With the Sponge Vase, Marcel Wanders developed a technique to produce porcelain objects without the use of plaster moulds. A natural sponge is taken and dipped under fluid porcelain clay, the clay impregnates the sponge and after drying, the porcelain-impregnated dry sponge is burned in a regular ceramic oven. The sponge totally disappears and the porcelain perfectly copies the shape of the sponge. This process allows Moooi to create a product which is industrially reproducible, but different every time.
The Moooi Sponge Vase looks just as good with or without flowers.
Marcel Wanders (1963) grew up in Boxtel, the Netherlands, and graduated at the School of the Arts Arnhem in 1988 with a cum laude certificate. He is now an independent industrial product designer operating out of Amsterdam where he has his own studio, Marcel Wanders studio.
Designs of Marcel Wanders have been selected for the most important design collections and exhibitions in the world, like the Museum of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Central Museum in Utrecht, and various Droog Design exhibitions