Industry Interior Design Area served Worldwide Founded 2001 | Headquarters Breda, the Netherlands Number of employees 45 (September 2014) Parent organization B&B ITALIA S.P.A. | |
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Number of locations Breda (HQ), Amsterdam (showroom & brand store), London (showroom), and New York City (showroom & brand store) Products Furniture
Lighting
Interior design Founders Marcel Wanders, Casper Vissers | ||
Moooi s milan show featured huge photographs and a giant unicorn rocking horse
This Dutch furniture, interior, and lighting modern design company was founded by Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers in the Netherlands in 2001.
Contents
Moooi smoke
Name & Stated Mission
The brand takes its name from the Dutch word for beautiful (mooi, pronounced “moy”). According to Vissers, the extra O is intended to convey “extra value in terms of beauty and uniqueness.” The brand’s mission statement is to “make the environment more beautiful, inspiring, and exciting.” Moooi’s motto is “The Unexpected Welcome.”
Moooi emphasizes photography as an important part of their brand presentation, stating their position as "[where] interior design meets...artistic photography and they connect, creating the perfect balance between two inspiring, stylish, and playful worlds."
History & Ownership
Designer Marcel Wanders first approached Moooi co-founder and former CEO Casper Vissers to help him market a designer lamp shade. Together they founded Moooi in 2001 with the intention of working with unconventional designers.
Wanders acts as both the Art Director and the primary designer of Moooi. His Co-Art Director is Desiree de Jong, who has worked with him since founding.
Moooi's first international show was the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2001. In 2002 entrepreneur Hans Lensvelt, owner of the LENSVELT brand of office furniture, became a 33% owner of the company. Prominent Italian design brand B&B Italia acquired a 50% share in the company in 2006, which it held until 2012. That year, founders Wanders and Vissers became the majority owners again after buying back half of the stock owned by B&B Italia and the remaining shares held by Lensvelt (by this time 10%). In 2015 Wanders and Vissers, who previously owned 50% of the company, again became the majority shareholders.
Vissers stepped down as Moooi CEO in 2015, and he and Wanders announced Robin Bevers, the Managing Director of the Marcel Wanders Studio from 2005 to 2010, as his replacement beginning in September of that year. Wanders continues to act as Art Director and Paul Molenschot as General Manager.
Products
Since the company's 2001 founding, Moooi has presented its new collection each year at Milan's Salone del Mobile.
Moooi fabricates and sells furniture designs by founder Marcel Wanders, called “Milan’s Houdini of materials” by the NY Times, as well as other Dutch and international designers such as Jurgen Bey, Maarten Baas, Studio Job, Jaime Hayon, Jasper Morrison, Piet Boon, Richard Hutten, and lighting designer Bertjan Pot, amongst others.
Vissers has stated that the company selects work from designers who either approach them with specific pieces or whose pieces catch his or Wanders' eye. The company carries lighting, seating, accessories, tables, and storage collections. Moooi sells its products in 79 countries via a network of agents, retailers, and distributors.
The design company's first internationally successful products were its 2004 award-winning Light Shade Shade and Smoke Chair by Maarten Baas as well as the subsequent almost life-size horse lamp by Front. The company’s other most popular products include the Random, Raimond, and Heracleum lighting fixtures and the Container table. Bertjan Pot's prop light has been used a symbol of the brand since its 2014 debut.
Primarily known for statement pieces and lighting fixtures, Vissers has stated the company’s intention to also include more subtle furniture pieces in their forthcoming lines. Beginning in 2013, the company has begun presenting complete interiors, as also seen Salone del Mobile 2014 in via Savona 56. "Half of the settings are environments you can imagine to be a little bit of a home and the other half are more artistic," Wanders said. The brand calls their new strategy “find your way home". The 2014 collection includes cushioned seating with colorful prints, marble-and-metal tables and lighting, and solid oak and birch dining sets. Moooi's 2015 collection includes a giant rocking horse called Arion, the Power Nap daybed, the Coppelia Light, the Shift Chair, the Raimond Tensegrity Floor Lamp, and a wireless LED grid light called Space-Frame.
Licenses & Business Development
In 2014, Moooi introduced brand licensing. The first licensing agreement is with Luxury Hotel Cosmetics, whose Moooi line of products is built around the theme “feeling at home".
In 2015 Moooi launched a new carpet company, Moooi Carpets, with high-resolution carpet designs using photography. In the 2015 Milan exhibition, carpets designed by Studio Job, Ross Lovegrove, and Neri&Hu were shown.
Locations
Projects & Collaborations
The company frequently collaborates with photographers such as Erwin Olaf to present collections, beginning with the brand’s first Salone del Mobile in 2001. Collaborations have included “Naked Portraits” (2002-2006), “Super Heroes” (2007-2008), “Luxury Accessories” (2008), “Inside the Box” (2012). For Moooi’s new collection presentation in Milan in 2013, Wanders asked Olaf to select photographs from his personal work, a collection of interior design photography. For the 2014 exhibition, the brand collaborated with photographer Massimo Listri. In 2015 it was Rahi Rezvani. Levi van Veleuw's work was installed in the Amsterdam and London showrooms in 2013. Rezvani's work is also currently featured in Moooi's new NYC showroom.
In 2012 and 2013, Moooi collaborated with Frame magazine to reward the designer who submitted “the best custom-created lamp or furnishing designed for a specific interior” with €25,000. The final winners in 2013, before the competition was discontinued, were designers Itay Ohaly, Thomas Vailly, and Christian Fiebig for their piece “Impulsive Furnishing Unit,” a portable furniture fabrication unit. Entries were judged this year by Jana Scholzte, the Victoria & Albert Museum’s contemporary design curator. Designer Philippe Stark was the judge in 2012, and the winner of the 2012 award was Bertjan Pot, now a frequent collaborator with the brand.