Sabine Marcelis
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Sabine Marcelis (born 1985) is a Dutch artist and designer. Typically focused on themes of transparency, reflection, opacity and translucency, often using
pastel colour Pastels or pastel colors belong to a pale family of colors, which, when described in the HSV color space, have high value and low or medium saturation. They are named after the artistic medium made from pigment and solid binding agents, sim ...
s,
minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...
shapes, smooth surfaces, and materials such as
resin A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...
, glass, and stone, she has described her work as “an investigation of light, how it can create effects and atmospheres."


Early life and education

Marcelis was born in Alkmaar, Netherlands. She emigrated to Waihi, New Zealand, with her family at the age of 10. She studied industrial design at
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
before returning to Holland in her early twenties to study at the
Design Academy Eindhoven Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) is an interdisciplinary educational institute for art, architecture and design in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The work of its faculty and alumni have brought it international recognition. History The Design Academy E ...
. Before pursuing a career in design, Marcelis competed in semi-professional
snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...
.


Work and career

After graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2011, she founded Studio Sabine Marcelis in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
, where she lives and works. Her studio has consulted for companies such as
Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...
,
Bulgari Bulgari (, ; stylized as BVLGARI) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1884 and known for its jewellery, watches, fragrances, accessories, and leather goods. Headquartered in Rome, the company was acquired by the French conglomera ...
,
Céline Céline, sometimes spelled Celine, is a French female first name version of Latin origin, coming from ''Caelīna'', the feminine form of the Roman cognomen ''Caelīnus'', meaning "heavenly".IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...
,
Fendi Fendi Srl () is an Culture of Italy, Italian luxury goods, luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925 by fashion designers Edoardo Fendi and ...
,
Isabel Marant Isabel Marant (born 12 April 1967) is a French fashion designer, owner of the eponymous fashion brand. She won the Award de la Mode (1997), the Whirlpool Award for best female designer (1998), ''Fashion Designer of the Year'' at British ''Glamour' ...
,
Stella McCartney Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is a daughter of English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and American photographer and animals rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her parents, McCartney is ...
, and
Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
.


Design

Marcelis has designed furniture, lighting, packaging, and accessories for brands such as , Arco, , Calico Wallpaper, cc-tapis, Established & Sons, , Mathmos, Natuzzi, and the Swedish furniture brand Hem. She collaborated with IKEA on a collection of lamps and homewares which were commercialised in 2023. In 2024, the
Stedelijk museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
in Amsterdam commissioned Marcelis to design a new piece. The result is an industrially manufactured stacking chair made of aluminium called the ''Stedelijk Chair''. A powder costed aluminium version of the piece was released in 2025.


Installations

In 2019, Marcelis was invited by the
Mies van der Rohe Foundation The Mies van der Rohe Foundation is a non-profit public entity created with the aim of reconstructing the German Pavilion that the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and designer Lilly Reich created for the Barcelona International Exposition (19 ...
to participate in its ''Interventions'' programme, a series of temporary installations in the
Barcelona Pavilion The Barcelona Pavilion (; ; "German Pavilion"), designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. This building was used for the official opening of the G ...
which has featured artists and architects such as
Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...
,
Enric MIralles Enric Miralles Moya (12 February 1955 – 3 July 2000) was a Spanish architect from Barcelona. He graduated from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) in 1978. After establishing hi ...
, and
Ryue Nishizawa is a Japanese architect based in Tokyo. A graduate of Yokohama National University, he established his own firm, Office of Ryue Nishizawa, in 1997. In 1995, he co-founded the firm SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) with architect Kazu ...
. Her contribution was a group of pieces titled "No Fear of Glass", a play on Josep Quetglas Riusech's 2001 book about the building "Fear of Glass". She produced a temporary installation titled "Swivel" in St Giles Square in London for the 2022
London Design Festival London Design Festival is a citywide cultural event that takes place over nine days every September across London. It was founded by John Sorrell and Ben Evans in 2003 and will stage its 23rd edition from 13 to 21 September 2025. In an article ...
. In 2022, the
Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architect of this building was Frank O. Gehry. His architecture was based on the art movement of the early 20th century, deconstructivism. Making the bu ...
staged "Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis" in which she reorganised the approximately 400 pieces held in the exhibition warehouse collection by colour. In 2024, the
High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...
added Marcelis's ''Panorama'' to a decade-long series of monumental outdoor art installations. The kinetic work, a composition of four large, rotating red and orange mirrored glass columns, "traverses the boundary between art and design". According to the museum, it is "the designer's first monumental and kinetic work". Other artists who have contributed to the series, which is staged on the Woodruff Arts Center's Carroll Slater Sifly Piazza, include
Tanya Aguiñiga Tanya Aguiñiga (born 1978, in San Diego, California) is a Los Angeles–based artist, designer, and Activism, activist. Early life and education Although she was born in the United States, Aguiñiga spent her childhood living in Tijuana, Tiju ...
, Ignacio Cadena, Héctor Esrawe, Jaime Hayon, Bryony Roberts, and Yuri Suzuki. Also in 2024, she designed ''Stacked'', an abstract sculptural water fountain for Amsterdam's
Vondelpark The Vondelpark () is a public urban park of 47 hectares (120 acres) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is part of the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid and situated west from the Leidseplein and the Museumplein. The park was opened in 1865 and originally na ...
.


Exhibitions and collections

Collections holding examples of Marcelis's work include the Stedelijk museum in Amsterdam, Design Museum Gent,
Centraal Museum The Centraal Museum is the main museum in Utrecht (city), Utrecht, Netherlands, founded in 1838. The museum has a wide-ranging collection, mainly of works produced locally. The collection of the paintings by the Northern Mannerist Joachim Wte ...
in Utrecht, the
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...
, Rabobank Kunstcollectie, and the Collection Vedute at the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam (in the Netherlands); in Brussels, the
Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architect of this building was Frank O. Gehry. His architecture was based on the art movement of the early 20th century, deconstructivism. Making the bu ...
in Germany; the
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...
(NGV) and the
Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...
; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York.The Museum of Modern Art announces Pirouette: Turning Points in Design
/ref> Her work has been exhibited at galleries such as Etage Projects in Copenhagen, Gallery Collectional in Dubai, Side Gallery in Barcelona, Carwan Gallery in Greece, Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert in Australia, and
Design Miami Design Miami/ is an American design company that holds two annual flagship collectible design fairs in Miami, Florida and Basel, Switzerland. Design Miami/ also holds fairs in Paris and Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chines ...
. In 2023, she designed a unique "art version" of the Renault Twingo which was shown at the
Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
in Paris. Eight sculptures by Marcelis created for the 2023
Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts :it:Franco Mazzotti, Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi. It took place in Italy 24 times f ...
, for which she also designed the prize winners' trophies, were donated to the city of
Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
and exhibited the Cloister of the
University of Brescia The University of Brescia () is an Italian public research university located in Brescia, Italy. It was founded in 1982 and is branched in 4 Faculties. The University of Brescia was officially established in 1982 with three Schools: Medicine a ...
. In 2024, her collaboration with traditional
Japanese lacquerware is a Japanese craft with a wide range of fine and decorative arts, as lacquer has been used in ''urushi-e'', woodblock printing in Japan, prints, and on a wide variety of objects from Buddhist art, Buddha statues to ''bento'' boxes for food. ...
artisans Kawatsura Shikki was included in a Tokyo exhibition at Kudan House called ''Craft x Tech Tohoku Project''. The work, a series titled ''
Yōkan is a wagashi made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar. It is usually sold in a block form, and eaten in slices. There are two main types: ''neri yōkan'' and ''mizu yōkan''. means "water", and indicates that it is made with more water than us ...
'', includes three pieces – two tables and a wall mounted abstract piece, all made using traditional ''Urushi'' lacquer on hand-crafted wood. The show was curated by Maria Cristina Didero and also included works by
Studio Swine Studio SWINE is a British-Japanese art collective and design studio founded in 2011 by Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves. SWINE is an acronym for "Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explorers". They are known for artistic works in design that com ...
,
Ini Archibong Inimfon "Ini" Joshua Archibong (born 23 June 1983) is an American-born Nigerian artist and designer. His work reflects an interest in Master craftsman, master-craftsmanship and its relationship to technology, as well as mathematics, philosophy, a ...
,
Yoichi Ochiai is a Japanese media artist, entrepreneur, and academic. He has a doctorate from the University of Tokyo, and is an associate professor at the University of Tsukuba Library; Information and Media Associate Professor and Director of the Centre f ...
, Hideki Yoshimoto, and
Michael Young Michael Young may refer to: Academics * Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington (1915–2002), British life peer, sociologist and social activist * Michael Young (educationalist), British educational theorist and sociologist * Michael K. Youn ...
. ''Yōkan'' was subsequently exhibited at the
Victoria and Albert museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
in London during the
London Design Festival London Design Festival is a citywide cultural event that takes place over nine days every September across London. It was founded by John Sorrell and Ben Evans in 2003 and will stage its 23rd edition from 13 to 21 September 2025. In an article ...
, and in the Netherlands Pavilion at
Expo 2025 is a World Expo organised and sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which is being held in Osaka, Japan. It took place for six months from 13 April to 13 October 2025. This is the second time that Osaka has hosted a Worl ...
in Osaka. In 2025, the Museum of Modern Art added her ''Candy Cube'' to its collection and included the piece in ''Pirouette: Turning Points in Design,'' an exhibition featuring "widely recognized design icons ..highlighting pivotal moments in design history."


Teaching

She is a mentor for both the Women Bauhaus Collective and the
Lexus Design Award is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...
, and also teaches at the
École cantonale d'art de Lausanne The École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ÉCAL) is a university of art and design located in the Renens suburb of Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded in 1821 and is affiliated with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerl ...
(ECAL).


Personal life

Her partner is the architect Paul Cournet. They have a son who was born during the Covid pandemic. Marcelis observed that her piece called "Boa", a torus shaped pouf, is “helping him learn how to walk. And it's also a perfect spot to safely place him if I have to quickly leave the room.” They also have a daughter, who was born in 2024.


Inspiration

At the age of 16, Marcelis was an avid
snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...
. In an interview with ''Surface'' magazine, she states that her use of snowboarding goggles made her realize the powerful effect colour has on one's environment. This helped her develop her work titled "Colour Rush" which was released in May 2022 at the Vitra Design Museum. Specifically, Marcelis also stated that her inspiration stems from the architect Hans Hollein for his works with not only architecture but also his work with jewelry.


Awards

* 2019 GQ Men of the Year Awards "International Artist of the Year" * 2019 Elle Deco International Design Award "Young Designer of the Year" * 2019
Designboom ''Designboom'' (stylized as ''designboom'') is a daily web magazine headquartered in Milan and covering the fields of industrial design, architecture, and art internationally. History Launched in 1999, the publication was the first web magazin ...
Design Prize "Best Design Newcomer" * 2020 Wallpaper* "Designer of the Year" * 2022
Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast ...
"AD100" * 2023 Elle Deco International Design Award "Designer of the Year" * 2023
Monocle Magazine ''Monocle'' is a global affairs and lifestyle magazine published by Winkreative Ltd. It also operates a 24-hour internet radio station, a retail business, and an associated website. The magazine was founded in London in 2007 by Tyler Brûlé, a ...
"Designer of the year" * 2024
Dezeen ''Dezeen'' is an online architecture, interiors and design magazine based in London, with offices in Hoxton, as well as New York City and Shanghai. History ''Dezeen'' was launched in London by Marcus Fairs at the end of November 2006. Its New ...
Awards, "Designer of the year"


Publications

*


References


External links

*
''Sabine Marcelis and Less is More''
(interview by Marilena Sobacchi,
Salone del Mobile Salone del Mobile or Milan Design Week (, but more commonly ''Salone del Mobile'') is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from ...
, Milan)
''Sabine Marcelis on Deadlines, the Colours Above the Clouds and Leaving it Up To Interpretation''
(interview by Felix Burrichter, '' PIN–UP'' magazine, Series 32)
''Interview with Designer Sabine Marcelis''
(Craft x Tech Tohoku Project)
''"I decided I don't want to work for anyone" says Sabine Marcelis''
(interview by Cajsa Carlson, ''
Dezeen ''Dezeen'' is an online architecture, interiors and design magazine based in London, with offices in Hoxton, as well as New York City and Shanghai. History ''Dezeen'' was launched in London by Marcus Fairs at the end of November 2006. Its New ...
'' magazine)
''Sabine Marcelis''
(interview by Domitilla Dardi, ''Domus'' magazine) {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcelis, Sabine Living people 1985 births Artists from North Holland Artists from Rotterdam Design Academy Eindhoven alumni Dutch artists Dutch expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Dutch furniture designers Dutch glass artists Dutch industrial designers Dutch installation artists Lighting designers People from Alkmaar Product designers