Marcel Wanders

Netherlands

Marcel Wanders (1963) grew up in Boxtel, the Netherlands, graduating from the School of the Arts Arnhem in 1988, cum laude. He is currently an independent industrial product designer operating out of Amsterdam where he runs his own studio, Marcel Wanders studio. His studio designs products and interiors for various international labels, including Moooi, Cappellini, Chi ha paura…?, Mandarina Duck, Droog Design, Flos, Boffi and Magis. He is associated with Moooi and Lensvelt as art director. Marcel Wanders studio also has a full-service project line where the studio is responsible for product production. These projects are more corporate based, such as the business gifts for Randstad (temporary employment agency), the presentation folders for carpet factory Desso, and the prizes for the Floriade 2002 Foundation. Marcel also collaborates in other design-related projects, such as the Vitra Summer Workshop where he has served as a project leader. He also was a juror for various prizes like the Rotterdam Design Prize (for which his own products were nominated several times) and the Kho Liang Ie prize. He lectured at SFMoMA, Limn, the Design Academy and has taught at various design academies in the Netherlands. Marcel won the Rotterdam Design Prize (public prize) for the Knotted Chair, and received several other awards including the George Nelson Award (Interiors magazine), Alterpoint Design Award 2000 and was nominated for 'designer of the year' in WIRED magazine's 2001 Wired Rave awards. This year he was nominated for ‘designer of the year’ in Elle Deco International Design Awards 2002. Designs of Marcel Wanders have been selected for the most important design collections and exhibitions in the world, like the Museum of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Central Museum in Utrecht, Museum of Decorative Arts Copenhagen, and various Droog Design exhibitions. In the book 'Wanders Wonders, design for a new age' (1999) which accompanied a solo exhibition in Museum 't Kruithuis in Den Bosch, the most important products are shown, from the Knotted Chair to the Shadows lamps and from the Nomad Carpet to the Eggvase. Works of Marcel have been published in all leading design magazines such as Domus, Interni, Blueprint, Design Report, Frame, I.D. magazine, Abitare, Surface, Wallpaper, Nylon, View on Colour, Intra and Business Week.