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Brutalist Furniture and Design

Brutalist Furniture and Design (UNITED STATES AND EUROPE)
Brutalist Furniture and Design (UNITED STATES AND EUROPE)

The term brutalism — which derives from the French word brut, meaning “raw” — was coined to describe an architectural style that emerged in the 1950s featuring monumental buildings, usually made of unornamented concrete, whose design was meant to project an air of strength and solidity. Le Corbusier essentially created the brutalist style; its best-known iterations in the United States are the Marcel Breuer–designed Whitney Museum of American Art and Paul Rudolph's Yale Art and Architecture Building.

Lately, the word “brutalist” has been adopted by the realms of design and the decorative arts to refer to cabinets, tables, and accessory pieces such as mirror frames and lighting that are made of rougher, deeply textured metals and other materials that are the visual and palpable antithesis of the sleek, smooth and suave. Brutalist design encompasses that which is crafted, hewn and worked by hand — an aesthetic rebuke (or, at least, a counterpoint) to furniture that is created using 21st-century materials and technology.

Paul Evans is Exhibit A for brutalist design. His Sculpture Front cabinets laced with high-relief patinated steel mounts have become collector's items nonpareil, while the chairs and tables in his later Cityscape series and Sculpted Bronze series are perhaps the most expressive, attention-grabbing pieces in modern American design. Other exemplars of brutalist design are Silas Seandel, the idiosyncratic New York furniture designer and sculptor whose works in metal — in particular his tables — have a kind of brawny lyricism, and Curtis Jere, a nom-de-trade for the California team of Curtis Freiler and Jerry Fels, the bold makers of expressive scorched and sheared copper and brass mirror frames and wall-mounted sculptures.

The names of other brutalist designers are, so far, unknown to history. The furniture and sculptures on 1stDibs lend unique, eccentric, human notes to an art and design collection.

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Daniel Gluck Sculptural Cocktail Table
By Daniel Gluck
Located in San Diego, CA
Brutalist sculptural bronze coffee or cocktail table with rectangular glass top by Daniel Gluck. Glass top measures 48" long, 32" wide. Table base measures 38" long, 23" wide, 14" ta...
Category

20th Century American Brutalist Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Bronze

Hand-Welded Raven Sculpture
Located in New York, NY
Hand-welded Brutalist raven sculpture, American, 1975 (signed and dated by artist).
Category

1970s American Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Metal

Gabor Kalman Brutalist Steel Sculpture
Located in Chicago, IL
Kalman takes steel and torch-cuts it, then contours it for a Brutalist effect. Signed base Gabor Kalman '68. This item is currently on view in our NYC Greenwich Street Location.
Category

1960s American Brutalist Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Cut Steel

Brutalist coffee table after Silas Seandel
By Silas Seandel
Located in Chicago, IL
Brutalist coffee table after Silas Seandel. Glass not included. This form can take a variety of round glass tops. Structurally sound to handle the weight. The height of the metal ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Metal

Metal Brutalist Lamp
Located in Toronto, Ontario
A very nice heavily worked metal lamp. Thick pierced and cut raw metal with applied welds and folds. A Brutalist masterpiece. Useable sculpture.
Category

1970s American Brutalist Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Metal

Brutalist Steel Sculpture
Located in Montreal, QC
Brutalist patinated steel sculpture. Signed and dated 1970.
Category

1970s Canadian Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Sven Aage Brutalist Hanging Lamp for Holm Sorensen & Company
By Holm Sørensen
Located in Oak Harbor, OH
Designer: Sven Aage. Manufacturer: Holm Sorensen & Company. Period or model: Mid-Century Modern. Specs: Metal. Condition: This Holm Sorensen brutalist lamp is in great vintag...
Category

1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Monumental Pair of Brutalist Torch Cut Steel Laurel Lamps Mid-Century Modern
By Laurel Lamp Company
Located in Pemberton, NJ
1960s table lamp in Brutalist style. Comprised of welded torch cut steel cubic strips with a black base. The size alone is impressive let alone the skillfully welded construction in ...
Category

1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Iron

Pair of C. Jere Style Brass Brutalist Table Lamps Laurel, Mid-Century Modern
By Curtis Jeré
Located in Pemberton, NJ
These wonderful lamps are designed by Bijan of California titled “Setarrah”. Large-scale sculptural table lamps comprised of a brass rod sunburst and torch cut curved brass ribbons...
Category

1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Brass

Solid Cast Bronze Large Scale Room Divider Syracuse, NY 1964
Located in New York, NY
Lobby room divider from the Public Safety Building in Syracuse, NY and crafted in 1964. This is a magnificent example of Mid-Century Modern design. Composed of alternating pod-shape...
Category

1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Bronze

20th Century Thomas Marsh Bronze Sculpture "Producers"
By Thomas Marsh
Located in Cincinnati, OH
This figural composition was created by sculptor Thomas Marsh (American, b. 1951). Marsh's work includes public installations in addition to pieces held in corporate and private collections. This piece titled producers was made in Italy in the late 1970s while Marsh was apprenticed to figurative sculptor Milton Hebald...
Category

1970s Italian Expressionist Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Bronze

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Late 20th Century European Brutalist Brutalist Furniture and Design

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Unusual Brutalist Silas Seandel Attr. Brass Steel Glass Cylinder Coffee Table
By Silas Seandel
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Unusual brutalist Silas Seandel attributed brass and steel cylinder-shaped coffee table. We love the textured surface with the use of both brass and st...
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1970s American Brutalist Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

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Mid-Century Modern Sculptural Redwood Trunk Cocktail Table
Located in Port Jervis, NY
Fabulous and large Sculptural section of Redwood from California. Flat top measures 20 x 16, while the base is 24 x 24 with a height of 16. Piece of glass either round or square can ...
Category

1960s American Organic Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Hardwood

Vintage Brutalist Welded Metal Sculpture, ca. 1970
Located in Costa Mesa, CA
Vintage Brutalist Welded Metal Sculpture, ca. 1970. Original base with great patina and design. Great size for a shelf or bookcase, credenza or ...
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1970s American Brutalist Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

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1960s American Industrialist Modern Welded Steel Sculpture
Located in Pasadena, CA
American industrialist modern steel sculpture, circa 1960s. Sculpture stands 26" in height and is 12" wide and deep. In very good vintage 1960s condition showing some wear conducive ...
Category

1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

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Brutalist Steel Sculpture of “Amphetrite” by Dale Edwards
By Dale Edwards
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Welded steel sculpture of “Amphetrite” goddess of the ocean. By American sculptor Dale Edwards. Signed Dale and dated 74 (see detail photos). In origi...
Category

1970s American Brutalist Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

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Brutalist Iron and Glass Coffee Table by Silas Seandel, Signed, 1970s
By Silas Seandel
Located in View Park, CA
A rare brutalist coffee table by Silas Seandel, signed, early 1970s. Featuring intricate torch-cut metal work, this table showcases the artist’s propensity for juxtaposing the tender...
Category

1970s Brutalist Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Iron

Mid-Century Modern Brutalist Brass Glass Coffee Table Style of Silas Seandel
By Silas Seandel
Located in BROOKLYN, NY
Mid-Century Modern Brutalist cocktail table in the style of Silas Seandel. Hammered and welded brass table base with circular glass top. Wear and oxidization to brass throughout base...
Category

1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Brass, Bronze

Brutalist Steel Cattail Table Top Sculpture Signed
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Brutalist steel cattail table top sculpture signed on the base. Made of cut steel. Cut marks in the leaves add texture along with the hand hammered Cattails. 33 1/2" tall
Category

Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Stone, Metal, Cut Steel

Modernist Abstract Steel & Brass Welded Wall Sculpture
Located in San Diego, CA
Really cool and unique abstract solid steel with brass welded rods wall sculpture can be hung in many positions. it can be used as a wine rack.
Category

Late 20th Century North American Organic Modern Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Brass, Steel

Brazilian Midcentury Brutalist Welded Steel Sculpture Signed Mraz
Located in Miami, FL
Brazilian Modern welded steel floor sculpture by unknown artist, circa 1960s.
Category

Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Brutalist Furniture and Design

Materials

Steel

Paul Mayén, Large Table Lamps, Wicker, Enameled Metal, United States c. 1965
By Paul Mayen
Located in High Point, NC
A pair of large and impressive table lamps. Designed and produced by Paul Mayén, USA, c. 1965. Woven wicker lampshades rests on bases of black enameled metal. Other designers ...
Category

1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Brutalist Furniture and Design

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