Sabine Marcelis: stone that swivels, a Norfolk passage and a lava lamp at sixty

London met her in stone. For the London Design Festival in 2022, Sabine Marcelis made Swivel in travertine and quartzite, and the idea outlived the festival: the Swivel Chairs, in natural stone, have belonged to her studio’s own collection since that year. Two more commissions followed in 2023. Honing Passage, for Norfolk County Council, is built from coloured two-way mirror; the 60th Anniversary Lava Lamp was made for Mathmos. Stone, mirror, a lamp: the spread is typical of an artist and designer who moves between product, installation and spatial design and treats the material as the subject, in pure forms that show what it can do. Wallpaper* named her Designer of the Year in 2020, Monocle in 2023, Dezeen a year later, in 2024.

Upholstery came in 2025 with Lisse, the two-piece family, sofa plus pouf, made by LaCividina. She had met the maker’s catalogue from the other side of the table: fitting out the Research Centre of Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, she chose Osaka for the seating, the sofa Pierre Paulin designed in 1967 and LaCividina reissued. A British lobby or members’ lounge can pair the two; La Mercanti settles the specification with the architect, piece by piece.