypsum fly, cast from a fly ashtray...
The atelier where Fly studio is built in, was a former working place. Probably making the different mechanical parts for the brewing industry, and repairing different machines. In the ground we found the left-over reinforcements used for heavy machinery. A photo print in the right corner of the studio, indicates what lies written behind the box-in-box structure.
In the 1970's there were some new strict rules for butchers, so most of them closed down and the neighbourhood rapidly changed. Lebanese people fleeing their country in war, moved in and started to use the area as a second hand car sale business. Most of the cars get shipped in Antwerp and travel to the West-African cities of Accra, Abidjan, Conakry and Lagos.
The cars get filled with fridges, cooking stoves, matresses and bikes. All of these traded in the area creating interesting micro-economies. Because of all the African traders coming here, there are also some nice good cheap restaurants with african food, like Fasso du Niger on the corner and Délices de l'Afrique a little further towards l'Abattoir, run by ladies from Guinée. Authenticity guarenteed!
FLY studio tries to reflect the neighbourhood and its surroundings, the name taken from the fly being the one who would always hang around the canal and its abattoirs and meat and leftovers from the brewery. Getting an insiders view of the reelings and dealings. Buzzing happily along the borders of the canal.
The mascot is hanging on the façade - a mould of a gypsum fly, cast from a fly ashtray...