A natural playfulness is what first attracts people to Marcel Wanders’ products. There’s a charm—whether in the vibrant fluidity of the Nest chair or the twee sweetness of his Bell lamp—that give the objects his indelible personality. “I have always been someone to watch, question, think, and imagine all at the same time,” the Dutch designer explains.
Wanders’ love for design started in the Netherlands where his parents owned a shop in Boxtel selling household products—toasters, broomsticks, “kitschy porcelain cats,” he says. “It felt natural to look and think about those products as they represent what people like and need.”
He channeled this pragmatic philosophy into his designs, creating items with an aesthetic that strayed from the coldness of industrialism and embraced the “poetry, fantasy, and romance of different ages.” When his Amsterdam studio opened in 1995, he honed in on this viewpoint, aiming to unite the designer, craftsperson, and user.
The lightweight yet strong Knotted chair, which debuted in the mid-1990s, put
Wanders on the map and still informs his design philosophy today. Photography
by Erwin Olaf and Robbie Kavanagh.
A year later his famous Knotted chair debuted, putting him on the map but also serving as his North Star, guiding him to enrich his creations. “It also set me on the path of uniting conflicting aspects, methods, and materials in order to surprise,” he says. His pieces since then reflect those same aims, connecting with people and generating “excitement for our ordinary days to be made more special,” Wanders says. “Whether I mix traditional styles with innovative ones, or whether what I create is handcrafted or industrially produced, low tech or high tech, the Knotted chair both reflects and informs much of what I do today.”
Wanders’ interior designs, too, have a sort of magic and are “crafted for the sole purpose of uplifting the human spirit as it entertains,” he says. In the Kameha Grand Zürich hotel, for instance, he pays homage to the city with Swiss-inspired themes, including chocolate-patterned wall paneling, minibars that look like bank vaults, lamps that are reminiscent of cowbells, and Toblerone-shaped sofas.
And Moooi, the urban brand that he launched in 2001 with Casper Vissers (who recently stepped down as CEO after 14 years with the company), has expanded from a collection of lights into a global marketplace, with a New York showroom that opened in April and a recently launched carpet line that incorporates high-definition printing technology. Moooi’s products are “daring, playful, and exquisite and the designers behind them bring different visions from different experiences,” Wanders says. It is a place where hunger is rewarded. “Passion desires passion,” he explains. “It seeks it. It craves it—which is why I gravitate toward designers who inspire and push me as much as they push themselves.”
