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"I love it when my hands surprise my head" says Bertjan Pot

Designer Bertjan Pot offers a look inside his studio and introduces his designs for Moooi in this exclusive video produced by Dezeen for the Dutch brand.

Pot invited Dezeen to his Rotterdam studio, a converted gymnasium, where he demonstrated his process and showcased various products he has designed for Moooi, as well as some of the woven masks that he is known for making.

Dutch designer Bertjan Pot created the Random Light for Moooi

"I'm constantly trying things out, how they fit together," he said, "Some of these things, I consider a prototype. And sometimes a prototype actually becomes a product."

Pot has designed products for Moooi since near the brand's inception, including lights, chairs and a carpet.

The Random Light is made by coiling glass-fiber yarn around a spherical frame

His first piece for the Dutch furniture brand was the Random Light, which he initially made by hand himself before the design caught the attention of Moooi founder Marcel Wanders.

The designer made the first run of the lights by randomly wrapping a resin-soaked thread around an inflated balloon, which he then deflated and removed to leave a hard spherical shell that acts as a lampshade.

Pot's Heracleum light for Moooi features a branching structure tipped with a multitude of LED lights

"The first lights I just made to order, and I would deliver them myself," he explained. "I had all these fibres from glass yarn, and I had balloons, and I had resin, so I started coiling the thread in the most simple way around a big balloon."

"Then Marcel Wanders called and said 'hey, I've seen your lights, would you like the Random Light in Moooi?'"

The Heracleum III Linear light is the latest version of the design

Pot went on to design Heracleum, a suspension light comprised of a branching metal structure and a multitude of small LED lights.

He showed Dezeen the latest version of the design, the Heracleum III Linear, which is designed to hang above long surfaces such as dining tables or kitchen islands. The new version of the light has also been updated with brighter LEDs and better integration with smart home systems.

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Marcel Wanders Studio's designs for Moooi "tap into the irrational side of the brain" says Gabriele Chiave

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/07/23/marcel-wanders-studio-gabriele-chiave-moooi-video/)

The Heracleum light was named after the flower of the same name, which was a reference for the piece. However, Pot also noted the mathematical influences behind the design of the light fixture.

"For me, the Heracleum is a lot more about math than about nature," said Pot. "I always like it when there's more than one story with a certain product."

The form of the Heracleum light draws on mathematical principles

Reflecting on the process of experimental prototyping, Pot emphasised the satisfaction that he finds in the intuitive aspects of his craft.

"I love it when my hands can surprise my head," he said. "Your hands are making something and even the thing that you are fully in control of making can surprise you. I think that's a wonderful gift that comes with the profession."

Pot is also known for creating colourful woven masks, which feature prominently on his Instagram account.

Pot's masks are part of an ongoing series started in 2010

He has designed a number of other products for Moooi, including the Carbon Chair designed in collaboration with Marcel Wanders, and the Prop Light, which evokes the mirrors of dressing room theatres with its strips of bare LED bulbs.

Dezeen interviewed Pot in 2016 at Milan design week, where he made a series of seats by weaving shoelaces around inner tubes from different vehicles as part of Nike's The Nature of Motion exhibition.

Partnership content

This video was published by Dezeen forMoooi as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Marcel Wanders Studio's designs for Moooi "tap into the irrational side of the brain" says Gabriele Chiave

Gabriele Chiave discusses the new light and sofa system that Marcel Wanders Studio has created for Moooi in our latest Design Dreams video for the Dutch furniture brand.

Chiave is creative director at the eponymous studio of Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, who is also one of the co-founders of Moooi.

Under Chiave and Wanders' leadership, Marcel Wanders Studio has created two new products for Moooi – the Hubble Bubble suspension lamp and a modular sofa system called Sofa So Good.

Hubble Bubble is a suspension lamp designed by Marcel Wanders Studio for Moooi

Chiave explained his intuitive approach to designing furniture in an exclusive video interview with Dezeen shot at Marcel Wanders Studio in Amsterdam.

"Marcel Wanders Studio is a hub of crazy, creative and amazing people and designers," he said. "We aim to reach people in their heart and their soul, tapping into their emotions, tapping into the irrational side of their brain more than the rational one."

Hubble Bubble features glass spheres arranged around a circular metal frame

The Hubble Bubble light comprises an arrangement of glass spheres attached to a circular metal frame.

The light can be hung either vertically or horizontally, and its hand-blown spheres come in either iridescent or frosted glass.

Its uncluttered design makes use of Moooi's Electrosandwich technology, which allows a current to pass through the body of the lamp without requiring visible cabling.

According to Chiave, the lamp was designed to recall childhood memories of blowing bubbles.

"Hubble Bubble is a very poetic light, it's a very ethereal light," he said. "It's like seeing a little cloud of soap bubbles in the air floating."

Marcel Wanders Studio has also created a modular sofa system for Moooi called Sofa So Good

Sofa So Good is a modular sofa system that offers eight different seating modules that can be upholstered in Moooi's range of fabrics, as well as two table elements and three shelving units.

According to Chiave, the sofa was designed to combine a boxy form with surprisingly soft and generously proportioned seats.

"It's a very elegant, simple, but very sophisticated sofa that looks comfortable and feels even more comfortable, with amazing details and all the opportunities of using Moooi textiles and finishes," said Chiave.

Sofa So Good can be upholstered in Moooi's range of fabrics

On top of its numerous designs for Moooi, Marcel Wanders Studio creates products and interiors for brands around the world, including air pollution masks with graphic prints for San Francisco company O2Today, kaleidoscopic mirrors mounted on leather backing for Louis Vitton, and leather hides digitally printed with fractal patterns for specialist leather studio Bill Amberg.

Dezeen's Design Dreams video series has profiled a number of the designers who have created products for Moooi, including Simone Bonanni, Kranen/Gille and Joep van Lieshout.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen forMoooi as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.

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Paul Cocksedge's new chandelier for Moooi is "shaped by gravity"

British designer Paul Cocksedge explains how customers can configure his new Gravity Chandelier for Moooi in this video Dezeen produced for the Dutch design brand.

Cocksedge's Gravity Chandelier for Moooi comprises a series of LED lights enclosed in crystal shades, which are attached to thin, flexible cables.

British designer Paul Cocksedge has recently designed a new flexible chandelier for Moooi called the Gravity Chandelier

Each light is suspended from the ceiling independently so that the chandelier's form is shaped by the gravitational pull on the cables.

"You have these really thin delicate lines that are flexible, that curve upwards to crystal components that enclose an LED light and then a really thin wire that goes up to the ceiling, enabling gravity to shape the black lines of the chandelier," Cocksedge explained in the video.

Attached to a central ceiling rose, the flexible arms of the chandelier are embedded with electrical wiring and weighted to give the light a shape that references a traditional chandelier.

The lights can be suspended at different heights, allowing the user to configure the precise form of the chandelier according to their personal preference.

The chandelier is made up of thin flexible wires and crystal-enclosed LED lights

"I think the Gravity Chandelier is about allowing the customer to be involved in the creative process of the form of the lamp," the designer said.

Designed to be lightweight and easily packed and shipped, the ceiling light is a departure from traditional chandeliers that are typically large and difficult to handle.

"I wanted to re-engineer the traditional chandelier," Cocksedge said. "It's usually made out of rigid solid pieces of metal and so the Gravity Chandelier is a contrast to that."

When installed, the thin and flexible arms of the chandelier fall down and allow gravity to shape them

The project was nearly a decade in the making, with Cocksedge experimenting with a host of different materials to find a combination that would create the smoothest curves.

"I sort of became quite addicted to trying to create this simplicity and that led to years of experimentation," Cocksedge said.

"I'm talking, getting wires and threading on beads and taking things I find in markets and just trying to hold these lines up until they had the flow and the grace that gravity was placing on them."

The flexibility of the light makes it suitable for different spaces and allows the user to configure it in different ways

Cocksedge is known for his experimental and sculptural work that often attempts to test the limits of materials and technology.

He previously collaborated with Moooi on the 2016 Compression Sofa, a sculptural foam sofa that gives the impression of being pressed and shaped by a heavy marble slab acting as the seat.

Moooi often collaborates with independent designers on its products, such as a recent project with Andrés Reisinger, where they together produced a real-life version of the 3D artist's virtual chair.

In the past, the brand has collaborated with designers such as Edward Van Vliet, Simone Bonanni, Bernhard Dessecker and Joep van Lieshout, among others.

"I think that's what's really beautiful about working with Moooi, there's a respect for an idea and bringing it to life in the best way possible," the designer said.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen forMoooi as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.

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Moooi releases real-life version of "impossible to produce" virtual chair by Andrés Reisinger

Dutch design brand Moooi has partnered with 3D artist Andrés Reisinger to mass-produce his Hortensia chair, which went viral on Instagram as a rendering and become known as "the chair that could not be made".

Initially designed in 2018 as a purely digital piece of furniture, the armchair with its plump, hyper-tactile exterior has now been made into a physical chair covered in 30,000 fabric petals. It is available from Moooi in the original soft pink colour as well as a light grey.

The global release marks what is thought to be the first time that a product designed for the digital world has gone into mass production.

The Hortensia armchair is covered in more than 30,000 petals

"This is the start of a new dialogue between designers and brands," Moooi CEO Robin Bevers told Dezeen.

"Designers will not wait to be commissioned by brands or abide by their briefings," Bevers added.

"Instead, they will take the initiative and bring their work out there. Brands will be forced to step up, more power will go to the artists and designers, and the world will become a more beautiful place."

The petals are laser cut from polyester to prevent wrinkling and fraying

When Reisinger first shared the Hortensia chair on social media three years ago, the viral image prompted several order requests for a chair that did not exist.

To meet this demand, he released a limited edition of the armchair in 2019 in collaboration with textile designer Júlia Esqué.

After being told by different production teams and manufacturing partners that its unique texture could not be replicated in real life, Reisinger and Esqué realised the design by working closely with a small carpentry workshop in Barcelona.

The chair is now also available in a light grey colour

"The limited-edition Hortensia was created entirely by local craftsmen under Júlia's and my supervision – we were guiding the artisans from the prototype phase till the very final result," Reisinger explained.

"The structure of the piece was made from wood, which was covered with sculpted foam. And finally, we came up with a specific textile system that was upholstered all by hand."

Modules of 40 petals are sewn onto a backing textile

The updated version being released by Moooi features a steel frame, rather than wood, covered in injection-moulded foam.

It utilises the same technique as the limited-edition version for the textile covering, with lightweight polyester fabric laser-cut into long, scalloped strips that are then bunched together into clusters of 40 petals each.

Moooi used specialist sewing machines to sew the petal modules onto a thick, elastic backing textile that is then wrapped around the chair.

"We believe that the new version that Moooi is producing especially improves the design in terms of comfort, pushing it to its limits while making the chair accessible worldwide," Esqué explained.

In total, each chair is covered in around half a kilometre of petal fabric. A pared-back, petal-less version of the design will also be available in Moooi's catalogue of 371 different textiles, in a bid to ensure that the design can suit a range of different spaces and tastes.

"The Hortensia was considered impossible to produce – and yet here we are," said Bevers. "I love that designers are pushing us to new levels, to achieve things we never dreamt we were capable of."

The chair is being mass-produced by Moooi for the first time

Earlier this year, Reisinger auctioned off ten pieces of virtual furniture as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), five of which are now being turned into real, physical objects and sent to their respective buyers.

He believes that this digital-first approach will disrupt the furniture industry by creating demand before supply.

"That's the key game-changer," he said. "The current model is based on producing massive quantities of a product, storing it in warehouses and then forcing the demand for it. Reversing the mindset and focusing on the real demand first can help us optimise production."

The designer was also one of the speakers taking part in Dezeen Club's first metaverse meet-up, where he discussed the rise of virtual worlds with Space Popular, Charlotte Taylor and Amber Jae Slooten of The Fabricant.

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