Unda, a new collection of mouth-blown glass inspired by the movement of light across water, launches on 25 September 2026.
Unda takes its name from the Latin word for wave. It began with a simple observation: the way sunlight moves across water, breaking and reforming on the surface in a pattern that never repeats. For Marcelis, that kind of fleeting moment has always been the real subject of her work.
“I’m fascinated by the way sunlight or moonlight hits rippling water,” she says. “It’s a mesmerising, ever-changing dance. I wanted to capture that in a more permanent way.”
Translating a moment like that into glass meant rethinking how the glass itself is made. Working closely with Iittala’s glassblowers, Marcelis and the team developed a new technique to press the ripple pattern into the inside of the glass, rather than the outside, where it is traditionally done. Pressing the pattern from within changes the way light moves through the glass: reflections shift across the surface and the ripple becomes part of the material rather than something applied to it.
The collection comprises a lamp, a vase and a larger limited-edition vase, each available in three colourways: Shadow, Dawn and Dusk. Every piece is mouth-blown at the Iittala Glass Factory in Finland, where Marcelis spent time developing the collection with the glassblowers. Her approach often starts with the material and the machinery rather than a sketch.
“I need to see the production process, see the machines and the craftsmen and women at work,” she explains. “That’s where the ideas come from, understanding where I can intercept and offer a fresh perspective to the process and innovate.”
An early conversation between Marcelis and Iittala’s Creative Director Janni Vepsäläinen centred on the particular quality of Finnish light: the low angle of the sun, its reflection on water and the way it changes colour throughout the day and across the seasons. From there, the two explored how those qualities could be translated into glass.
In daylight, the glass catches and reflects its surroundings. When illuminated, the ripple pattern becomes more pronounced, giving the lamp a different character as the light around it changes.
The Unda collection launches on 25 September 2026 and will be available across the EU through selected Iittala stores and iittala.com.
The collection will launch in Japan in spring 2027.
Product prices and information:
Unda Lamp 240 x 180 mm, Dusk, RRP €750
Unda Lamp 240 x 180 mm, Dawn, RRP €750
Unda Lamp 240 x 180 mm, Shadow, RRP €750
Unda Vase 250 mm, Dusk, RRP €250
Unda Vase 250 mm, Dawn, RRP €250
Unda Vase 250 mm, Shadow, RRP €250
Unda Vase 400 mm, Dusk, Limited Edition of 500 numbered pieces, RRP €600
Unda Vase 400 mm, Dawn, Limited Edition of 500 numbered pieces, RRP €600
Unda Vase 400 mm, Shadow, Limited Edition of 500 numbered pieces, RRP €600
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