Nel Verbeke Invites us to Embrace Melancholy.

Nowadays it’s as if constant happiness is what we should aspire to. This leaves no room for other, more reflective states of being and melancholy. And yet, in times gone by, these feelings were accepted in our daily lives as natural emotions, inherent to who we are.

Based on her extensive research into past rituals of loss and sadness, Dutch designer Nel Verbeke explores how design can help us to allow moments of melancholy. She created a series of tools that give melancholy a role within the home – a reflective book and three objects that embrace these feelings in a different manner. Together, they invite us to experience a more human emotional balance. The three objets include a mirror fitted with memento mori, a metallic disc allowing moments of active contemplation, and a monolithic totem for cocooning the body.

Based on an extensive research into past rituals of loss and sadness, Verbeke chose to work with slow-craft and historical materials that manage to convey the beauty of melancholy. These carefully chosen materials include wood, glass, silver, tin, copper and rough concrete.

With a background in visual art and specialisation in design and design research, Nel Verbeke is primarily a concept designer. Balancing fine arts with design, her vocation will always be the emotional potential of shape and space. Fascinated by conceptual thinking, she shies away from the obvious focus.

[Images courtesy of Nel Verbeke. Photography by Alexander Popelier.]