Color as style and identity: Sabine Marcelis at the Vitra Design Museum

The Dutch designer, spotlighted at the Vitra Schaudepot exhibition in Color Rush!, takes us on a journey through color and iconic design pieces

Sabine Marcelis @ Vitra Design Museum
Sabine Marcelis @ Vitra Design Museum

Color Rush! is a tribute to color and its symbolic power, telling the stories of trends, eras, and pieces. Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis‘s permanent collection brightens the Vitra Schaudepot exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum this year. 

The installation consists of over four hundred pieces on display until May 2024, a fascinating interplay of quotes and stylistic references. The immersion in pop colors elicits emotions and almost physical sensations, evoking color’s central role as the defining trait of personal and collective identity. 

"Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis", Vitra Schaudepot © Vitra Design Museum. Ph: Mark Niedermann
“Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis”, Vitra Schaudepot © Vitra Design Museum. Ph: Mark Niedermann

Her iconic pieces are given new life as the arrangement by color creates special interplays and juxtapositions of shapes and textures, enhanced by a translucent background of different hues. The exhibition makes it immediately clear how a careful choice of colors and nuances is central to design, defining the personality of rooms and individual pieces alike.

"Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis", Vitra Schaudepot © Vitra Design Museum. Ph: Mark Niedermann © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022
“Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis”, Vitra Schaudepot © Vitra Design Museum. Ph: Mark Niedermann © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022

A leading name in the world of furniture and lighting design, Sabine Marcelis has taken the study of color as a key feature of her process, working on glossy surfaces, refractions and shades of pastel colors.

Color is a theme that crosses through art and design, arousing the interest of scholars and scientists of every age. This is why the exhibition includes documents from the museum’s archives, which together convey a single essential message: color is the greatest expression of life.

"Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis", Vitra Schaudepot © Vitra Design Museum, Ph: Mark Niedermann © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022
“Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis”, Vitra Schaudepot © Vitra Design Museum, Ph: Mark Niedermann © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022