U-Line ST11 floor lamp

Maarten Van Severen

Maarten Van Severen is one of the leading figures of contemporary Belgian design. Trained in the arts and architecture, he developed from the 1980s onward a radical approach to furniture based on the search for essentials, formal reduction, and the exploration of the intrinsic qualities of materials. His work is characterized by great constructive rigor, close attention to ergonomics, and a desire to create durable objects stripped of any superfluous element. His N°2 chair, designed in the early 1990s, and his U Line lighting range created for Light are among the most representative creations of this period of research. Produced in limited editions and now rare, these pieces bear witness to an essential experimental phase in his career, before his international collaborations with major design publishers. Through their extreme sobriety, constructive precision, and timeless quality, they illustrate the singular vision of a designer who profoundly renewed the language of contemporary furniture. His works are now included in the collections of the leading international institutions dedicated to design.