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Marcel Wanders
"I’m trying to do something that makes you feel like life is exploding. If that doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t make sense."
Marcel Wanders graduated cum laude from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (ArtEZ Institute of the Arts) in Arnhem in 1988, after being expelled from Eindhoven Design Academy. In 1995, he opened his studio in the beating heart of the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, where he quickly came to the world’s attention for his iconic Knotted Chair — a product that uniquely paired high tech materials with ‘low tech’ production methods.
In 2001, Marcel co-founded the successful design label Moooi, of which he is also the Art Director. Conceived as a platform for design talent from around the world, today the company works with around 30 designers, has a presence in 79 countries, and is renowned for its quirky, eccentric, but altogether inspired take on the objects that surround us.
Today, Marcel’s powerhouse studio employs 50 international design specialists. He is a prolific product and interior designer and an art director, ubiquitous with over 1700 projects to his name, developed for both private clients and premium brands, including Alessi, Bisazza, KLM, Flos, Swarovski, Puma, among scores of others.
Marcel’s chief concern is bringing the human touch back to design, ushering in what he calls design’s ‘new age’ — an age in which designer, craftsperson, and user are reunited. In his process, Marcel defies design dogma, preferring instead of focus on holistic solutions rather than the technocratic. In Marcel’s universe, the coldness of industrialism is replaced instead by the poetry, fantasy, and romance of different ages, vividly brought to life in the contemporary moment.
With this track record, it’s no surprise that the New York Times dubbed Marcel the “Lady Gaga of Design, ” or that Business Week selected him as one of Europe’s ’25 Leaders of Change. ’
Lights Designed by Marcel Wanders
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