Through explorations of deep time and material transformation, Dutch designer Onno Adriaanse recontextualizes the ancient world into contemporary sculptural objects.
The work of Dutch designer Onno Adriaanse presents a quiet defiance against the ephemeral nature of modern consumption. Operating from his studio in Eindhoven, Adriaanse occupies a space where the rigorous logic of functional design meets the visceral, often unpredictable narratives of the natural world. His objects do not merely occupy a room; they anchor it, offering a physical record of geological processes and hand-worked intervention. In an era increasingly defined by the digital and the discardable, Adriaanse looks toward the heavy, the ancient, and the permanent.
At Edition Solenne, the introduction of the Fossil collection marks a significant evolution in Adriaanse’s practice. By engaging with materials such as cast bronze, mouth-blown glass, and rare marbles, he has shifted his focus toward a dialogue between the biological past and the domestic present. These works, which debuted during the 3daysofdesign 2025 festival in Copenhagen, demonstrate a mastery of what the artist calls “visual tension.” It is a tension between the softness of a hand-carved form and the unyielding strength of stone or metal, between the static nature of a fossil and the active life of a functional object.
Origins
Onno Adriaanse graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2016, an institution known for cultivating designers who prioritize conceptual depth alongside technical execution. His early education was marked by a restlessness regarding the traditional boundaries of furniture making. Rather than adhering to the established rules of ergonomics or mass production, Adriaanse began his career by questioning how a material’s inherent properties could be subverted to evoke emotional responses. His studio was founded shortly after his graduation, serving as a laboratory for experiments that often blurred the lines between sculpture and function.
Biographical accounts of his early years in the studio reveal a designer deeply committed to the act of making by hand. Adriaanse has often cited his formative years at the Academy as a time of intense material curiosity. This was not merely about aesthetic preference but about a fundamental desire to understand how objects interact with their environment. His early projects, such as the Spectrum cabinets and the kinetic installation Flux, were birthed from a process of physical trial and error rather than digital simulation. This hands-on ethos remains the cornerstone of his practice today, ensuring that every work, whether a unique commission or a limited edition, carries the distinct marks of its creation.
The practice
The broader oeuvre of Onno Adriaanse is characterized by an ongoing investigation into what he describes as “sculptural design.” This approach is perhaps most evident in his celebrated Foamed series, where he took the humble and traditionally hidden material of construction foam and elevated it to a primary structural element. By subverting the expectations of foam, which is typically seen as fragile or unstable, Adriaanse created furniture that looked soft yet possessed a surprising structural integrity. This series was exhibited as part of the Mutant Matter exhibition in Milan, where Adriaanse stood out for his ability to find beauty in the industrial and the overlooked.
Adriaanse’s practice is inherently material-oriented. Whether he is working with epoxy and copper for his Kaarsrecht candle holders or experimenting with polarization filters for his Spectrum cabinets, the material choice always dictates the form. His work has been shown at major design milestones including Dutch Design Week and CHART in Copenhagen, consistently receiving praise for its ability to provoke a sense of awareness in the user. For Adriaanse, the goal is not just to provide a service (like a table or a light) but to deliver an atmosphere. The objects are designed to trigger interaction, sparking a conversation between the piece, the user, and the surrounding architecture.
References and influences
The influences that permeate Adriaanse’s work are diverse, ranging from the intricacies of geological processes to the site-specific installations of contemporary art. During his studies, Adriaanse interned with Studio Drift in Amsterdam, an experience that profoundly influenced his understanding of light and kinetic sculpture. Working on monumental installations that occupied hotel lobbies and museums taught him how to manipulate space and light to create a “mesmerizing impact” on the viewer. This influence is clearly visible in his work Flux, which uses laser-cut acrylic and motors to project immersive, changing patterns across a room, creating a domestic version of the grand light installations he assisted with in Amsterdam.
Beyond the technical, Adriaanse draws deep inspiration from the natural world, specifically the way time acts upon matter. His Hedera and Fossil collections are direct reflections of this interest. He looks at how ivy (Hedera) climbs and consumes architecture, or how organic matter is trapped and petrified in rock over millions of years. These geological references are not just metaphors; they are structural guides. By mimicking the way nature builds, erodes, and preserves, Adriaanse creates objects that feel both ancient and entirely new, grounding his contemporary practice in the vast timeline of the earth's history.
There was no pre-generated computer model to guide me.
In conversation
In interviews, Onno Adriaanse often speaks about the importance of surprise and curiosity in his design language. He rejects the notion that Dutch design must be strictly functional or “slick.” Instead, he leans into the humor and provocations that have historically defined the movement. When discussing his Foamed series, he noted that the primary goal was to fascinate the viewer by showing that a material like foam could be used in a constructive, useful way, even if that utility was not the initial intent. This philosophy of “material as starting point” allows him to move beyond the constraints of traditional furniture design.
His process is famously meticulous. Adriaanse typically begins with physical prototyping, welding scrap metal or shaping wax by hand before ever moving to a digital interface. In a discussion regarding his early kinetic works, he mentioned that he had no exact form in mind when starting; the individual pieces of metal he had gathered determined the final result. This emergent way of working ensures that the finished object retains a sense of life. It is a dialogue between the designer and his materials, where the final form is a compromise between the artist’s will and the material’s inherent behavior.
The works with Edition Solenne
The relationship between Onno Adriaanse and Edition Solenne has resulted in the Fossil collection, a trilogy of works that explore the recontextualization of ancient forms within contemporary sculptural design. The collection, which includes a lamp, a side table, and a vase, marks a sophisticated transition in Adriaanse’s material palette, moving into the permanent realms of bronze, stone, and glass. Each piece in this series takes the concept of a fossil, a static remnant of life, and repositions it within a new base to create active visual compositions. This shift transforms each piece into a unique object that highlights both the natural structure and the artist’s specific intervention.
The FOSSIL TABLE LAMP (2025) is a tour de force of material weight and luminous utility. Measuring 430 x 579 x 443 mm, the lamp is composed of patinated and polished bronze, a material chosen for its ability to hold detail and its legendary longevity. Cast at the esteemed Fonderia Artistica Mariani in Italy, the work utilizes the traditional lost-wax method. This process begins with an original form captured in a flexible mould, from which a wax replica is refined by hand before being encased in ceramic and replaced by molten bronze. The result is a piece that carries the physical record of Adriaanse's hand, hardened into an alloy that will outlast its owners.
In the FOSSIL TABLE LAMP, the contrast between the rough, patinated surfaces and the polished highlights creates a dynamic interplay that mimics the discovery of a specimen within a rock face. The work is not just a light source but a piece of heavy sculpture that explores the relationship between nature and design. Adriaanse uses heat and chemistry to apply a unique patina to each of the 14 editions, ensuring that while the form is consistent, the surface finish possesses the individuality of a natural artifact. The lamp stands as a testament to the artist's ability to take the 'static remnants' of geological inspiration and imbue them with a vibrant, functional presence.
The FOSSIL SIDE TABLE (2025) continues this narrative through the medium of stone. Crafted from Verde Alpi and Nero Marquina marbles, the table is a study in monochromatic contrast and geological layering. Adriaanse has chosen these specific stones for their deep, evocative colors, the dark, veined Nero Marquina providing a stark base for the green, landscape-like qualities of the Verde Alpi. The dimensions, 430 x 579 x 443 mm, mirror the lamp in the collection, creating a cohesive visual language when the pieces are exhibited together, as they were during their debut at 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen.
In the construction of the FOSSIL SIDE TABLE, Adriaanse explores how ancient structures can be recontextualized. By hand-selecting the stone and determining the intersections of the different marble blocks, he creates a geometric fossilization. The table feels like a core sample taken from the earth's crust, then meticulously polished to reveal the beauty of its internal strata. It is a work that demands touch, inviting the user to feel the cold, smooth surface of the stone and appreciate the Millions of years of history compressed into a single, functional tabletop. Like the rest of the collection, this work is limited to an edition of 14, reinforcing its status as a rare collector's object.
Completing the collection is the FOSSIL VASE (2025), a work that captures the fluid state of matter before it settles into a permanent form. Standing 333 x 325 x 260 mm, the vase is mouth-blown at Holmegaard, Denmark’s most storied glassworks, established in 1825. Unlike the bronze and stone works which take weeks to form, glass is a material of minutes and hours. It records the breath and timing of the artisan, gathered from the furnace at over a thousand degrees and shaped while still soft. The Fossil Vase captures this movement, its organic walls and profile setting as the glass stiffens, resulting in a form that feels like a bubble of air trapped in water or ice.
The FOSSIL VASE serves as a delicate counterpoint to the weight of the bronze lamp and the marble table. It represents the fragile aspect of the fossilization process, the ephemeral moment before a shape is locked in time. Because each piece is hand-blown and turns individually in the furnace, no two editions in the series of 14 are exactly alike. The glass is allowed to cool slowly over hours in an annealing oven to ensure it is free of internal stress, a process that mirrors the slow settling of sediment in the natural world. In these works, Adriaanse successfully bridges the gap between the ancient past and the refined craftsmanship of the present.
Closing
The Fossil collection for Edition Solenne represents a definitive moment in Onno Adriaanse’s career. It is the culmination of years spent experimenting with material subversion, now applied to the most permanent and storied materials in the history of art and design. By translating his fascination with geological processes into bronze, marble, and glass, Adriaanse has created a series of objects that serve as bridges across time. They are pieces that invite us to slow down, to touch, and to consider the vast history of the materials that surround us.
As these works find their way into private collections and gallery spaces, they carry with them the artist’s commitment to 'delivering an atmosphere.' Whether it is the heavy weight of the bronze lamp or the delicate clarity of the glass vase, Adriaanse’s objects continue to trigger interaction and curiosity. In his hands, the fossil is no longer a static relic of the past; it is a vital, sculptural participant in the contemporary home, a reminder of the enduring beauty of the natural world and the human hand that seeks to understand it.
