Now and the Future

Viaduct has worked with Muller Van Severen since 2013 and it will be the most comprehensive show of the designers work in the UK to date, centring around their long-standing partnership. Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen are the couple behind the moniker. Two Belgian visual artists whose collaborative furniture project began as an experiment and was taken up by Antwerp based Valerie Traan gallery. Their unique approach to furniture as 'landscapes for living' garnered critical acclaim, and their pieces have since become some of the most distinctive and sought-after in contemporary design. The couple create furniture that transforms space. Works such as their Marble Box, Rocking Chair and Table S, show the duo's instinctive feel for colour, material and form. Known for blending refined marble and brass with more humble elements such as aluminium, plastic and steel wire. Their choice of materials works in tandem with their uncanny knack for simplifying forms and finding a dialogue and sense of play between elements. Many of the pieces are a playful expression of their relationship. Visitors to the space will see the full scope of Muller Van Severen’s designs alongside new and accessibly priced furniture. Everything on display is for sale. Included in the exhibition is the Alltubes Low Cabinet by Muller Van Severen, a sculptural freestanding cabinet formed of repeated round aluminium tubes. This repetition and pattern produces round, undulating forms that offer a softness to the industrial material. Also included and launching in November are the Colour Cabinets. These extend the range of products designed for Hay and are simple, elegant, playful multi coloured Valchromat cabinets with reeded glass doors. Like much of Muller Van Severen’s work, the Colour Cabinets achieve an elegant minimalism without seeming ordinary. Viaduct introduced Muller Van Severen to an unsuspecting British public back in 2013, having been so impressed by their original collection and have worked together ever since. Muller Van Severen’s fresh ideas have made them a compelling and collectible force in the world of design. Muller Van Severen fabricate many of their own designs in Belgium and also work with an illustrious roster of design manufacturers most recently CC Tapis and Hay, which is included in the exhibition.