Illustrations by Francois Schuiten
Baron François Schuiten is a Belgian comic-strip artist and scenographer descending from a family of architects. As Francois Schuiten was just 16 years old, the comic magazine “Pilot“ published his first comic. In addition to his first publications, he enrolled at the Institute Saint-Luc, where he studied under Claude Renard.
Together with the scenographer Benoît Peeters, Schuiten created his most well-known work of art: the series “Les Cités Obscures“ (The Mysterious Cities) which numbered 17 volumes. Influenced by the literary genre “Steam-Punk”, the content of the series centers about parallel urban worlds and the destruction of the historic cityscape of Brussels.
Francois Schuiten designed subway stations “Arts et Metiers” in Paris and “Porte de Hal” in Brussels. In addition, he was the designer for several Worlds Fairs pavilions : Luxembourg pavilion in Seville, “Planet of Visions” in Hanover in 2000, and the Belgian pavilion in Aichi (Japan) in 2005.
He has just published a Lonely Planet Guide about Brussels and is currently working on the design of future railway museum in Belgium.