How to meet creatives in Brussels: communities, hubs and events

Brussels is a more creative city than it often gets credit for. Beneath the EU institutions and corporate headquarters, there's a genuinely vibrant scene of graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, architects and artists who have made this multilingual, slightly chaotic city their home and their inspiration.

The community here is international by default and refreshingly unpretentious, which makes it an surprisingly easy place to walk in and start making connections.

How to meet creatives in Brussels

Whether you're a designer, illustrator, filmmaker, or working in any creative field, this guide will help you find your people in the city. From casual meetups to vibrant community events,

Brussels

offers countless opportunities to connect, collaborate, and get inspired.

Communities for creatives in

Brussels

Creative Lunch Club

Creative Lunch Club is a global community for people working in the creative industries. Whether you are a graphic designer, a photographer, a marketer, or a filmmaker, the Creative Lunch Club gives you the chance to regularly meet other creatives in your city for lunch.

The Design Kids

The Design Kids is a global community for emerging designers, with city meetups, interviews, jobs, and practical resources to help you build your folio and grow your career.

Creative Hubs and Spaces to Meet People in

Brussels

Silversquare

Silversquare has seven coworking locations across Brussels, all designed in collaboration with local artists and designers. The Central location, in an art deco building above Brussels Central Station, is particularly good. Reliable, well-run spaces that work for both focused work and networking.

Palazzo Creative Workspace

Palazzo is a 500m² creative workspace in Saint-Gilles, set in a converted garage. Alongside shared desks and private workstations it has music studios and artist studios to rent, making it a genuinely mixed creative community. Good crowd, good neighbourhood.

Factory Forty

Factory Forty is a coworking space in Brussels' Forest district, set in a former workshop complex with a large garden, vegetable patch and pond. It primarily serves creatives — architects, designers, journalists and freelancers — in a relaxed, community-focused setup. One of the more pleasant places to work in Brussels.

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Hangouts & cool places for creatives in

Brussels

Stijl

Stijl is one of Brussels' long-standing fashion concept stores, carrying a well-curated mix of Belgian and international designers with a strong emphasis on quality and considered design. It's been around for decades and still feels relevant, which says a lot.

Design September Brussels

Design September is Brussels' month-long design festival held every September, with over 100 events across the city including exhibitions, open studios, conferences and market days. It's the best time of year to see the breadth of Belgian design talent and get into spaces that are normally closed to the public.

The Hoxton Brussels

The Hoxton Brussels rises above the Botanical Gardens with design-led rooms from the 13th floor up and sweeping views over the city. The public spaces and restaurant keep it busy with locals as well as guests, which gives it the right kind of energy. The rooftop is worth it on a clear day.

Beursschouwburg

Beursschouwburg is a multidisciplinary arts centre in the heart of Brussels, in a building that blends 19th-century architecture with contemporary interventions. The programme covers theatre, performance, music, dance and visual art with a consistent focus on contemporary and experimental work. One of the more interesting cultural programmers in the city.

Brussels Design Market

Brussels Design Market is one of Europe's most important vintage design markets, held twice a year at the Gare Maritime on the Tour & Taxis site. It brings together hundreds of dealers in 20th-century furniture, lighting, ceramics and objects, in one of the most impressive industrial spaces in the city.

Passa Porta

Passa Porta is Brussels' international bookshop and literary house, with a strong selection of fiction, poetry and art books alongside a regular program of readings, talks and events. A proper literary institution that also happens to be a great place to browse for an hour.

CENTRALE for Contemporary Art

CENTRALE is a contemporary art space inside a former power station at Place Sainte-Catherine. The program mixes photo art, video installations, textile work and everyday objects with a focus on social and cultural themes. A good space in a great location.

MAD Brussels

MAD Brussels is a fashion and design platform in the Dansaert district that supports emerging Belgian designers through residencies, events and showcases. It also hosts the Brussels Jewelry Week and the MAD Parcours. A good place to discover what's coming next in Belgian design.

Xavier Hufkens

Xavier Hufkens is one of Brussels' most respected contemporary art galleries, with three spaces in the city. The Saint George gallery occupies four floors of a beautiful building and represents artists including Berlinde De Bruyckere, Thomas Houseago and Sterling Ruby. A serious gallery with a consistently strong program.

MIMA

MIMA — the Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art — is a contemporary art museum beside the canal in Molenbeek that focuses on street art, music culture, skate culture and the broader visual language of internet-age creativity. If you want to understand where contemporary visual culture is actually coming from, this is the place.

WIELS

WIELS is a contemporary art centre in a striking 1930s former brewery in Forest, designed by avant-garde architect Adrien Blomme. In the years since it opened, it has become the go-to for serious contemporary art in Brussels, with a strong international program and one of the best café terraces in the city.

Bozar

Bozar is Brussels' Centre for Fine Arts, housed in Victor Horta's landmark building. The program is multidisciplinary and reliably ambitious — exhibitions, concerts, film, architecture, talks — and the building alone is worth the visit. One of the most important cultural institutions in the country.

Nyyó

Nyyó is a Vietnamese small plates restaurant in Ixelles with a concise, considered menu and a calm, well-designed space. It's the kind of restaurant that doesn't shout about itself but gets consistently full because the food is genuinely good.

MOK Coffee

MOK is a specialty coffee roastery and bar in the Dansaert district, founded by two-time Belgian Cup Tasters Champion Jens Crabbé. Set in a former art gallery, the interior is beautifully minimal and the coffee is seriously good. One of the best places in Brussels to work for a few hours or just have a proper cup.

Volta Supper Club

Volta is a convivial pizza and drinks spot in Ixelles with a relaxed supper club atmosphere. It draws a creative crowd, the drinks list is well put together, and the energy on a Friday night is reliably good.

Palazzo Creative Workspace

Palazzo is a 500m² creative workspace in Saint-Gilles, set in a converted garage. Alongside shared desks and private workstations it has music studios and artist studios to rent, making it a genuinely mixed creative community. Good crowd, good neighbourhood.

Factory Forty

Factory Forty is a coworking space in Brussels' Forest district, set in a former workshop complex with a large garden, vegetable patch and pond. It primarily serves creatives — architects, designers, journalists and freelancers — in a relaxed, community-focused setup. One of the more pleasant places to work in Brussels.

Creative Conferences and Events in

Brussels

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Design September Brussels

Design September is Brussels' month-long design festival held every September, with over 100 events across the city including exhibitions, open studios, conferences and market days. It's the best time of year to see the breadth of Belgian design talent and get into spaces that are normally closed to the public.

Brussels Design Market

Brussels Design Market is one of Europe's most important vintage design markets, held twice a year at the Gare Maritime on the Tour & Taxis site. It brings together hundreds of dealers in 20th-century furniture, lighting, ceramics and objects, in one of the most impressive industrial spaces in the city.

Meetups & Workshops for Creatives in

Brussels

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Websites & Resources for Creatives in

Brussels

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I love to get inspired by fellow creatives and the Creative Lunch Club makes this easy for me. The conversations during these lunches have always an energizing impact on me.

Barbara Standaert
Interior Architect, Antwerp

You know that feeling when you find your people? That’s exactly what I feel every month when I meet up with my new matches on the creative lunch club. People I’ve met have all been genuine and interested in real human connection. I genuinely look forward to my new matches every month.

Otega Ajuchi
Tech consultant & Artist, Manchester

I recently signed up for Creative Lunch Club and I am enjoying the experience so much. It’s a great way to connect with other creatives in your area.

Nathan Ward
Paper Artist, London