This storage box is made of metal and is decorated with illustrations by Tom Schamp. Chocolatier Elisabeth partnered with him in 2016 to design his boxes.
Each of the boxes contains an image of Elisabeth, alternating between three stages of her life. This box depicts Elisabeth as an older woman. In addition, the Brussels City Museum, as well as the City Hall are also clearly recognizable.
Chocolatier Elisabeth was founded by Mireille Misseghers (1972). The first store opened its doors in 2001 at 43 Rue au beurre in Brussels. The store, which sells Belgian artisanal chocolate and sweets such as crispy wafers with chocolate and vanilla, quickly met with success, and new stores soon opened elsewhere in Brussels, as well as in Antwerp, Bruges and Paris.
The illustrator
Tom Schamp (b. 1970) grew up in and around Brussels. After graduating in Applied Arts from the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels, he studied Graphic Design in Poland for a further year. His illustrations are aimed at both adults and children. His portfolio is extremely diverse, ranging from commercial assignments to magazine illustrations, to picture books.
He has a ‘complex-naive’ style, often tempered with a touch of humour. His work is characterized by its tremendous detail, to the point that his illustrations require a trained eye to catch the subtleties.
Why did we include this work in our collections?
• Tom Schamp is no stranger to the museum. He has already completed illustrations for the Brussels City Museum games book. This booklet is specially designed for children to discover the museum in a playful way.
• To conserve Brussels production in times of globalization so that in 40 or 50 years’ time it will be able to give a picture of the real Brussels.
• The museum asks itself what it can collect today to talk about Brussels tomorrow.
Would you like to know more about this acquisition? You can find more details about the work itself in the inventory sheet here available.