About

Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters is based in Klokgebouw, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Together we do practical design projects, as well as autonomous work. Living with nature, history, colour and environment are the foundation of our work. We don’t design specifically for the industry or the consumer, but try to materialize or tell about the things we’d like to have around us or that fascinate us. 

 The process of manufacture is an important tool in our design process. To understand how the end product is made gives us the opportunity to translate the idea in the best way and to be innovative.

Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters exhibited their work at Sotheby’s London, Zuiderzeemuseum Enkhuizen, MU Eindhoven, Design Museum Holon, Pierre Bergé & Associés Brussels, Kavan Ronsey Brussels, Christian Ouwens Rotterdam, Audax Textielmuseum Tilburg, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam and 21_21 Design Sight Tokyo among other places.

Cloud Boxes for PROOFFlab

Cloud Boxes (Small #1 and #2, Medium #1 and #2, Large)
Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Commissioned by PROOFFlab
2013
 
Next week during the Salone del Mobile Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters will present the Cloud Boxes, a series of storage boxes commissioned by PROOFFlab. The five boxes made of semi-transparent latex are inspired by clouds.

9th – 14 th April 2013 | Emporio building in Opificio Courtyard | Via Tortona 31, Milan

Link to PROOFF

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PREVIEW Research ‘Color Reproduction’ at Sundaymorning@ekwc

07.01.13 - 05.04.13

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Collection at Home

Four years ago, in October 2008, we decided to merge our two design studio’s and continue working together. In these years we worked on building a collection that we’re proud of.

This year we’ve decided to spend Dutch Design Week at home and set up a selection of our work in our own house. We would kindly like to invite you to visit this private show and join us at the kitchen table for coffee with homemade cookies or fresh pasta with a glass of wine.

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Marine Snow

Marine Snow
Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Porcelain, cobalt, copper
edition of 7 + artist’s proof’s, medium and large
2012

‘Marine Snow’ is a series of medium and large porcelain plates based on the natural phenomenon that is found in the deep ocean. It’s a continuous shower of mostly organic matter including dead and dying plants and animals feeding organisms in the layers of the ocean that never see the daylight.

Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters created a series of porcelain plates inspired by this sad but beautiful part of nature. In their search of translating the beauty of water in designs and techniques the duo used the behaviour of the ocean to turn an imprint of cobalt and copper glaze into Marine Snow.

The plates will be presented at the solo show Stil Water (Still Water) at Christian Ouwens, Rotterdam. The show opens on the 29^th of September 2012.

Link to video Marine Snow

Link to Christian Ouwens

Link to Waddenzee

Link to Eb

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Silent Fish

Silent Fish

Grey mullet, cod, tub gurnard, black seabream

Newspaper, glass, acrylic

2012

Silent Fish is a continuous study that started during the Waddensea project. At a low tide, when the sea retrieves itself, washed ashore animals and plants appear on the muddy surface of the Waddensea coast. The fish that were once active and alive, have become static objects. “We find the limpness of the fish very poetic. It has a similar kind of gracefulness as a ballet but without making even one movement. This is what we’re trying to capture. For us it’s not a dead animal that we see, but it’s an object carrying a lot of emotion and poetry. And that’s just what makes it interesting for us as designers; capturing emotion and poetry and turning it into an object”

Patterns of a grey mullet, cod, tub gurnard and black seabream were made and reproduced in light weighted newspaper to remain nothing but shape. The fragile objects are presented in dark grey acrylic boxes and were shown at “Still Water” at Christian Ouwens, Rotterdam, The Netherlands and “Eb” at Kavan Ronsey, Brussels, Belgium.

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“Stil Water” at Christian Ouwens

Link to Christian Ouwens

At work

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Zuiderzeekleuren

Research for Zuiderzeekleuren (Colors of the Zuiderzee)

Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters

Commissioned by Zuiderzeemuseum Enkhuizen

2012

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Helpdesk Rotsoord for Utrecht Manifest

HELPDESK ROTSOORD

Curator: Studio Makkink & Bey,
Guest curator: Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters

www.utrechtmanifest.nl

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Waddenzee - Eb (Low tide)

Waddenzee
Series of porcelain
Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Sponsored by Stichting Stokroos and Doen|Materiaalprijs’11
2012
 
Coming week studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters will show parts of their Waddenzee porcelain during the Salone del Mobile in Milan at the presentation “MU goes Milan”
 

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Avifauna for Rubelli

Avifauna for Rubelli
Collection of 13 Avifauna birds
Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters
Commissioned by Rubelli, art direction by Edelkoort ETC
2012
 
For Italian textile producer Rubelli, studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters made a special series of Avifauna birds, which will be shown at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, during the 2012 Salone del Mobile in Milan. The series contains 13 different birds varying from a swan and stork to a woodcock and a quail, all covered in Reticolo Ardesia fabric form Rubelli’s collection.
 

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