Sabine Marcelis Transforms Light and Color into Immersive Museum Installations
The Dutch designer explores material transparency through large-scale spatial interventions in Zurich.
1Museum Exhibition Debut
Sabine Marcelis launches her first museum exhibition, Light and Color, at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. Running from October 30, 2026, to April 4, 2027, the show occupies the Toni-Areal venue. It features a curated blend of recent furniture designs and new, site-specific installations that challenge traditional retrospective formats through spatial experiences.
2Materiality and Light
The exhibition investigates how materials like glass, resin, and stone capture and transform light. Marcelis moves beyond individual objects to create environments where transparency and reflection guide the visitor. By displaying material studies alongside finished works, she reveals the technical experiments that define her signature approach to elusive, shifting physical forms.
3Mathmos Lava Collaboration
Marcelis expands her collaboration with British manufacturer Mathmos through a mirrored installation featuring eight 2.56-meter-high lava columns. These columns utilize frosted glass and Bubblegum pink lava to create an infinite field of light. This project bridges the gap between industrial manufacturing expertise and her artistic vision for large-scale, time-based light installations.
4Scaling Through Repetition
The installation transforms the familiar VARMBLIXT lamp, designed with IKEA, into an eleven-meter-long walk-through tunnel. By repeating 125 individual units against a gradient mirror wall, Marcelis gives a mass-produced object architectural depth. This technique demonstrates how repetition can elevate everyday consumer products into immersive, rhythmic environments that exceed their original domestic scale.
5Capturing Natural Rhythms
In collaboration with Boris Acket, the Sunbeam Captured installation simulates the interaction between sunlight and water. Mechanically generated waves ripple across a thin water layer while a moving light source traces solar patterns. A gradient mirror shifting from blue to orange amplifies these effects, emphasizing the role of time in design.
6Manufacturing and Prototyping
The collaboration with Mathmos highlights the importance of factory-level prototyping in achieving specific aesthetic results. Marcelis visited the Dorset facility to refine the final prototypes, ensuring the lava lamp’s unique combination of light, color, and translucency remained intact. This process underscores the intersection of high-end design concepts and industrial production capabilities.
7Spatial Design Strategy
Marcelis employs a restrained exhibition design to allow light effects to unfold naturally. By alternating between individual object displays and room-sized installations, she controls the viewer's focus. This strategic arrangement ensures that shifts in transparency and color remain the primary narrative, rather than being overshadowed by the surrounding gallery architecture.
8Impact of Immersive Design
By integrating movement and time as core materials, Marcelis redefines the museum experience. The exhibition proves that light and color are not static elements but dynamic forces that reshape perceived space. This approach challenges visitors to reconsider the properties of common materials and the potential for design to alter human perception.