Sabine Marcelis’ work revolves around light. It’s not only about the way it illuminates, caresses and shines, but also about the way it takes over materials that in turn dominate spaces. Nature is Sabine Marcelis’s great inspiration. Especially nature’s most elusive yet most important phenomenon: light. The designer is trying to get a grip on the strength that shows us the world by studying glass, neon and resin.
Her Rotterdam studio is both laboratory and workshop. Her methods combine the techniques she learned as she trained as an industrial designer in New Zealand with the conceptual approach of the Design Academy Eindhoven she graduated from in 2011. She herself describes her practice as ‘looking for magical moments in materiality and manufacturing processes’.

Looking at the work of Michael Anastassiades never fails to enthuse us. The man makes the loveliest of lamps for Flos and then some under his own name. This year, he designed a collection of marble tables for the Italian Salvatori. Again, beautiful. Brand new is this series of lamps in claret (all shades of red did well in Milan this year) called Floor Composition. He once again defies the laws of gravity, but does so with the sophistication of a sculptor.

Another one of our favorites. Studio Mieke meijer’s abstract ‘Space Frames’ really take the stage. In various forms and volumes here on show at WOTH’s headquarters during Designfestival Den Haag 2017.
Meijer approaches light with lightness citing architectural elements as arcs, columns, trusses and plates.

You know that magical feeling – when kids draw something and by a stroke of genius they capture the essence of what they want to express . . . ? Not a perfect representation but, because of its imperfections, so powerful, truthful and pure, and therefore perhaps even more perfect than perfection can be. It might seem odd, comparing the work of Formafantasma with child’s play. But there’s an inherent playfulness in the duo’s recent light objects.
For Flos, Formafantasma designed Blush and WireRing – two objects that make light, colour and shadow dance in the joyful ballet that is rarely captured when designed. The carefully orchestrated choreographies reveal the hand of masters that truly understand ‘design’ – not just as a language, but as literature. Likewise, the duo illustrates their profound understanding of ‘play’ in their collection of experiments and gallery one-off’s presented at Spazio Krizia during this year’s edition of the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Marble and glass from art director and designer Lucie Koldova, who made a new lamp for Czechoslovakian Brokis in the shape of a large macaroon. It comes in various shades of glass combined with onyx and different types of marble. Delectable. Her being assigned to design IMM’s Das House make’s us very curious!

Something we saw very recent at the Brompton Design District in London: the enormous Shade Volume Totem by Merel Karhof (who’s Dutch) and Marc Trotereau. The totem shows what the duo can do with their asymmetrical and form-variable lampshades. You don’t need much to create atmosphere, as they make clear with this design.

Already designed in 2014 these lights by designduo OS ∆ OOS come in different shapes and sizes, due to the flexible nature of the light they can be made to fit. Anything goes!
As fascinating as they look simple they combine the newest technolegy with a state of the art design approach.

Parts of this article have been published in different issue’s of WOTH wonderful Things magazine and on the IMMSIDER the online magazine of the IMM Cologne.

Words - Edo Dijksterhuis, Mary Hessing, Toon Lauwen, Tim Vermeulen.
Photo’s - Amandine Alessandra, Jan Willem Kaldenbach, Johanna Seelemann.

You can order a single issue of WOTH or subscribe!