Moooi

This Dutch furniture, interior, and lighting modern design company^[1] was founded by Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers in the Netherlands in 2001.

Name & Stated Mission

The brand takes its name from the Dutch word for beautiful (mooi, pronounced “moy”).^[2][3] According to Vissers, the extra O is intended to convey “extra value in terms of beauty and uniqueness.”^[4] The brand’s mission statement is to “make the environment more beautiful, inspiring, and exciting.” ^[5] Moooi’s motto is “The Unexpected Welcome.”

Moooi emphasizes photography as an important part of their brand presentation, stating their position as "[where] interior design meets...artistic photography and they connect, creating the perfect balance between two inspiring, stylish, and playful worlds."^[6]

History & Ownership

Designer Marcel Wanders first approached Moooi co-founder and former CEO Casper Vissers to help him market a designer lamp shade. Together they founded Moooi in 2001 with the intention of working with unconventional designers.^[2]

Wanders acts as both the Art Director and the primary designer of Moooi.^[7] His Co-Art Director is Desiree de Jong, who has worked with him since founding.^[8]

Moooi's first international show was the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2001. In 2002 entrepreneur Hans Lensvelt, owner of the LENSVELT brand of office furniture, became a 33% owner of the company. Prominent Italian design brand B&B Italia acquired a 50% share in the company in 2006, which it held until 2012.^[9] That year, founders Wanders and Vissers became the majority owners again after buying back half of the stock owned by B&B Italia and the remaining shares held by Lensvelt (by this time 10%).^[10] In 2015 Wanders and Vissers, who previously owned 50% of the company, again became the majority shareholders.^[11]

Vissers stepped down as Moooi CEO in 2015, and he and Wanders announced Robin Bevers, the Managing Director of the Marcel Wanders Studio from 2005 to 2010, as his replacement beginning in September of that year. Wanders continues to act as Art Director and Paul Molenschot as General Manager.^[7]

Products

Since the company's 2001 founding, Moooi has presented its new collection each year at Milan's Salone del Mobile.

Moooi fabricates and sells furniture designs by founder Marcel Wanders, called “Milan’s Houdini of materials” by the NY Times,^[2] as well as other Dutch and international designers such as Jurgen Bey, Maarten Baas, Studio Job, Jaime Hayon, Jasper Morrison, Piet Boon, Richard Hutten, and lighting designer Bertjan Pot, amongst others.

Vissers has stated that the company selects work from designers who either approach them with specific pieces or whose pieces catch his or Wanders' eye.^[4] The company carries lighting, seating, accessories, tables, and storage collections. Moooi sells its products in 79 countries via a network of agents, retailers, and distributors.^[12]

The design company's first internationally successful products were its 2004 award-winning Light Shade Shade and Smoke Chair by Maarten Baas^[13] as well as the subsequent almost life-size horse lamp by Front. The company’s other most popular products include the Random, Raimond, and Heracleum lighting fixtures and the Container table.^[14] Bertjan Pot's prop light has been used a symbol of the brand since its 2014 debut.^[15]

Primarily known for statement pieces and lighting fixtures, Vissers has stated the company’s intention to also include more subtle furniture pieces in their forthcoming lines.^[16] Beginning in 2013, the company has begun presenting complete interiors, as also seen Salone del Mobile 2014 in via Savona 56. "Half of the settings are environments you can imagine to be a little bit of a home and the other half are more artistic," Wanders said.^[17] The brand calls their new strategy “find your way home".^[18] The 2014 collection includes cushioned seating with colorful prints, marble-and-metal tables and lighting, and solid oak and birch dining sets.^[16] Moooi's 2015 collection includes a giant rocking horse called Arion, the Power Nap daybed, the Coppelia Light, the Shift Chair, the Raimond Tensegrity Floor Lamp, and a wireless LED grid light called Space-Frame.^[17]

Licenses & Business Development

In 2014, Moooi introduced brand licensing. The first licensing agreement is with Luxury Hotel Cosmetics, whose Moooi line of products is built around the theme “feeling at home".^[4]

In 2015 Moooi launched a new carpet company, Moooi Carpets, with high-resolution carpet designs using photography. In the 2015 Milan exhibition, carpets designed by Studio Job, Ross Lovegrove, and Neri&Hu were shown.^[19]

Locations

• The company is headquartered in Breda, the Netherlands, and the Moooi warehouse is located in the same region.^[20]
• Moooi’s 700 m² flagship showroom and brand store, opened in 2008, is located in Amsterdam’s Jordaan neighborhood.^[21] Until 2013, the showroom and shop was known as the Moooi Gallery and also hosted special exhibitions, such as the 2010 exhibition by Lorenzo Petrantoni.^[22] In 2013 the brand decided the space should show only Moooi products.
• In 2010, a showroom was opened in London’s Paddington district. (It can be visited by appointment only.)^[23] A separate London location is opening in July 2015 at The Residency in the Sea Containers House along the Thames.^[24]
• Moooi opened a showroom in Milan’s Zona Tortona in 2010. It was closed in 2013.^[25]
• A New York City showroom and brand store opened in April 2015 in a 3,875 ft² (360 m²) showroom in the city's NoMad area.^[26]
• Moooi products are offered in various design stores in 79 countries.^[20]

Projects & Collaborations

The company frequently collaborates with photographers such as Erwin Olaf to present collections, beginning with the brand’s first Salone del Mobile in 2001. Collaborations have included “Naked Portraits” (2002-2006), “Super Heroes” (2007-2008), “Luxury Accessories” (2008), “Inside the Box” (2012). For Moooi’s new collection presentation in Milan in 2013, Wanders asked Olaf to select photographs from his personal work, a collection of interior design photography.^[27] For the 2014 exhibition, the brand collaborated with photographer Massimo Listri.^[28] In 2015 it was Rahi Rezvani.^[29] Levi van Veleuw's work was installed in the Amsterdam and London showrooms in 2013.^[6] Rezvani's work is also currently featured in Moooi's new NYC showroom.^[26]

In 2012 and 2013, Moooi collaborated with Frame magazine to reward the designer who submitted “the best custom-created lamp or furnishing designed for a specific interior” with €25,000. The final winners in 2013, before the competition was discontinued, were designers Itay Ohaly, Thomas Vailly, and Christian Fiebig for their piece “Impulsive Furnishing Unit,” a portable furniture fabrication unit. Entries were judged this year by Jana Scholzte, the Victoria & Albert Museum’s contemporary design curator. Designer Philippe Stark was the judge in 2012,^[30] and the winner of the 2012 award was Bertjan Pot, now a frequent collaborator with the brand.^[31]

Exhibitions

• New York’s MoMA museum has acquired two of Wanders’ chairs (one produced by Moooi) for its permanent collection.^[32]
• In 2013, Moooi collaborated with photographer Erwin Olaf to present The Unexpected Welcome during Milan Design Week’s 2013 Salone del Mobile.^[33][34]
• During Milan Design Week 2014, Moooi presented their new collection with large-scale interior photography by Massimo Listri.^[35][36] This exhibition was also called The Unexpected Welcome, Moooi’s brand tagline.^[37][38]
• At the 2015 Salone del Mobile in Milan, Moooi debuted their 2015 collection, including the new carpet collection, alongside the photography of Rahi Rezvani.^[29][19]
• Moooi also created online walkthroughs of the 2013,^[39] 2014,^[40] and 2015^[41] Salone del Mobile exhibitions to extend their accessibility.^[42]
• Moooi paired with Listri for an exhibition at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City in May of 2015, where the brand previously exhibited in 2014, 2013, 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2004.^[43]
• Wanders’ Mermaids project, a photographic collection of human “mermaids” exploring Moooi’s lighting and furniture collection, showed at the London Design Festival in 2011.^[44] The brand also appeared in the 2013 and 2012 editions of this festival.^[13]
• Moooi exhibited at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in 2013, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003.^[13]
• Moooi has also exhibited several times at Design POST during the imm Cologne furniture trade show, in 2013, 2012, and 2007 as well as in Cologne’s Orgatec fair for interior office design in 2012.^[45][46]
• Additional exhibitions Moooi has participated in include:^[13]
  • Amsterdam’s Via Milano New Dutch Design exhibitions 2002–2006 and 2008–2010;
  • The 2011 HD Expo & Conference in Las Vegas;
  • The CIBONE exhibition at Designtide Tokyo in 2008;^[47]
  • The 2004 “Brilliant” exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London;
  • The 2003 “Somewhere Totally Else” exhibition at the London Design Museum;
  • The 2002 Dutch Design exhibit at Apartment Zero in Washington, D.C.;
  • The “Skin: Surface, Substance and Design” exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian design museum (2002);
  • The 2002 Milan in a Van exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum;
  • A 2001 exhibition at the LIMN gallery of contemporary art in San Francisco, California; and
  • The 2001 traveling Hitec-Lotec exhibition in the UK.

Awards & Recognition

• 100% Design Blueprint Award for the Best Design of 2002 Elle Décor UK award for the 2002 Best Lighting Design and the Elle Décor International award for Lighting & Accessories for Light Shade Shade by Jurgen Bey^[13]
• FX International Interior Design Award for Best Furniture & Lighting^[13]
• 100% Design Blueprint award nomination for Best Product of 2004 for the Carbon Chair and City System^[13]
• 2006 Woon Award for Best Home Interior Professionals^[48]
• 2006 Elle Décor’s Designer of the Year (Marcel Wanders)^[49]
• 2007 Elle Décor International Design Award for the Best Lighting Design for the Paper Chandelier by Studio Job^[13]
• Shortlisted for the London Design Museum’s 2012 Designs of the Year for the Heracleum chandelier by Bertjan Pot^[50] (All shortlisted designs were exhibited at the museum.)
• 2013 Rotterdam Design Award nomination for the “Unexpected Welcome” exhibition at Milan’s Salone del Mobile with photographer Erwin Olaf^[51]
• 2014 LEF Award for Boldness in the first EH&I awards by Dutch interior design magazine Eigen Huis & Interieur (“Own House & Interior”)^[52]
• Best Lighting Brand design award from Harper’s Bazar Interiors magazine for the Prop Lamp by Bertjan Pot^[53]

Links

• “Moooi website”
• "Moooi carpets"
• "Moooi Luxury Hotel Cosmetics"
• “Marcel Wanders website”
• “B&B Italia website”
• “Frame Moooi Award website”
• “Studio Job website”
• “Bertjan Pot website”
• "Moooi on Deezeen"

References