Urn for Unwanted Limbs and Other Things by Virginia Leonard Contemporary Ceramic

Dutch-Kiwi designer Sabine Marcelis’s work is at the forefront of contemporary material innovation in product and installation design. She works with glass manufacturers and more, forging partnerships across her industry to bring her ambitiously experimental projects to fruition.

Marcelis’s focus is on allowing happenstance sensory experiences to emerge by juxtaposing combinations of unlikely materials and colors. She was educated at the Design Academy Eindhoven and since founding her eponymous studio in 2011 in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, she has built a remarkable roster of clients in fashion, architecture and art. She has created signature pieces for the likes of Rem Koolhaas’s architecture firm OMA, high-fashion labels Fendi and Isabel Marant and luxury beauty brand Aēsop. She has also exhibited at the Salone del Mobile in Milan and won Wallpaper* magazine’s Designer of the Year award for 2020.

Marcelis was invited to create a sculptural intervention for the interiors of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lily Reich’s iconic Barcelona Pavilion, which saw the debut of the pair’s timeless Barcelona chair in 1929. For her “No Fear of Glass” exhibition, the designer subverted the original request made to van der Rohe to “not use too much glass” by designing chaise longues, pillar lights and a fountain that feature glass as the main material. The rest of her work is informed by a similarly sophisticated playfulness, as evident in the charming forms she creates — she has designed doughnut-shaped rugs, the multifunctional resin Candy Cube side tables and colorful asymmetrical glass mirrors.

Marcelis has the rare ability to create dynamic and fluid experiences by pushing the limits of craftsmanship. While her enchanting seating, lighting and other furnishings may appear effortless due to their fluid and simple forms, they are the result of relentless attention to detail and venturesome experiments with materiality.

Shop a variety of Sabine Marcelis's designs on 1stDibs.