Marcel Wanders, a product designer

Marcel Wanders, born in 1963, Boxtel, the Netherlands, moves unhindered between materials and disciplines. Wanders studied at the Academy of Arts in Arnhem and worked mostly as a freelance designer before founding his first firm, Wanders Wonders, in 1995. He runs his own studio in Amsterdam and is the art director and designer of the pioneering design firm, Moooi. Wanders Wonders, his studio in Amsterdam, clients companies such as Boffi, Cappellini, DroogDesign, Flos, Mandarina Duck and Magis. …

…and despite its plain colour, it's the cleverest sort of design you would ever come across. The pieces aren't what people would regard of as conventionally beautiful - it has a different slant on it and at the same time, because of his background in industrial design, it's very functional. "I'm not so interested in formal design but what people will do with the piece, design is about following life, about making the unexpected welcome."