Slow Roast. Slow Craft.

Slow Roast. Slow Craft. From maker to collector.

This exhibition centres a silver coffeepot from the mid-18th century. This exceptional showpiece forms the common thread running through Slow Roast. Slow Craft. and links two important happenings for the museum.

On the one hand, there is the master-apprentice project 'From Historic Silver to Contemporary Craftsmanship' (Van historisch zilver tot hedendaags vakmanschap). In this two-year programme, master silversmith Max Gielis and his apprentices Michiel Mekke and Annick Mertens took the coffeepot as their starting point. They studied the historic object in minute detail, reconstructed it in a precise reproduction and created new contemporary works, each with its own character yet still connected to the original.
On the other hand, there is the collector Pierre Lunden. This Antwerp art lover donated his impressive silver collection and more to the museum in 1975. His gift, which has been part of DIVA for fifty years now, remains one of the cornerstones of the collection.

The exhibition thus brings together three perspectives: the makers, the collector and coffee itself. It shows how a single object can tell stories that bridge centuries and generations: from 18th-century showpieces to contemporary experiment, from coffee as a status symbol to a daily ritual and a moment of connection.

Slow Roast. Slow Craft. invites you to look, slow down and discover what craftsmanship can mean today.