Designed to disrupt

Moooi, a design company that creates interior environments through its collections of lighting, furniture and accessories, was founded by Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers in 2001. Its name was derived from the Dutch word for beautiful, with an extra ‘o’ included to represent another level of beauty and uniqueness.

Wanders sees Moooi’s collections – or the pieces in them – as providing interior designers and homeowners with the opportunity to overturn balance and harmony, and instead inject power and excitement into their environments.  “Use them to activate your interiors,” Wanders says.

“Quality speaks for itself. With our pieces, you can be creative and make wonderful spaces.”  Even a single Moooi piece, Wanders believes, when introduced into an interior, will transform that space, making it more powerful. “You will have brought life and energy to your project, rather than simply having harmonious, balanced surroundings,” he says.

As art director, Wanders says he is drawn to what he feels are inspirational design pieces, but with a practical edge. “I am always interested in innovative, cool, new ideas, but they must also be able to play an important role in the lives and homes of the people who own them.  A lot of contemporary designs are incredible but do not work in a home, only in a magazine. Products that we make must also be able to find a place in homes, be functional or useful or surprising in the context, or add a different note to the interior,” he says, “then we will sell them and people will be happy to own them.”

Subscribing to market trends, or indeed even thinking about them, is not something that exercises the creative mind of Wanders, who emphatically dismisses any involvement in the concept. “No, we are not interested in trends. People come to see what we do; it has to be that way. We do not follow.”

The Moooi brand is different to other product brands, he says. “We want to be a design brand – we do not tell designers what to do, but instead we strive to listen to them and allow them to develop their own styles. We make products in their styles, so our brand is eclectic: a weird composition of different things,” he says. “Otherwise we would be a styling company.”

While Wanders is the original designer at Moooi, the company’s collection also includes the work of other international designers such as Arihiro Miyake, Bertjan Pot, Maarten Baas, Umut Yamac and Joost van Bleiswijk.

“Designers have their own ideas and we want to bring these into the world as crisp and clean and perfect as we can. Our products are very different –  in terms of technology, functionality, materials, inspiration – and that’s why our collection looks and feels different to products we are used to seeing,” he says.

Every item in the Moooi collection exudes quality and is designed to be a unique, standout piece in a home or commercial interior. Wanders feels strongly that it is important to be able to step away from the conformity of a balanced world, and says a good designer will enjoy putting products from different collections together.  “Our collections are designed to challenge designers to explore different themes and ideas and to make them work alongside each other. In this way you will create an exceptional interior – one that is both energising and inspiring,” he says.

Every item in the Moooi collection exudes quality and is designed to be a unique, standout piece in a home or commercial interior. Wanders feels strongly that it is important to be able to step away from the conformity of a balanced world, and says a good designer will enjoy putting products from different collections together.  “Our collections are designed to challenge designers to explore different themes and ideas and to make them work alongside each other. In this way you will create an exceptional interior – one that is both energising and inspiring,” he says.

Designs are smart, original, exclusive, whimsical and, like the new Perch Light Tree, by  London-based architect and designer Umut Yamac, often playful. This sophisticated version of an origami bird perched on a branch is light and ethereal, and creates a charming and captivating image.

The sense of artistry carries through to the rugs in Moooi’s colourful and captivating Signatures carpet collection.  From rich, exotic florals to powerful geometric patterns, these rugs, many designed by Wanders himself, are intense, eye-catching and engaging. The high-definition, photo-realistic designs are printed using a state-of-the-art system that reproduces almost every possible colour nuance.

Comfort and style are combined in the clean, contemporary lines of the Jackson chair, also designed by Wanders. This black leather chair, with its embroidered backrest and optional footstool, both reclines and swivels to provide the ultimate pampering experience.

Seventeen years since Wanders and Vissers started their design business, Moooi is fundamentally the same company – larger, much more successful and internationally recognised – but still adhering to the original company values. “We aim to be creative, human, friendly and honest as a company, listen to our designers, staff and clients, and we want these qualities to be reflected in our collections,” says Wanders.

“One of our oldest relationships is with ECC,” says Wanders. “The two companies have worked together for a long time, and even when we were just beginning ECC recognised something in us.  It was amazing that a company of their quality and size was prepared to take the risk when we were a small Dutch company, starting to develop our first products. Loyalty is an important part of this relationship and I hope we will continue building together,” he says.