Sabine Marcelis has been named AD Designer of the Year 2025, a recognition that celebrates her profound impact on contemporary design and her constant redefinition of materiality, colour and light. Working between product, installation and spatial design, Marcelis has developed a singular visual language that is both technically sophisticated and emotionally resonant — a language that Side Gallery has championed since the early years of her practice.

Born in New Zealand and based in Rotterdam, Marcelis has built a career around investigating the behaviour of materials, particularly glass and resin, whose manipulative potential allows her to achieve translucent surfaces, chromatic gradients and pure, sculptural forms. Her work often captures ephemeral natural phenomena — moments of light, reflection and atmosphere — distilled into objects and environments that heighten perception.
A central chapter in Marcelis’ trajectory is her collaboration with Side Gallery, which has supported the development of experimental, site-specific projects as well as unique collectible works. One of the most significant outcomes of this partnership is NO FEAR OF GLASS (2019), a site-specific intervention at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. Commissioned by Side Gallery in collaboration with the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the project subverted the historical request made to Mies “not to use too much glass,” instead pushing the material to its limits. Five original works were installed seamlessly within the architecture: monumental glass-and-travertine chaises, a mirrored-light column aligned with the Pavilion’s structure, and a curved glass fountain emerging from the pond outside.

The project was later expanded into a publication — NO FEAR OF GLASS (2021) — featuring texts by Anna Puigjaner and Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, launched at the Pavilion in a public conversation hosted by the Foundation and Side Gallery.
Other notable collaborations with the gallery include Pavilion Block, Marcelis’ reinterpretation of the Barcelona Pavilion’s material language into a series of architectural resin-glass volumes; the celebrated Candy Cube series, whose luminous, polished resin surfaces have become emblematic of her practice; and the Totem Lights, developed exclusively with Side Gallery in 2019.
More recently, Marcelis presented the Stacked Collection at Design Miami 2023 — a new body of work that expands her research into transparency, layering and structural tension.

Across all these projects, Marcelis’ approach remains anchored in material experimentation, industrial collaboration and the poetic potential of light. Her ability to fuse technical precision with visual clarity has positioned her as one of the defining voices of her generation — and the AD Designer of the Year 2025 award further cements her international influence.

Side Gallery proudly continues to represent Sabine Marcelis, presenting both her iconic works and newly developed pieces that reflect her ever-evolving exploration of material and form.