Dutch designer Marc de Groot founded his eponymous firm in 1995 and moved it to a larger space in a historical building in Amsterdam in 2006. As the principal designer for the bespoke lighting manufacturer, de Groot draws inspiration from nature and history, and creates fixtures using mathematical theories and fractal patterns. “When things make sense, beauty appears,” he says. “I strive to create my own signatures based on visual mathematics.”

Many of his creations could be considered metal origami, though a certain delicacy is evoked by the term and the machining process his team employs to create these light fixtures give them much more muscle than their paper counterparts. The website Decovry says of his sense of aesthetics, “As a designer, Marc de Groot focuses on the creation of ‘smart concepts’ in designing lights, products, and spaces. With these, he approaches designs from clever new angles.”

De Groot notes that the idea of attempting to create beauty through mathematical calculations is not a new one. As far back in time as Leonardo da Vinci, artists and scientists have tried to decode the secret of harmonious composition, da Vinci’s focus his “Golden Ratio.” The fascinating union of the scientific and the creative is a headspace where de Groot is quite comfortable.

In his eyes, designs can be familiar, but they must also be liberating in some way. When he achieves this, de Groot knows he has satisfied his creative process. He is keen to discover those moments when an equal balance between functionality and quality meet, his mind made up to never sacrifice the functional aspects of a light fixture to aesthetics while concentrating on stylistic considerations as well. He says, “Natural stillness and simplicity are essential with all functional products.”