The Soft Urn, designed by Hella Jongerius, considers the relationship between form, material, and time. Based on the enduring silhouette of a classical urn, the design questions the need for new shapes, instead focusing on how material alone can transform perception.
Hand-cast in silicone PU rubber, the vessel embraces the inherent qualities of its making. Air bubbles, seams, and subtle irregularities remain visible, giving the surface a tactile, almost skin-like presence. Rather than appearing static or pristine, the material suggests softness and change, challenging the expectation that synthetic objects remain uniform and untouched by time.
First presented in 1996 at the Salone del Mobile as part of Droog Design’s Plastic New Treat exhibition, Soft Urn became a defining example of the Dutch conceptual design movement. It marked a shift toward embracing process, imperfection, and material experimentation as central to design.
Both familiar and unconventional, Soft Urn balances historical reference with contemporary inquiry — an object that reveals its making and invites a more tactile, considered engagement.
Image Gallery
Hella Jongerius
Netherlands
Born in the Netherlands in 1963, Jongerius graduated from Eindoven’s Academy of Industrial Design in 1993; after briefly joining Droog, she formed her own studio, Jongeriuslab. Major commissions followed, including a series of color-blocked textiles for Maharam in a tricky fabrication never previously attempted at an industrial scale. In 2007, she became Art Director of Colours and Materials for Vitra and created mainstays like their Polder Sofa and East River chair while developing their Colour & Material Library. In 2012, she joined Danksina as Art Director.
Meanwhile, her own work continued to grow in size and influence. For a collaboration with Rem Koolhaas to redesign interiors of the North Delegates’ Lounge at the United Nations building in New York, she refreshed the modernist landmark with bespoke carpeting and furnishings in bold colors along with a custom beaded curtain of hand-knotted yarn and some 30,000 porcelain beads. A book, 2016’s I Have No Favorite Colour, followed by the following year’s Breathing Colour exhibition at the Design Musuem London articulated her philosophy of hues and tints, while her cabin interiors for KLM airlines put it into practice.
Recently, Jongerius has begun exploring the possibilities of porcelain, in commissions for vases and tableware. Projects throughout her ongoing career and the B Set dinnerware service can be found in the permanent collections of MoMA, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Boijmans van Beuningen Museum.
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