In the past
William Roobrouck was born in Tienen in 1977, and often commuted between Ghent and De Panne as a child. He found his other half beyond the language border and settled in Laarne around 2008.
William has been involved with art and design since he was little. William’s mother studied art history and painted watercolors. His grandmother made oil paintings and his grandfather was artistic with metal. As a child, he learned to drill, weld and saw in his grandfather’s studio by the sea. ‘Doing things with machines’, that was just what grandpa did. Coincidence or not, but grandfather’s studio was at Kunstenaarslaan 6 in De Panne.
They spent countless hours together in the studio, but William was also passionate about drawing and ceramics and sailing and motor racing and metalworking and technology and, and, and,.. He was a boy with boundless energy and an unquenchable curiosity. Two qualities that have not been lost over the years – fortunately!
In the present
Under the name ‘Williams’, William Roobrouck creates objects, sculptures, works of art and design pieces that express his love for shapes, raw materials and craftsmanship. He finds his inspiration in people and nature, and often translates this into faces. From the very first sketch to the very last welding point – he does everything himself. And he does so with expertise. The materials are carefully selected and processed according to the rules of the art. Combine two golden hands and a lively imagination with tons of technical knowledge and the years spent learning with Pepe aan Zee and you get objects with a soul. They combine steel and fire or they perform magic with light, but they always surprise people again and again.