With ” Tiki-Tour ” the New Zealanders define a trip or an excursion without a specific destination. With this expression we can also summarize the creative process of Sabine Marcelis made up of winning intuitions and that blissful unawareness ( she says) that has led her to become one of the most promising female faces in the world design scene.

Transferred at the age of 10 with her family in a small community in New Zealand she grew up in mountains, ocean and bucolic forests before returning to Holland to start her studies at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and open her own studio in Rotterdam.

Sabine’s poetry is enclosed in nature, in fluid communication between elements in continuous change translated into original objects from the antithetical materials brought to the limit of experimentation.

Circles that cross resin blocks able to diffuse their light through color, tables that look like pastel-colored soap bars, mirrors that exploit the layering of different pigments to create dynamic optical effects. Original, eclectic and courageous. Who inspired her ? Helen Pashgian, Robert Mangold, Julio Leparc and Anish Kapoor.

What was your starting point?

I have to admit that I never really had a plan in life. I just follow what I love and do it with passion and positivity and I am very lucky to be able to earn my living doing exactly that. I was always encouraged by my parents to create things and from an early age I was trying to sell handmade bags and jewellery at the markets where they would sell flowers. I think as soon as I started studying industrial design at a school where there was also architecture, fashion and graphic design that I realised all the ways in which you can be a designer. That you dont have to be put into a box. You can work with others and expand your field that way.

They defined you an alchemist/ scientist for your experimentation on materials. What do you think about?

I have very close relationships with the factories which produce my work. I think to be able to do new projects which are unique you have to continuously be experimenting. I’m currently working on a research for already a few years; A production technique which is proving to be very difficult, but once we nail it, it will be amazing. Its worth the constant setbacks.

We think you are one of the most influential women designer in this moment. A strong personality is higlighted in your works but also we can feel your elegance and originality. How do you define what you do?

Wow, thank you very much! I’am working in a mix of deliberate and conscious decisions and at the same time intuition, and a sense of blissfull unawareness also. I don’t want to know what everyone else is doing and I don’t want to look at the same places everyone else is looking. I have a very deliberate aim to stay original and push the limits of a material and production capabilities and to always aim for a moment of wonder within an object or space. If something feels too easy or too obvious I’d rather stay away from it. My choice in collaborators is also very careful. I want to work with people and companies I connect with in vision and character. When something doesn’t feel correct or genuine I’d rather pass on it.

 You have a large number of heterogeneous clients. What are the differences between a project developed for a company and for a gallery?

Right now the studio balances projects for Fashion houses, Architecture collaborations and free work. I love this mix as it creates constant challenges and I am forces to keep redefining purpose and intent and application. If Something not possible for a gallery project could be a perfect discovery to be developed for a commission from a fashion house and vice versa. I think working on a combination of scales and a variety of markets creates a cross-polination of possibilities. I definitely also need the variety as I am a very impatient person and Its important for my mental health to work on many projects at the same time ahaha

What do you want to leave to the future in terms of emotions through what you do?

I hope my pieces last for a very very long time and live through generations and maintain their sense of wonder.

From SOAP to HULA. Can you tell us more us about your latest projects?

The projects are a continuation of exploring material effects with resin. The soap series was all about creating curved surfaces reminiscent of the the left overs of bars of soap. It was about creating volume from a flat surface. The same with the hula chandelirs in a way, which are extruded plates, But with a very different finish to the resin. The SOAP series is opaque and matt and the HULA chandeliers are very transparent and highly polished. Although i’ve worked with the material for such a long time now, I feel like there is so much left to discover and do with it still.

Do you have extra work passions? and what about obsessions?

I’m obsessed with sunglasses. They are the perfect object in my opinion. I’m definitely also obsessed with watching documentaries about machines and how things are made. And sushi.