Christophe Hautier

Creative Strategist & Brand Architect 〣 From Strategy to Execution @ walkingdune

Brussels, Brussels Region, Belgium

About

Most leaders know what they want to build. Few can see it clearly enough to act on it. That's where things start to slow down. Too many ideas. Too many directions. No clear decisions being made. I work with founders and leadership teams to bring clarity in that moment. Not as a consultant handing over a deck, but as a partner who stays involved from direction to execution. From the first unclear conversation to clear decisions, a structured brand, and something that actually holds. What I do best is read between the lines. Clients don't need to have it all figured out. I find the logic in what they're trying to say and translate it, into decisions, into brand, into something you can build on. Because without clarity, strategy stays abstract, and nothing ever really moves. I've built walkingdune®, desent® and Heighlon® from that same belief: that strategy and creativity aren't separate disciplines, but the same decision, made at different levels. If that sounds familiar, let's talk.

Experience

  • Managing Partner at walkingdune®
    Sep 2024 - Present · 1 yr 11 mos

    walkingdune® is a strategic & creative partner for SMEs, corporates and scale-ups. We work with leadership teams and founders who are ready to move, but need clarity before they can. We bring structure to strategic hesitation. From defining direction to building the brand and systems that make execution possible. Not a consultancy that delivers reports. A partner that stays involved until strategy becomes reality. Deliverables: strategic alignment, brand architecture, system design.

  • Founder & Creative Director at desent®
    Sep 2011 - Present · 14 yrs 11 mos

    desent® is a studio, lab and factory working on concept, design and structure. Part design studio for a select group of long-term clients. Part creative lab where new brands and concepts are developed from the ground up. The studio develops identities, publications, visual systems and self-initiated projects operating between design, research and visual culture. Part commissioned work for selected clients and collaborators. Part independent platform for experimental concepts, editions and launched ideas. We believe that strong ideas need more than aesthetics. They need structure, clarity and a visual language built to last.

  • Founder at Heighlon®
    Jan 2020 - Present · 6 yrs 7 mos

    Heighlon® is a high-end menswear brand. Every choice, from form to material to narrative, is treated as a defining decision rather than an aesthetic preference. High-end menswear for men who value quality over trend, and know the difference.

  • Creative Advisor at Fotokoncept
    Apr 2023 - Dec 2025 · 2 yrs 9 mos

    Advising leadership on creative direction and brand coherence.

  • Managing Director at ORI / Engineering and consultancy firms
    Oct 2018 - Jun 2022 · 3 yrs 9 mos

    ORI is the professional organization of engineering and consultancy firms in Belgium. We organize, represent, and inform more than 3500 professionals, active in both the public and private sector, and in a wide range of domains: buildings, infrastructure, urban development, environment, and industry. Our member firms are specialized in design, engineering, study, and consulting. ORI represents its members in various platforms and has established a network with multiple professional partners in the different regions, such as VBO/FEB (Federation of Enterprises in Belgium), Vlario, Fita, Pixii, VCB, NAV, Bouwunie, OVED, AWV, and many more. ORI is also a valued member of the European organization EFCA (European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations) and of global organization FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers). ORI Communities: - Climate Change (Vision Paper launched) - Mobility - Circular building - Energy transition We focus on innovation, sustainability, and digitalization. More information on www.ori.be