MARCEL WANDERS: PINNED UP AT THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM
February 1, 2014 - June 15, 2014
MARCEL WANDERS: PINNED UP AT THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM
February 1, 2014 - June 15, 2014
The largest-ever survey of one of the Netherlands’ most
distinguished designers.
From February 1, 2014, the Stedelijk Museum proudly presents the
exhibition Marcel Wanders: Pinned Up at the Stedelijk.25 years of design.
Marcel Wanders (Boxtel, 1963) is recognized as one of the most distinguished
designers working today. He is internationally renowned for his product,
furniture and interior designs, and original art direction. The largest
presentation of his work to-date, this is the first European survey exhibition
of Wanders since 1999. It is also the first major design exhibition to be
presented at the Stedelijk following its reopening in 2012.
The exhibition presents designs from Wanders’ entire oeuvre,
ranging from the late 1980s to the present. More than 400 objects will be on
display in the monumental lower-level gallery space in the Stedelijk’s new
wing, and will encompass furniture, lamps, utensils, cutlery, wallpaper,
packaging, and jewelry. The show also includes images of interiors, design
sketches, prototypes, experimental work in small editions, sculptural objects
developed for special projects, and “virtual interiors”: new experimental
digital creations.
Marcel Wanders: Pinned Up at the Stedelijk is conceived in
three parts: a white zone, which offers an analysis of Wanders’ work based on
10 themes (such as craftsmanship, narratives and dialogues, surface,
innovation, archetypes, variation, and playing with scale); a black zone
presenting work of a more personal and often experimental nature in a
theatrical setting; and a lounge where Wanders’ role as Art Director for design
brands, including Moooi, is explored.
All of Wander’s iconic works are featured, such as the Set Up
Shades lamp (1989), the Knotted
Chair (1995-1996), Lace Table (1997), Egg
Vase (1997), Airborne Snotty Vases (2001), the New Antiques furniture
(2005), and the Skygarden lamp (2007). Also on view are lesser-known
pieces such as the Hare Vase (1995) and packaging designs for the
Japanese cosmetics brand Cosme Decorte (since 2010). Wanders’ most recent
furniture design, the Carbon Balloon Chair (2013), will also make its
European debut. Many other designs, some of which were created especially for
this exhibition, are on view for the first time, such as a special edition of
the famed Egg Vase.
The title of the exhibition, Marcel Wanders: Pinned Up at the
Stedelijk, refers to the way in which the designer and his work are, as it
were, “pinned up” and analyzed in a museum context. Ingeborg de Roode, Curator
of Industrial Design and organizer of the exhibition, remarks about the
designer: “Marcel Wanders is a creative and innovative force as a
designer, driven by a clear and distinctive vision from the very start of his
career: to create an extraordinary and sustainable environment through design.
Sustainability comes from users building relationships with his products,
cherishing them rather than discarding them. A remarkable communicator, he
shares his vision not only through his designs, but also by utilizing the media
as a vehicle itself, such as in his publicity shots, which Wanders art directs.
Wanders’ skills as a communicator, coupled with his business insights (he runs
a studio with a staff of 50 and is co-owner of Moooi and the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht Hotel) contribute
greatly to his success. Few designers can boast such a combination of talents.
Now, at the zenith of his 25-year career, it is a perfect time for a museum
analysis of his influential professional practice.” exhibition.
Marcel
Wanders, Big Shadow Special: Eyeshadow, floor lamp, 2011
Cappellini, metal,
ink jet printed pvc and viscose fabric
Marcel
Wanders, Skygarden, Hanging Lamp, 2007
Flos, aluminium,
plaster
Marcel
Wanders, Sparkling Chair, chair, 2010
Magis, blow-moulded
polystyrene
Now sold
as Still
Marcel
Wanders, Set Up Shades, floor lamp, 1989
Moooi, cotton on a
metal frame, later plastic, pvc/viscose laminate on metal frame
The hidden engineer:
“We are poets, secretly engineering.”
Marcel Wanders
Marcel
Wanders, Big Shadow lamps (1998), art print, 2012
Cappellini (Art
direction photo: Marcel Wanders)
Marcel Wanders, Egg Vase , vase, 1997
Droog For Rosenthal / Moooi, partly glazed porcelain
The Lucky One,
Sculpture, 2004
Personal Editions,
Ceramic, Gold Luster
Unexpected Turn: “ If poetry is about love and art is about love
and theatre is about love and if opera is about love… why do we think design is
about… functionality? ”
Marsel Wanders
Marcel
Wanders, One Minute Delft Blue, vases, 2006
Personal Editions,
painted and glazed ceramic
“ Fortunately humanity,
by means of technology and design, creates an endless illusion of hope.
Marcel Wanders
Marcel
Wanders, Corona de Agua (prototype), crown for Máxima, 2001
polished silver,
coll. Stedelijk Museum ‘s-Hertogenbosch
The Theatre of Making: “ Listen to your material with respect,
patience and a little imagination and it will reveal its hidden wisdom, every
material knows how it can be an ultimate gift to the world. ”
Marcel Wanders
Lobby Mondrian South Beach Miami Hotel for Morgans Hotel Group, Miami
Marcel Wanders, Design for lobby Quasar apartment building,
Istanbul, Turkey
(to be opened in 2015)
Marcel
Wanders, Knotted Chair, lounge chair, 1996
Droog / Cappellini /
Personal Editions, knotted carbon and aramide fiber cord, secured with epoxy
resin, sand blasted. The Stedelijk Museum holds prototype no. 5 in the
collection.
Zeppelin, Hanging Lamp, 2005
BABEL CHAIR
TROY CHAIR
VIP Chair, 2000
Moooi, Fire
Retardant Foam Covered Steel Frame, Wool, Polyamide
Interior design Royal Wing Room, Dutch pavilion Expo 2000, Hanover (DE),
2000,
With VIP Chair (Moooi) and tablecloth (Netherlands Textielmuseum)
BOUTIQUE LEATHER SOFA
Marcel Wanders, Airborne Snotty Vase: Pollinosis, 2001
Personal Editions, 3D printed polyamide with the SLS technique. The
whole series of 5 Airborne Snotty Vases is in the coll. Stedelijk
Museum Amsterdam
Marcel
Wanders, Dressed, tableware collection, 2011
Alessi, glazed
porcelain, stainless steel, polished (Art direction photo: Marcel Wanders)
Lace Table, Table,
1997
Designed during Dry
Tech II project for Droog Design, Swiss lace,
secured with epoxy
resin, sand blasted
Marcel
Wanders, B.L.O., table lamp, 2001
Flos, polished
stainless steel, perspex
Marcel
Wanders, Topiary Frank, object, 2007
Personal Editions,
handmade cotton crochet, secured with epoxy resin, sand blasted
Lobby Andaz Amsterdam Hotel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2012
MARCEL WANDERS
Marcel Wanders (Boxtel, 1963) 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, quickly coming to
worldwide attention in 1996 for his iconic Knotted
Chair, which paired high tech materials with ‘low tech’ production methods.
Today Wanders’ studio numbers almost 50 international design
specialists, and he is a prolific product and interior designer and art
director, with over 1700 projects to his name for private clients and brands
such as Alessi, Bisazza, KLM, Flos, Swarovski, Puma, among scores of others.
With this track record, it’s no surprise that the New York Times dubbed him the “Lady Gaga of
the design world,” or that Business Week selected
him as one of Europe’s ’25 leaders of change.’ In 2006, Elle Decoration awarded him the prestigious
title of ‘Designer of the Year.’ Other award wins include the Philadelphia
Museum of Art's modern design collaborative award, Collab, and the Design
Excellence Award for Marcel’s significant contribution to the field of design
in 2009.
In his designs Marcel Wanders often mixes innovative materials and
techniques with references to well known historical styles and archetypes, so
users can easily connect to the pieces, enjoying them for a long time and in
doing so create sustainable surroundings.
The power of his work lies primarily in how he combines a
strong concept or story with remarkable (innovative or handcrafted) materials
and techniques, while his visual language often echoes familiar paradigms.
The relationship between these elements in his work varies, and
from it, a rich and diverse oeuvre has emerged. Above all, Wanders is a gifted
and impassioned communicator – he is an enthusiastic and tireless storyteller
who weaves a web of meanings and upbeat connotations into and about his work,
sharing them with his audience in a myriad of ways.
In 2001 Wanders co-founded the successful design label Moooi, of
which he is also 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, controversial but
altogether inspired take on the objects that surround us.
Interior projects have become increasingly important in Marcel
Wanders’ work, embraced for their enveloping of people in multi-layered,
sensory experiences. Notable projects to date include such interior
architectural concepts as the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht, Kameha Grand Hotel
in Bonn, the Mondrian South Beach Hotel in Miami, Quasar Istanbul Residences,
and the Villa Moda flagship store in Bahrain – to name but a few – as well as
private residences in Amsterdam and Mallorca.
In 2012, Marcel Wanders celebrated the launch of his boldest
interior project to date, the aforementioned Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht
Hotel, operated by the Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Situated in Amsterdam’s former
public library, the former function inspired many of the features of its
interior design, such as old maps and illustrations from books about the city.
References to delftware are also very much in evidence.
Many of Marcel Wanders’ designs have been selected for the most
important design collections in the world, like the Museums of Modern Art in
New York and San Francisco, London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, the
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
In late 2009, Marcel’s first museum solo-exhibition, Daydreams,
opened in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2012, Marcel was invited to
present a capsule collection at Beijing’s Capital Museum and on February 1st,
2014, Marcel Wanders: Pinned
Up at the Stedelijk – 25
Years of Design, his first
major museum retrospective, is set to open at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
In addition, Marcel regularly presents at the Salone del Mobile in Milan.
Marcel has been featured in numerous major design magazines
including Domus, Interni, Blueprint, Design Report, Frame, I.D., Abitare,
Wallpaper*, Elle Decoration, Icon, and also in leading news and lifestyle
titles such as Esquire, International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, the
Financial Times, the New York Times and Business Week.
http://www.stedelijk.nl/en/exhibitions/marcel-wanders-pinned-up-at-the-stedelijk
