Foets collection, Tessenderlo

There are collectors who carefully fill display cabinets with small treasures. There are others who need considerably more space.

Denis Foets, CEO of Foets rental company, belongs firmly to the second category.

Around his company in Tessenderlo, and particularly in the garden of his private home in Tessenderlo-Ham, an unusual collection has taken shape over the years. Aircraft occupy a prominent place, but they are far from the only objects that have caught Foets's eye. Vintage cars form another substantial part of his collection, revealing a fascination that extends across different forms of engineering, design and history.

It is the kind of collection that tells you something about its owner. Foets is not simply interested in one particular period, manufacturer or type of machine. His interests are broad, and his collection reflects that curiosity.

The first part of the collection can be found around Foets's company in Tessenderlo.

It is an appropriate setting for aircraft and other pieces of industrial history. A company environment is normally associated with productivity and modern business, but the presence of aircraft gives the surroundings an entirely different character.

Most of the aircraft in Foets's collection are military aircraft, giving the collection a particularly distinctive character. These are machines that were designed not simply to transport people, but for reconnaissance, training, defence and combat. Their shapes, construction and equipment reflect the demands of military aviation and the rapidly changing technology of the twentieth century.

Machines that once belonged to the world of military aviation now stand on the ground, where their forms and construction can be appreciated at close range. Instead of rushing past an aircraft at an airport or seeing it from a distance, visitors can take time to look at the details, the shapes, materials and engineering that made these machines effective in their original roles.

The collection becomes part of the landscape of the company itself.

But the heart of the collection lies elsewhere.

At Foets's private home in Tessenderlo-Ham, the garden has become the principal home of his aviation collection. It is an extraordinary setting for such a collection and one that immediately reveals the scale of his passion.

The predominantly military aircraft are not hidden away in a conventional museum hangar. Instead, they occupy an unexpected place among the greenery and surroundings of a private home. Aircraft designed for the demanding world of military aviation have found a second life in an environment that could hardly be more different from an airbase.

There is something particularly striking about seeing these machines at home. Their presence in a garden changes the way they are perceived. Removed from an airport runway or military airfield, the aircraft become objects that can be studied and appreciated for their design, engineering and historical character.

What might initially seem like an unexpected combination gradually makes perfect sense: the garden has become an outdoor gallery in which aviation history is displayed in an informal and highly personal way.

There is no sense of a conventional museum here. This is a collector's environment — a place where objects have been brought together because they interest their owner.

And that is precisely what makes it intriguing.

The aircraft are only part of the story.

Foets also has a substantial collection of vintage cars. Just as with aviation, these automobiles represent more than transportation. They are expressions of engineering, craftsmanship and design, each belonging to a particular moment in history.

Cars and aircraft may seem like separate worlds, but for a collector they have much in common. Both are products of ambitious engineering. Both have evolved dramatically over the decades. And both can inspire an emotional response that goes well beyond their practical purpose.

A vintage car carries the character of its era in its bodywork, controls and mechanical details. A military aircraft does the same on a much larger scale.

Together, the two collections reveal a broader fascination with machines and the people who designed them.

A private collection is rarely finished.

There is always another aircraft to discover, another automobile with an interesting history, another unusual object that catches a collector's attention. For someone with wide ranging interests like Foets, the possibilities are almost endless.

His collection therefore feels less like a completed exhibition and more like an ongoing journey.

One part is encountered around the company in Tessenderlo. The largest part is at home, where military aircraft share the garden with the surroundings of everyday life. Elsewhere, the vintage cars add another dimension to the collection.

Together, they form a portrait of a man whose interests cannot easily be confined to one category.

Thank you for allowing me to explore and take pictures, at both locations.

More pictures can be found here.