Large Harold Gold Cabinet, Jesse Visser

Dutch designer Jesse Visser was born in IJsselstein in the Netherlands in 1974. He studied at the Utrecht School of Product Design between 1994 and 1999 and went on to found his studio, Jesse Visser Designprojects, in 2000, before following up with a Master’s degree in Retail and Interior Design from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam in 2004. Alongside his own studio practice, Visser embarked on a new project with fellow designer Geke Lensink in 2012 when the duo became Art Directors for Dutch brand Brothers and Sons (formerly called eQ+) and took over designing the collection. Visser also holds a teaching post at the Utrecht School of the Arts. He lives in Amsterdam, where his studio has been based for nearly two decades.

Visser works predominantly in furniture and lighting design; he creates striking statement pieces that synthesise bold, graphic, sometimes even conceptual forms with a matter-of-fact functionality. The King Arthur Ceiling Lamp (2014), for example, transforms a medieval chandelier into an almost diagrammatic form that is appealing in its clarity and impact. His creative research of construction, techniques, and the use of innovative materials result in high end, clever designs. Although Visser is an independent designer, he stresses the importance of collaboration in his work; collaborations with, in his words, “labels, craftsmen, product-developers, industry- and other creative thinkers.” Most of his designs are either created in partnership with design brands or as custom pieces for architects, with only a small portion of the Jesse Visser Designprojects’ work being in-house productions of limited editions or pieces produced in small series.

During his career to date, Visser has received a steady stream of awards and recognitions for his work as well as taking part in numerous notable exhibitions. The beautiful Alumni Chair (2015), which Visser designed with Geke Lensink for Brothers and Sons, with its luscious color palette and origami influences, was awarded Best Product during Design District in Zaandam, the Netherlands; the Giraffe Table  (2014), also a collaboration with Geke Lensink, was also recognised by Design District the year prior; and the Cercle Streetlight (2010), designed with Dirk Rutten for the city of Tilburg, was awarded third prize in the Auroralia Award of that year. Visser’s work has been presented regularly at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, as well as at numerous exhibitions and events in London, New York, Paris, and Cologne.