Pregnant chair by Trent Jansen and Marcel Wanders for Moooi, 2008

The creative force behind some of the most inventive furniture and interiors of the past 30 years, the Amsterdam-based Marcel Wanders continues to take his work in new directions.

Wanders, who launched his design career in 1994 as cofounder, with Renny Ramakers and Gijs Bakker, of Droog, has since built an international brand of his own, Marcel Wanders, embodying his sense that design should be playful, romantic, verging on surreal and — when there’s a choice between the two — over- rather than understated. Moooi, a furniture brand he cofounded with Revised’s Casper Vissers, was established in 2001.

Wanders's style might best be defined as contemporary Rococo. Individual pieces that have reached design icon status include his Knotted chair (1995–96), an international breakthrough for Wanders that he made of aramid-fiber cord for Cappellini; his Skygarden pendant lamp for FLOS (2007); his monumental Calvin floor lamp (also 2007). Then there’s the Happy Hour chandelier (2005), created by Wanders with choreographer Nanine Linning, which is part a design object, part a performance in which a “dancing angel” hangs from the center of the fixture, serving little spoons of chocolate mousse and champagne flutes to the people below.

Wanders’s studio collaborations include creating bespoke hides with leather artisans from Bill Amberg Studio and designing crystal game boards for Maison Baccarat, in addition to the handcrafted Nightbloom lamps for Lladró. Wanders is also known for designing what might be called experiential spaces — interiors imbued with his design ethos, as in the eclectic and theatrical Mondrian South Beach hotel, in Miami (2008), and the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht hotel (2012).

Find a collection of authentic Marcel Wanders sofas, chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.

Designer Trent Jansen is at the forefront of design anthropology, a furniture and interior design movement in which designers and anthropologists work closely to produce products informed by the symbolism and visual principles of other cultures.

Each piece he designs has a rough, primal energy derived from a variety of techniques, whether incorporating scales into the surface of a side table or suggesting a spider’s shape through the form of a bench. Jansen holds immense respect for heritage, reverently and conscientiously embedding cultural identity and history in his pieces. 

Jansen grew up in the small town of Kiama on the southeast Australian coast. He began his studies at the Industrial Design School of the University of Alberta in Canada and then transferred to the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales, where he received his bachelor’s degree in design. He later earned a PhD from the University of Wollongong. 

He then worked under Dutch designer Marcel Wanders in Amsterdam. In 2004, Jansen returned to Australia and opened his design studio in Sydney. Eventually, he relocated to Thirroul on the southern coast of Australia’s New South Wales.

Jansen has exhibited his work in solo and group shows worldwide, including at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, and venues in Singapore, Beijing and Milan. His awards include the 2008 Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award, the Australia Council for the Arts “Project Funding” Award in 2019 and 2017 and a 2021 Design Files + Laminex Design Award.

Today, Jansen continues to design new pieces and create outstanding works of furniture out of his studio in Thirroul.

On 1stDibs, find an intriguing array of Trent Jansen seating, tables, storage pieces and more.