Marcel Wanders and Moooi transform Manila’s modern spaces

MANILA, Philippines - With the recent interior trend of big-name luxuries coupled with lofty but less than languorous aesthetics, it is a breath of fresh air for any design follower to still find novelty amid industry formulas.

Marcel Wanders may have been around for about three decades but his groundbreaking opus still constitutes the same spirit of revolution, rebellion, and refreshing outlook it once did with his game-changing Knotted Chair back in the minimalist ’96. The trend-bending designer still proves that an original viewpoint beats the bestselling, bold logoed big brands any day.

“If there’s a single reason why design is so important to me, it is probably the potential it gives me to inspire, to contribute to the concept of a world changing in the direction my heart and head want to go,” Wanders explained when prodded for the purpose of his controversial yet celebrated aesthetic. “Our audience expects more from us, we cannot be engineers, we cannot only be smart, we have to be life poets, we have to dream wonders, and we have to be majestic magicians.”

This rather peculiar work ethic brought to life some of Wanders’ iconic pieces, like the Egg Vase, which used a mold made from hardboiled eggs piled together in a latex condom, or the limited-edition Crochet Chubby, an embracing lounge fashioned off polyetheline and decked in traditional, handcrafted crochet patterns, replete with its matching table.

Vastly inspired by his Dutch heritage, the designer also crafted the Delft Blue, a collection of ceramic vases for Moooi, which took the motifs of the Royal Delft, the Dutch porcelain pioneer of blue and white ceramics dating back to 1653, which Wanders craftily translated into modernist shapes and functions.

This masterful blending of simple and complex, hard and soft, ubiquitous and rare, old and new, and low-fi with high-tech brought Wanders to critically acclaim, particularly the hat of pioneering the Dutch Modern movement, the trend that took the world by storm in the last half of the 20th century, with his design studio Moooi as launch pad.

“It seems to me that the only ordinary thing in life is the fact that we seem to overlook all the little wonders around us. Every moment in time, every little detail of an object, the smallest change in your facial expression can make this day very special, a day never to forget!,” Wanders had always been quick to quip. “It is not the special things but the ordinary things in life which are most surprising and strange,” he explained. This inventive way of looking at everyday life in the scale of the monumental and the innovative had led Wanders to much critical-acclaim, winning Elle Decoration Designer of the Year twice in a row in the years 2005 and 2006, to being lauded by the New York Times as “the Lady Gaga of Design.” 

His new collection for Moooi, which debuted at Milan’s Salone del Mobile last April, mixes princely prints and patterns to soften and sensationalize stark and straightforward shapes.  The Nut Chair, a selection of dining chairs, lounge chair, and foot stool offers a feel of protective shell enveloping any seater. With its rich, flourishing textile rendered in the Wanders-designed Oil fabric, features old-world Orientalia in a digital explosion of print layers, creating a time-bending look that is quintessential of the designer.

The Canvas 230 lounge and footstool, on the other hand, turned the sectional seating trend on its head with a seemingly hard exterior floating in a streamlined scaffold.

The Love Chair and Sofa brings the romance of comfort back to seating with its curvilinear shape inviting a cozy cuddle with that vivid pop of color. 

And the Zio Dining Set of tables, chairs, and buffet transcend the rustic grains of hardwood into the realm of warm accommodation. All these things wonderful and new by Marcel Wanders alongside other fresh-fangled Moooi creations find their home at the country’s forefront luxury furnishing and lifestyle store,  Abitare Internazionale, Inc.

By giving more room for innovative shapes, functions, designs and mindsets, Abitare challenges the contemporary Filipino design consciousness to break away from the trappings of old-world furnishing, where status and stature reign supreme.

“This is what we believe are the new masterpieces,” explained Abitare Internazionale founder Filaine Tan. While still armed with their commitment of walking through its emerging young design-driven patrons in finding a spot in their new high-rise homes for Abitare Internazionale’s deluxe interiors and furnishing, interior designer and partner Jeane Wee abides by their decades-old mandate of offering priceless consultation service, on top of their newfound job descriptions as curators of the new. “We are still committed to helping our clients meet their design standards and needs with the pieces that we have. Yet, now, we also aim to inspire them to go out of the box, and break away from their own known traditions,” Wee explained.

And for their renewed drive and dedication to match their long-term luxury design advocacy, Abitare Internazionale, Inc. found the perfect poster boy in Marcel Wanders, a designer that has, for decades, been consistently sparking awe and wonder in what was believed to be a growingly indifferent and immune design world.    

Marcel Wanders’ collections for Moooi will be exclusively available at the Abitare Internazionale Inc. showroom at the ground floor of Crown Tower, 107 HV Dela Costa Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City, Philippines starting this November.