Think Victor Horta, his pupils and his imitators. From the late 19th century onwards, when the UK was in the throes of the arts and crafts movement, wealthy little Belgium was experiencing the creative explosion of art nouveau. The industrial revolution had begun at roughly the same time in both countries and they were the first to ponder how best to turn machine production into objects of quality - in other words, modern design.

Belgium's problem has always been its lack of national chauvinism and an absence of pride in its own creative past. It had talented modernists, such as Christophe Gevers, who produced first-rate works but little of that remains in Europe's collective memory - or in art and design books.