Growing up on a farm in the English countryside, Marsia Holzer was immersed in the great outdoors from an early age. “I spent most of my childhood making things out of sticks and mud and objects that I found around the farm,” she tells Business of Home. “To this day, I love incorporating industrial elements, colors and materials into my work as a contrast to the serene motifs of nature.”
Holzer studied sculpture at St Martin’s Art School in London, where she experimented with everything from woodcarving and stone to fabric and plaster. Though her interests lay in welding, her talents opened the door to an illustrious 20-year career in fashion and costume design, until one day, a friend asked her a life-changing question. “They asked: ‘If you could do something new, something you’ve always wanted to do, what would it be?’” says Holzer. “That moment was pivotal for me, and within a week, I was enrolled in the New York School for Sculpture and learning to weld.”
Holzer fell so in love with welding that she decided to close her successful costume business and focus her attention solely on sculptural furniture, lighting and decor pieces. In 2001, she launched her namesake New York–based studio with a collection of handcrafted tables made from salvaged driftwood and a handful of metal objects, including candlesticks. “I love foraging and finding uprooted trees and driftwood, this is something I have consistently incorporated into my collections,” she explains. “My favorite piece from my first collection was a console table crafted from a tree branch sliced in half. Today it sits in my front hall in New York City.”
All of Holzer’s designs begin as drawings, which she englarges and laser-cuts into a pattern she uses as a guide. “For instance, I just made a wonderful 10-foot-long dining table out of maple that I oxidized to a beautiful, mottled gray,” says Holzer. “For the pieces I cast in metal, I first make the piece in plaster or resin, which is made into a mold that I can then cast multiples of in aluminum or bronze.”
Though her work brims with surrealist whimsy—with offerings ranging from tree-inspired floor lamps to side tables shaped like dogs—functionality plays a primary role in all of Holzer’s designs. “I want my pieces to be beautiful and sculptural, but I also want them to be useful and interesting,” she says. “For example, my Moonlight wall sconces come with dimmers that allow someone to adjust the ambience and light levels, and I treat my wood tables with an epoxy stain finish so they won’t be damaged if someone places a glass on them without a coaster.”
For her latest collection, Forms in Nature, Holzer used recycled woods and repurposed metal to forge a series of biomorphic designs, such as a bird-shaped bronze dining table with hinged wings that can expand to accommodate extra guests, and a velvet chair with a leaflike backrest. “This collection really embodies all I love about nature and my passion to help keep nature alive and healthy globally,” she says. “A percentage of the profits from certain pieces, like the Arctic sconces and Rhino sculptures, go to charities including the Arctic Ice Project and Rhinos Without Borders.”
Currently, Holzer is hard at work on a new tabletop collection, which will include vases, candle holders and salt cellars composed of upcycled metals and woods. “They will be 3D-printed and cast out of recycled materials,” she explains. “I’m always innovating new versions of my designs, expanding them and revising my favorites.”
To learn more about Marsia Holzer and her studio, visit her website or follow her on Instagram.
Homepage photo: Velvet Leaf chairs by Marsia Holzer | Courtesy of Marsia Holzer Studio
