She collaborated with the fashion brand COS, Timberland or Lexus. Her works are part of the permanent collections of museums such as MoMA in New York or the V&A in London, and she collects one award after another for her pioneering work.
Thanks to the work of Dutch creator Marjan van Aubel, solar energy and alternatives to fossil fuels will seem really sexy. It is thanks to her approach that she tries to visually incorporate solar energy into buildings and objects and bring its potential closer to the public.
Judge for yourself: for example, it built solar technology into Swarovski crystals or into the roof of the Dutch pavilion at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai.
Humanity has been able to use sunlight as an unlimited and inexhaustible source of energy since the seventh century BC. Using a magnifying glass, our ancestors were able to focus the sun’s rays and thus make fire.
Today, however, we appreciate it for other reasons: compared to fossil fuels, it emits zero greenhouse gas emissions and has a minimal impact on climate change and air quality. In addition, thanks to solar energy, households and businesses can reduce their dependence on traditional sources and thus gain greater energy independence.
“Every time I see solar panels, I get excited. But why do they always have to be so ugly?” asks van Aubel, who straddles the border between sustainability, design and technology. He wants solar power to come close to people, but beautiful and well-designed, as part of our everyday aesthetics and functionality.
Every time I see solar panels I get excited. But why do they always have to be so ugly?
According to her, the landmark was the book Solar Revolution by the British author duo Steve McKevitt and Tony Ryan. Its message is that a single hour of sunlight would cover the food and energy needs of the planet for the entire year.
This could end our dependence on fossil fuels and generally improve the quality and our relationship with the land from which the vast majority of food for our consumption comes.
«Climate change is the biggest problem of our time. And we can’t rely on others to make positive changes,» says the graduate of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
But he adds in one breath that if you think about the form of solar cells, the technology has remained essentially the same for the last sixty years. According to the designer, we need to integrate them much better into our environment.
Major brands across industries are hearing her appeal. For Swarovski, for example, she designed lighting fixtures in which opals function as integrated solar cells. They scatter light on the same principle as the sky and add a whole new dimension to the phrase «shine bright like a diamond».
“When you cut the crystals in a certain way, you are able to bend and direct the light to a specific place. This process increases the efficiency of the panel, while not forgetting the aesthetic aspects,» adds van Aubel.
The solar panel contains a battery, which makes it easy to remove the crystal from the fixture. Once placed in the docking station, these innovative chandeliers can be efficiently powered.
He is also experimenting with the use of colored solar cells. “They are based on plant photosynthesis. Where green chlorophyll converts light into sugar for plants, these cells convert light into electricity,» says the designer.
Different colors have different effectiveness. For example, red works better than blue. And so the colored surface of the glass can be given an additional function to be able to collect electricity.
Based on these considerations, van Aubel has developed several products. The table, called Current Table, is equipped with sensors that detect the light intensity in the room.
Through the app, you can monitor how much light it gets and if it has enough battery. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands is also said to charge her phone on them.
Sunne is then a self-powered solar light that captures, stores and produces light indoors. While it hangs by the window during the day and gets energy from the sun, at night it uses it to light up the room.
In 2018, as part of the Current Windows project, she had the windows of a London gallery replaced with integrated solar cells. “People from the street could come and charge their phones through the windowsills. A window no longer has to be just a window, but can also function as a small power plant,» declares van Aubel.
The more surface area you have, the more energy you can get. That’s why she had transparent solar panels installed on the iconic greenhouses that dot the Dutch region of Westland. Agriculture has a deep tradition here, which, however, is spoiled by the high energy demand of the entire industry.
Her Power Plant greenhouse uses transparent solar glass to power the indoor climate. It powers a hydroponic system that distributes water with nutrients, saving up to ninety percent of water consumption compared to traditional soil cultivation.
In addition to sunlight, colored LED bulbs improve the quality of plants. And they increase the yield up to four times.
“I believe in solar energy for everyone, everywhere. My goal is to make all surfaces productive. I want to build houses where all windows, curtains, walls, even floors collect electricity,” says van Aubel.
She showed how to achieve this, for example, within the Dutch pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai. The aim was to present hi-tech innovations in the field of sustainable food production, and at its center was a giant cone made of thousands of plants.
At Expo 2020 in Dubai, van Aubel created skylights by collecting sunlight and powering the entire pavilion.
Marjan created skylights from lightweight transparent solar cells that collected energy from Dubai’s sunlight to power the entire pavilion. At the same time, they let sunlight into the pavilion and filtered the right spectrum of light, which the plants used for photosynthesis.
She wrote all these experiences and observations in her own book called Solar future: how to design with the sun for a world without fossil fuels.
It takes you through the history of the human relationship with sunlight and shows innovative examples from architecture, fashion, mobility or product design. It also deals with how to ensure the implementation of this technology without risk to the environment.
The year before last, thanks to her initiative, the first biennale dedicated to solar design was held in the Netherlands. In collaboration with the academy Het Nieuwe Instituut and fashion designer Pauline van Dongen, it aims to inspire and provide space for wonder and inspiration. They are preparing another edition for next year.
If you don’t want to wait that long, you can admire Marjan van Aubel’s work in several places. Already at the end of March, her objects Sunne, Ra and the Energy collection will become part of the Transform exhibition! Designing the Future of Energy in Germany’s Vitra Design Museum.
It explores the current energy transformation in the context of design, from solar buildings and wind turbines to smart mobility and the self-sufficient city.
You will then find the Power Plant greenhouse until October at the Garden Futures exhibition at the Swedish Art and Design Museum Vandalorum, halfway between the cities of Gothenburg and Malmö.
Together with the car manufacturer Lexus, they will present the installation 8min 20seconds during the Salone del Mobile in Milan.
She named it after the time it takes sunlight to reach the Earth’s surface. The Lexus Future Zero-emission Catalyst has been given a new look with solar foils and a solar-powered battery, showing the potential of carbon-neutral technology. The designer first unveiled it at Miami Art Week last December.
With the idea that every object can be a source of energy, Marjan van Aubel pushes the limits of ordinary human imagination on how to even think about sunlight.
It also shows that a future of energy security beyond fossil fuels is real. “You can think about solar energy on a large scale. My goal is to make it accessible to everyone,» concludes van Aubel.
