Marc Sadler - profile


A self-professed ‘citizen of the world’, inventive designer Marc Sadler tells Emily Martin how a skiing accident started him off in sports footwear, leading on to kitchens, lighting, furniture and other adventures...


fx

Words by Emily Martin

'I can't disclose any information on projects in progress, of course, but I can tell you that I am involved in some interesting adventures,' Marc Sadler tells me, intriguingly. Currently a resident of Milan, where he manges a very busy work schedule, he declares himself as a 'citizen of the world' as his nationality, after living in numerous countries during his design career. Unable to speak with him on the phone, Sadler answers my questions via email. And noting that his items to bring to a desert island include a bottle of champagne, 'chilled please', I can quite believe an 'interesting' adventure is what Sadler is having.

The Alukit kitchen (1993) for Boffi.
The Alukit kitchen (1993) for Boffi.

'I am a French citizen born in Austria and I lived there until I was three before moving with my family to Strasbourg,' Sadler relates. 'I then moved to Paris at the age of 10 where I completed my education, eventually graduating from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs Paris in 1968.' After completing a course in industrial design (or as it was then known, industrial aesthetic, a description still preferred by Sadler) he co-founded the Design Centre Premier, the first group of associate designers in France. 'During this time we mainly worked for renowned brands in the fashion industry, such as Pierre Cardin and Ted Lapidus, as well as many international brands such as Reebok, Nike, and Foot Joy,' he says.

Mite light (1999) for Foscarini
Mite light (1999) for Foscarini

Sadler, who is widely recognised for his innovation of plastic use within design, first caught the design industry's attention after enduring a lengthy recovery from a fractured his foot following a skiing accident. 'My longstanding passion for skiing and my curiosity with plastic pushed me to develop a solution to reduce the risk of future ski accidents, by immobilising the ankle in the ski boot,' he explains. 'After many attempts to find this solution (originally using my mum's oven), the Italian firm Caber (now called Lotto) manufactured my design and the first completely recyclable thermoplastic rubber ski boot was created.' Established as a sports design specialist led Saddler to work with some of the most prominent sports brands in the USA, Asia, Japan and Europe.

The original Soccer Sandal (mid-Eighties) for Nike.
The original Soccer Sandal (mid-Eighties) for Nike.

In 1975 Sadler relocated to Italy and set up his own business in New York creating a new line of shoes for Dainese, a market leader for motorcycle apparel and accessories, and then moved there three years later. Little did Sadler know that the shoe's special reflecting material on the sole and polyurethane toe would become a hit with non-motorcyclists too, to be then worn by thousands of people throughout the United States. In 1983 Sadler designed a collection of shoes for Ellesse - that was also very successful in the USA.

'Thanks to the success of the Dainese and Ellesse collections, I became known as one of the most innovative sport shoe designer,' says Sadler who then went on to design the first water-repellent thermoplastic rubber shoe for Nike, still one of the most popular Nike products and sold worldwide.

Twiggy lamp (23006) for Foscarini.

Sadler returned to Italy in the mid- Nineties. His passion for experimentation with plastics gained him new knowledge and he decided to transfer his research from the sports industry in to other areas, including furniture design. 'Experimenting with plastic materials has always intrigued me and remains an important focus in my everyday life as a designer,' he says. 'Although I maintained my partnerships with the sports industry, in particular with Dainese, lighting and furniture became my primary focus. It's the reason why I moved to Milan, the capital of Italian design.'

In 1993 Sadler designed the Alukit kitchen and bathroom range for Boffi. Originally starting with the idea of making a door handle from transparent plastic, the project evolved into a revolutionary interiors project where whole kitchen units were created using plastic. Enduring complex technicalities for its manufacturing process meant the project was lengthy. Sadler had became concerned with the environmental impacts of working with plastics and decided to reject it as the material of choice for his design work. 'I no longer choose to use lots of plastic, but in the past it has been one of my preferred working materials, especially in my early working days,' he says.

In 1999 Sadler designed a lamp, Mite, for Foscarini, using a fibreglass fabric with coiled yellow Kevlar or black carbon thread. Mite's success led the way for a whole family of lamps designed following the same principle, as well as other new products including the Twiggy lamp (which he says started out as a 'ridiculous' concept of a mannequin holding a fishing rod). Sadler still designs for Foscarini.

MS4 chair (2014) for Calligaris
MS4 chair (2014) for Calligaris

Sadler's latest furniture project is with Italian manufacturer Calligaris, where he returns to his first material love. His MS4 lightweight chair is made from one piece of molded plastic, with the inspiration for the design coming from Sadler's passion for neo-futuristic architect Buckminster Fuller and his geodesic domes. 'For me, MS4 is where a new frontier of minimalism in design meets significant functionality,' he says. 'Not only is it simple and elegant, but it's also surprisingly comfortable, owing to the unexpected pliability of the seat.' But what about the name? Sadler says it came about after going through a string of the usual names holding some reference to the design of the chair, but this one seemed to have the necessary power. 'In the end, MS4 (Marc Sadler 2014) won as it was simple, logical and personal, exactly like the chair,' he says.

I ask whether he has plans to move from Milan. Having lived in so many countries (as well as being multilingual) I wonder whether he gets restless? 'I have lived in many countries, following my heart and my job - I have found both good things and bad things in each place,' he says.

'Similar to most other foreigners living abroad, I am often critical about Italy, the place I live now, but I miss it when I'm away for a long time. I am sure I could live anywhere and I'm always open to learning more from the places I visit. La vie est belle.'








Progressive Media International Limited. Registered Office: 40-42 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8EB, UK.Copyright 2024, All rights reserved.