As Sabine Marcelis launches 'Unda', her exclusive collection with Iittala, we speak with the Dutch artist and designer about her hands-on process, and how she brings her unique visions to light
“I'm always quite curated, I would say, about who I do and don't work with when it comes to brand collaborations,” Sabine Marcelis tells me over zoom from the meeting room at her Rotterdam studio. “But working with Iittala was really a no-brainer.”
Sitting against a backdrop of a donut rug she designed in 2019 for Crugs, the acclaimed artist and designer delivers this information with one eye darting beyond her computer screen. The reason? In the background, her son, Koa, is hovering, eager to share some of his mum’s time. “My kid is sick, so he's at work with me,” she explains, before launching into a juggling act of tending to him, while eloquently talking me through her much-anticipated collaboration with Iittala.
Born in the Netherlands in 1985, Marcelis moved with her family to New Zealand, where she spent formative years and studied industrial design before returning home. After an interim career as a professional snowboarder, Marcelis launched her own eponymous design studio in 2011, which specialises in creating luminous objects and installations that play with, and capture, light in thought-provoking ways. Working with glass, resin and natural stone, Marcelis’s minimalist creations draw inspiration from nature. Breaking down boundaries between architecture and design, and with the use of transparency and mirrors, Marcelis makes objects that seemingly melt into their surroundings. In short, as seen with today’s home scenario, she’s used to making several things possible at once.
Collaborations, however, are more curated – a selection of previous partnerships include Celine, IKEA, and Stella McCartney – and are, certainly, never rushed. The origins of the just-launched Unda collection, created in collaboration with Iittala, can be traced back many years. “Janni reached out to me a few years ago,” Marcelis says of Iittala's creative director, Janni Vepsäläinen. “And, I thought: ‘Oh, Iittala! I love Iittala!' It's such an iconic brand, and if I'm ever going to work with a company specialised in blowing glass, this is my dream brand to work with,” Marcelis says. “And with Janni’s new direction really giving the brand a fresh vibe and a new image, it was super exciting to be a part of that.”