+ +
BY DEYVANSHI MASRANI
THE SHAPES OF
WATER FENDI presents a gorgeous installation by Sabine Marcelis using one of its most cherished elements: water.
the Maison presented a gorgeous installation called “The Shapes of Water,” designed by Sabine Marcelis. Paying homage to one of FENDI’s most cherished and respected elements—water— Marcelis used water in all of her 10 sculptures, each drawing inspiration from a different FENDI symbol, including the recognizable FF logo, the brand’s headquarters and even its quintessential Peekaboo bag, also celebrating its 10th anniversary. The Dutch designer uses cast resin and a warm color palette to mirror the Roman skies. I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Marcelis, as she showcased her gorgeous installation at the FENDI booth at this year’s Design Miami/. Walk me through each of the pieces and explain your thought process behind the installation as a whole. FENDI approached me to do the installation this year and looking at all the past years, I had first thought that I wasn’t too keen on doing furniture and I always try to do something more different and unexpected. So when I went to the headquarters and toured the ateliers and really got to dive into the history of the brand, this theme of water kept popping up. I was trying to find something unique that would serve as a starting point for the project. Then the first ever fashion movie made was made by FENDI in the ’70s and it’s called L’Histoire D’Eau and it’s about water with the FENDI Fountains Foundation, so I though it’d be amazing to work with water as a material. So I pitched it to them thinking they’d never go for it but they were really excited and open to it, which was super nice. Then together with the FENDI team and Silvia, we sort of started thinking about how to link it to the brand even more, so we identified 10 icons. So we have the logo, which is interpreted twice, the Peekaboo bag, obviously because it’s the 10-year anniversary, and then the “Tegole”…..Also the brand is so linked to Rome, where they have amazing sunsets. That’s actually why I placed that piece there so you can really see the headquarters as a building with the sky behind it. What does it mean for you, as a young artist, to partner with such an iconic brand on this project, seeing as how it is also its 10-year anniversary with Design Miami/? It’s a total honor, of course. I think the great thing about it is that for me, it allows me an opportunity to do something that for one, I never would’ve done out of my own free initiative because it’s so linked to the brand. I used to think that if you were working for a brand it’d 58 HAUTE LIVING hauteresidence.com
be a compromise from your own ideas. but in a project like this, it’s a sum of all parts, which just adds to the project. It’s not a compromise, it’s like two worlds coming together to create something new. For me, it was a really super opportunity to try something that I would otherwise not be able to just do on my own. How, if at all, has social media impacted your art world? Was that part of your thought process at all in your creations? I realize that Instagram has been quite an important part of why I am able to do what I do. It’s easy now for people to find me if they see me on Instagram. So now there’s a quicker link between the client and the artist than there was before. But I find it problematic that there are museums that are actually made to be “Instagrammable.” For me it was about creating a space to have an experience and light is extremely important to experience these objects. The reason we put these light boxes in the background is because it’s how we did the photoshoot and that’s how each came to its best abilities. For me it’s purely to present the world in the most optimal, physical way. What I always try to create is for someone to come and look a little bit longer, to take their time and look around each. They’re designed in a threedimensional way because they look a bit different from each angle. What about the music? Can you tell me about it? I worked with one of my good friends, a photographer, Carl Kleiner. We set up all the fountains in my house and for a week he stayed on my couch and we did the photoshoot and the film all within that week. He created the music with it as well, always knowing it was going to be presented here as part of the whole experience. It’s got a bit of a water-dripping effect but it doesn’t compete with the sound of the actual water from each fountain, it’s more of a calming experience. Why is cast resin your material of choice? It’s a material I’ve been working with for quite a long time. The beauty with working with one material for a long time is that in every project you can challenge yourself and the material a bit more. Every project is a new opportunity to go a step further. For me my fascination with this material from the beginning is that you can so readily play with the interaction of light. You can completely manipulate it to have so many different characteristics. Now it has all these reflective qualities because it’s super polished. And another material I work a lot with is glass, which has a lot of the same qualities. You can really play with it and layer it. And it’s also the perfect material to make these complicated shapes.
PHOTO COURTESY OF FENDI
FOR FENDI AND DESIGN MIAMI/‘S 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY,
