Marie’s Corner joins Shape Group

Brussels, 30 September 2026 — Shape Group is acquiring Marie’s Corner, the Belgian high-end seating house founded in 1991, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. The transaction creates a group of three entities — Marie’s Corner, KØGE Design and the Bespirit factory in Zaragoza — with 35 direct jobs and 100% of production in Europe. It is the starting point of a broader ambition: to gradually bring together several complementary Belgian design brands within a high-end furniture group, with a revenue target of 50 million euros in the medium term.

Shape Group was founded by Nicolas & Hadrien Bindels and Youri Tolstoy. It currently brings together three distinct entities: the Marie’s Corner and KØGE Design houses, and Bespirit, the production facility wholly owned by Marie’s Corner and located in Zaragoza, Spain. In the long term, the three entrepreneurs aim to build a group of several brands, each with its own identity or distinctive craftsmanship, and international growth potential.

The transaction is to be followed by an upcoming fundraising round to finance the development of the brands and the group’s future acquisitions.

A 35-year-old Belgian house

Marie’s Corner was founded in 1991 by Marie-Letitia Zichy Low. Over the years, the house developed particular expertise in high-end seating, with a highly customisable collection of sofas, armchairs, chairs, poufs and benches.

In 2016, Marie’s Corner was taken over by Serge Silber and Philippe Vanhemelen through a management buy-out. They continued to develop the company, strengthened its business with interior design professionals and consolidated its presence in Belgium and abroad.

In 2026, the year of its 35th anniversary, Marie’s Corner joins Shape Group, the holding company set up this year by Nicolas & Hadrien Bindels and Youri Tolstoy. The new team intends to fully unlock the house’s potential and give it the means to shine as it deserves.

Exceptional products and craftsmanship

The decision to acquire Marie’s Corner rests above all on the quality of its products, the depth of its collection and the expertise of its teams. Marie’s Corner is one of the few high-end furniture houses to control its own production: the brand stands out for its attention to comfort, finishes, proportions and customisation options.

Marie’s Corner was notably one of the pioneers of sofas and armchairs with fully removable covers. Designed to evolve with the interiors they furnish, these pieces combine durability, easy care and the freedom to renew fabrics. With their soft volumes, clean lines and relaxed elegance, several of these models sit naturally within the tradition of Belgian interior architecture.

A truer image

The new owners note that there is currently a significant gap between the real quality of Marie’s Corner products and how the market perceives them. Shape Group wants to close that gap and see these products valued as they deserve.

The product, the comfort, the customisation options and the artisanal craftsmanship are solid foundations that anyone who knows Marie’s Corner will recognise; unfortunately, these qualities are not yet reflected in the brand’s image. One of the first major projects following the acquisition will therefore be to have these products valued as they deserve, by working on the brand’s positioning, art direction and communication tools.

This evolution will not erase the history of Marie’s Corner. On the contrary, it will better express its fundamental qualities: the finishing details, the comfort, the customisation, artisanal European manufacturing, 35 years of expertise in seating, its own production facility and its close relationships with architects, interior designers and fit-out professionals.

“When we discovered Marie’s Corner from the inside, we were immediately impressed by the quality of the products, the level of customisation and the craftsmanship of the teams. Our role now is to give that quality the image and visibility it deserves.”

Nicolas Bindels, co-founder of Shape Group

Belgian brands and a production facility

Shape Group’s project rests on one conviction: the growth of a high-end furniture brand must remain tied to real control over the product and closeness to the craftsmanship that makes it possible.

That is largely what this acquisition is about. By acquiring Marie’s Corner, the trio also acquires Bespirit, the factory the house owns outright in Zaragoza, Spain. Aragon has long been renowned for upholstered furniture and concentrates craftsmanship that is rare in Europe. Specialised in upholstered seating, Bespirit produces the collections, develops prototypes and carries out bespoke adaptations.

This direct control over production makes it possible to manage every stage of manufacturing and to improve quality, lead times and technical development. It also offers great freedom of customisation, a decisive advantage in meeting the specific needs of residential, hospitality, restaurant and commercial fit-out projects.

The group now intends to make this facility available to all its brands. The aim is also to make the most of the factory’s customisation capabilities and to become more responsive, both in developing new models and in handling specific requests. Having remained in the shadow of Marie’s Corner until now, Bespirit will be showcased as a fully-fledged resource for architecture firms and hotel groups: the factory combines recognised quality with the capacity to handle the volumes of large-scale projects.

Finally, this choice responds to a broader challenge: at a time when European industrial sovereignty is becoming strategic, Shape Group favours controlled, local, more sustainable and more traceable production that preserves European craftsmanship.

“Architects and designers increasingly want to think about a project as a whole, down to the furniture, to create truly distinctive places, particularly in hospitality. Our Spanish factory and its craftsmanship give us the flexibility we need to develop bespoke pieces and to work closely with leading names in Belgian architecture and design.”

Hadrien Bindels, co-founder of Shape Group

A handover, not a break

The acquisition is a handover from Serge Silber and Philippe Vanhemelen, who led Marie’s Corner for ten years following a management buy-out in 2016. Nicolas Bindels, Hadrien Bindels and Youri Tolstoy are now taking over the reins of the company, but Serge Silber and Philippe Vanhemelen will continue to support the project through this transition for as long as needed. The intention is not to break with the codes and values of Marie’s Corner, but to revitalise its image and showcase the remarkable designs developed throughout its 35 years.

Building a Belgian high-end furniture group

The acquisition of Marie’s Corner is not a one-off transaction. It marks KØGE Design’s shift to a group approach and lays the foundations of a long-term consolidation strategy.

Initially, the group is focusing on Belgium, which is home to many furniture houses with remarkable products, recognised craftsmanship and a strong history, but whose size sometimes limits their capacity for investment, communication, digitalisation or international expansion.

Shape Group aims to gradually bring together several complementary Belgian brands, each with its own identity, history, collections and craftsmanship. The goal is not to create a single brand, but to build a consortium able to give each of them the means to grow further, in Belgium and internationally. Shape Group intends to provide these brands with a stronger shared infrastructure, without erasing their culture or their creative independence.

“Our ambition is not to turn Marie’s Corner into KØGE Design. The two brands must remain distinct, with their own identities and models. Our role, however, is to give each brand a stronger shared infrastructure — digital, technical, operational — so that each team can focus on what makes it different: the product and the customer experience.”

Nicolas Bindels, co-founder of Shape Group

The Shape Group model

• Preserved identities. The group does not seek to standardise its brands. Their differences are precisely what gives the portfolio its value. Each house keeps its name, identity, collections, positioning and legitimacy.
• Shared resources. Some functions can be pooled when they are not a differentiating factor for the brand: administration, finance, logistics, production, technical development, digital, communication and international expansion. Each team can thus devote more time and resources to what makes it different: the product, the craftsmanship, the design and the customer experience.
• Long-term growth. Shape Group intends to continue growing by gradually integrating complementary brands with a strong identity or recognised craftsmanship and significant growth potential, particularly internationally. This ambition may be supported by a fundraising round to finance both the development of existing brands and the group’s next acquisitions.
• Integrated, European production. At a time when climate change and the preservation of European craftsmanship are becoming strategic issues, the group has chosen local, sustainable and traceable production over high volumes imported from the other side of the world.

And what about AI?

At a time when many companies highlight artificial intelligence to boost their valuation, the founders of Shape Group take a more nuanced view. While they consider AI an indispensable tool for staying competitive, they are convinced that, in a world where software and technology are becoming commodities, the real difference will increasingly lie in owning real assets — in their case, mastery of craftsmanship and a production facility.

Technology nonetheless remains a cross-cutting lever of the model: Shape Group intends to use AI to pool certain tools, data and processes across its entities, and thus gain efficiency without adding layers. It is familiar ground for Nicolas Bindels and Youri Tolstoy, who led the roll-out of AI at Delen Private Bank — a rare advantage in a furniture sector that is still largely artisanal in how it is run.

“With our experience as AI & Innovation leads at Delen Private Bank, we know how to implement and use these new technologies to keep a lean structure that is able to scale.”

Youri Tolstoy, co-founder of Shape Group