Founded in 2011, Muller Van Severen is the moniker of Belgian husband-and-wife team Hannes Van Severen and Fien Muller. Van Severen is a sculptor, and was born in 1979 in Ghent, Belgium. He is the son of legendary designer Maarten Van Severen, and he studied at the LUCA School of Arts’ Sint-Lukas campus in Ghent between 1996 and 1999, ultimately earning his Master’s in sculpture. He went on to earn a second Master’s in sculpture at the Higher Institute for Visual Arts in Sint-Lukas, Ghent. Muller is also an artist, and was born in Lokeren, Belgium, in 1978. She studied photography at the University College Ghent – Faculty of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent between 1995 and 2000, earning her Master’s in photography. Between 2000 and 2002, she studied sculpture at the LUCA School of Arts’ Sint-Lukas campus in Ghent, earning her Master’s degree in sculpture.
The pair describes their minimalist, material-driven designs as “landscapes for living.” Their 2011 debut design collaboration—a line of multicolored, mix-and-match tables, chairs, and shelves also called Muller Van Severen—began as an experiment for Antwerp’s Valerie Traan gallery. When Muller was invited to show her work there, she invited her husband to collaborate. Their 2013 collection, called simply Furniture Project, features colorful combinations of a table, a hanging lamp, a chair, a chaise longue and shelves in tubular steel, leather, and polyethylene.
Muller Van Severen works out of a greenhouse-turned-home studio in Ghent.
