Diplomatic World_nummer 55

HOOOP FOR A GOOD CAUSE
AT THE BISTRONOMY
The artist Jean-Marie Waelkens and chef
Marc Clément of the restaurant The Bistronomy
are joining forces with the HOOOP project for a
good cause. With the proceeds, they will support
BelHospice, an initiative that is close to the heart of
Leo D’Aes, the Belgian ambassador in Belgrade.
It is really not to be missed. The award-winning, innovative
restaurant The Bistronomy in Brussels has recently been
occupied by a small army of wooden HOOOP puppets. They
are the handiwork of the artist Jean-Marie Waelkens. In
his daily life, Jean-Marie designs wooden dining tables and
other wooden objects. One day, he was asked to design a
lamp and, while looking for the ideal design, came up with
a figure that closely resembled Pinocchio. This first wooden
puppet soon acquired a series of friends, and so the idea for
HOOOP was born. Jean-Marie Waelkens has been referred
to as a “wood reader”. He goes in search of different types
of wood, the tree rings of which are suited to certain
types of design. These give the puppets their distinctive
expressions.
The Bistronomy. For him, too, the story of the reused
wood was very important, certainly in an era when we are
trying to avoid food waste at all costs. Marc Clément:
“In my kitchen nothing is wasted. Everything edible or
usable in dishes finds a purpose. That is why I feel such a
close connection to Jean-Marie’s art. The inspiration he
puts into his puppets is what I put into my dishes.”
THE 3 OS IN HOOOP
The HOOOP puppets are in reality much more than a
parade of wooden puppets. The marionettes made of wood
have a deeper message. The decision to spell “HOOOP”
with 3 Os was a deliberate one. They stand for “hopen,
dromen, geloven”, Dutch for hoping, dreaming and
believing. The puppets are quite abstract and summon up
a fairy-tale nostalgia. With this the artist seeks to refer to
the carefee days of childhood. Childlike imagination soon
brings abstract forms to life.
Jean-Marie Waelkens: “With my art, I want to create a world
of hope, a world in which one can continue to believe in
dreams.”
54
In this way, the wood scraps left over from his daily
activities are put to a meaningful and artistic use.
This is how the link was made to chef Marc Clément of