Marcel Wanders
FORM FOLLOWS ORNAMENTATION
Born in Boxtel, The Netherlands
Works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dutch designer Marcel Wanders finds inspiration in traditional Dutch craft materials and techniques as well as in the larger world of everyday objects. In the projects chosen for Manu®ractured, he explores the expressive possibilities of the nautical knot (primarily a functional element) and the handmade doily (more typically thought of as kitsch ornament). His Knotted Chair, addresses the essential properties of rope – flexibility, malleability and strength – embracing and ignoring them at the same time. His Crochet Cube wryly merges homey, handcrafted doilies with spare, minimalist form. Both represent classic studies in contrasts: softness versus rigidity; minimal form versus maximal pattern; handcrafted appearance versus machine aesthetic; and open web versus closed volume.
In his Hexagon wallpapers Wanders pushes the doily even further still, creating a multi-layered abstraction of radial patterns that is printed on large-scale, dramatically-colored hexagonal-shaped wallpapers. The result is a mass-produced product that can be clustered in groups as an allover wall covering, but it is equally successful when hung singly as an op-art abstraction – a designed product elevated to function as an art object.
Each of these Wanders projects marries a traditional craft with emerging materials and production techniques to create an entirely new take on a familiar object. Each is unmistakably contemporary while at the same time deeply connected to Dutch history with its rich nautical past and domestic handcraft traditions. Wanders successfully merges art, craft and design practices in his work without overshadowing any of the three, pushing each project to its conceptual and aesthetic limits to capture both our attentions and affections.
WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION
Marcel Wanders, Knotted Rouge, 1998; Limited Edition 2006
Cotton, epoxy resin;
Courtesy of Limn Design Store,
San Francisco
Marcel Wanders, Crochet Table, 2001
Cotton, epoxy resin;
Manufactured by Moooi, Breda, The Netherlands;
Courtesy of Limn Design Store, San Francisco
Marcel Wanders, Hexagon Wallpaper, 2004
Printed wallpaper; Manufactured by Wanders Wonders, The Netherlands
