These are just two of the objects designed by Wieki Somers who, with her poetic eye, considers how people interact with the objects that surround them, and often submerge them. “I try to figure out the hidden potential of those objects, the beauty and the tales which hide within. There’s an overload of throwaway consumer items in our society. But do we need them? I believe today’s world asks for products that will survive the day and prove to be worthwhile. We don’t need gadgets but products we can cherish for a lifetime,” explains the Dutch designer who along with Dylan van den Berg runs Studio Wieki Somers in Rotterdam. Until 15 February Somers is the subject of an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch, the first museum to dedicate an extensive retrospective to her work.

“Her work can be described as a subtle interplay of plain function, imaginative content and a sophisticated use of materials,” writes Louise Schouwenberg, design critic and lecturer at Eindhoven where Somers graduated in 2000. We also find these three elements in one of her latest projects, in twelve editions, distributed by the Kreo Gallery in Paris. The Bellflower lamp is made from carbon, polyester, resin and fibreglass, “plaited” with an Overbraider, a sophisticated machine for three-dimensional weaving, until now only used in aerospace engineering. Elena Sommariva