A quick guide to what Brutalist furniture is, how to spot it and what is the meaning behind its aesthetic.
The term Brutalist describes many different things. Brutalist architecture, Brutalist design, Brutalist art. However, using the term to describe a certain type of Brutalist furniture may not come as easily.
Introduction to Brutalist Design
Historical context
Brutalist design can be first identified as Mid Century concrete architecture, typically found in European countries such as France, Germany, Italy and the former Soviet bloc countries. The architectural design has a Brutalist approach as buildings have stern concrete facades or simplistic geometric compositions. The design gestures are simple, brutalist, as the eye can easily understand the simple shapes and how they come together to compose architectural spaces. We can find these distilled gestures in brutalist furniture as we shall see further on.
Short description
Brutalist buildings are mostly large scale, capable of housing large social groups and date back to the Post War era, when many people’s homes were destroyed and moved to the cities, causing a massive housing crisis. This was the beginning of modern architecture, characterized by simple shapes, by architects such as Peter Behrens, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe. Modern architecture aspired to be timeless, to withstand the test of time, to be functional, efficient as the machines of the Industrial Revolution.
Transition to Brutalist Furniture
Product Design
After the First World War, modern architects such as Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe started a design school that integrated architecture, product design, graphic design and manufacturing. This as the Bauhaus, founded in 1919 in Dessau, Germany. All domains were studied simultaneously in order to refine the modern style, reflecting both the needs of the modern man together with the manufacturing capabilities of the matured Industrial Revolution. Students, architects, designers and artists worked together, experimenting with basic principles of chromatics, composition and materiality. This simplicity in design is specific to so-called brutalist furniture, a result of composing spheres, cubes and planes in a clean simple way. Brutalist furniture is, similarly to brutalist architecture, timeless, functional, easy to manufacture on an assembly line.
Examples
Although the school of Bauhaus had a short lived existence, suspending its activities in 1939, the designs conceived there lived on. The mid Century Modern pieces that we all know and love today has its origins in early Brutalist furniture. Simple designs such as Bertoia Wire Chairs, Kartell Modular Elements and the iconic Verner Panton Flowerpot Lamp are all examples of brutalist furniture. Brutalist furniture is, as such, characterized by simplicity, timelessness while evoking modern means of production.
Brutalist Furniture Today
Contemporary Interpretation
Several Modern architects and designers were practicing similar design methodologies, through simplicity and timelessness. However it’s important to note they were not deliberately making brutalist designs. They were just trying to make future proof designs. The Postmodern view was through rose-coloured glasses of commercialism. The simple, somewhat austere designs were considered Brutalist only by the end of the modern era. And so the Brutalist style isn’t necessarily a deliberate style. It is more of a particular aspect of modern design.
After the Turn of the Century
What is Brutalist Furniture in the 21st century? Today we are equipped with the stylistic references of the 20th century. We are able to offer a critical glance over Brutalist furniture. The original style dating back to the Mid Century Modern style can be reverse engineered, updated for today’s aesthetics and fabrication capabilities.
Brutalism in design nowadays consists of simple, well integrated pieces such as concrete countertops, traditional wood stools, monolithic tables. An example is this Parabolic Concrete Table defying gravity with its heaviness. Brutalist furniture hence leaves the decorative realm of modernity and enters the minimalistic design language of today. 21st century Brutalist furniture seamlessly integrate with the architectural spaces. It evoques today’s building technologies such as mass customization, 3D scanning and digital fabrication.
Brutalist design gestures are simple shape compositions. Brutalist fabrication techniques consist 3D printing a finite object from raw materials. Brutalism thus mirrors society’s preoccupation with timelessness, manufacturing and, ultimately, sustainability.