London-based design studio Soft Baroque melds conventional household furniture and objects with conceptual art. Its experimental approach to design is evocative, fantastical and functional.
Soft Baroque was founded in 2013 by design duo Saša Štucin and Nicholas Gardner. Štucin studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in visual communications in 2011. Gardner earned a bachelor’s degree in furniture design in 2010 from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. Štucin and Gardner later met while attending London’s Royal College of Art. They both graduated in 2013, Štucin with a master’s degree in visual communications and Gardner with a master’s degree in design products.
In 2011, Štucin took part in a workshop under Milton Glaser at the School of Visual Arts in New York and, in 2013, he participated in a research project at the Sandberg Instituut’s Think Tank for Visual Strategies in Amsterdam. Gardner worked as an assistant in designer Jerszy Seymour’s studio in Berlin in 2012 and as an assistant in Max Lamb’s design studio in 2013.
Since partnering as Soft Baroque, Štucin and Gardner have garnered critical attention for their unconventional modern furniture and objets d’art. The studio’s first piece — designed in 2014 — was the Lenticularis mirror, an innovative cross between a mirror and a scent diffuser. Another notable early work was the cartoon-like Pearl Screw Shelf bookcase in 2017, which features broken walnut timber planks, engineered plastic shelves and freshwater pearl screws.
Other pieces, such as chairs, benches, the Puffy Brick Column stools, vases, tables and lighting, are designed to blur the lines between functionalism and art. As Gardner explained in an interview with PIN-UP Magazine, “With a lot of our objects, we try to form a strange equation.”
Soft Baroque’s unique designs have included commissions from the luxury fashion brand Balenciaga and Swedish design company HEM. The duo has exhibited their pieces at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Swiss Institute in New York City, galleries in Copenhagen and New York and in major international design fairs.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of Soft Baroque seating, case pieces and storage cabinets, decorative objects and more.
Contemporary Zebrano Wood Shelf by Soft Baroque
By Soft Baroque
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Unique handmade solid Zebrano wood shelf from the "Hard Round" series by the London based design duo soft Baroque. Custom designs and sizes are available ...
Zebra Wood
Teteia Contemporary Wall Shelf
By Cultivado em Casa
Located in Floresta, MG
Graceful and delicate, the Teteia wall shelf is a suspended shelf that behaves well in any Habitat, allowing several possibilities of use. Its colors a...
Steel
$1,038 / item
H 1.97 in W 55.12 in D 10.63 in
W2393 Wall Hanging Shelf in Walnut Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2393 Wall Hanging Shelf in Walnut Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 27 x W 140 x H 5 cm. Materials: Walnut wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounti...
Walnut
Contemporary Pin Shelf in White Oak Wood by Fort Standard, in Stock
By Fort Standard
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Designed with a focus on traditional joinery, there is not a single piece of metal hardware used in these white oakwood shelves. Small wooden wedges are used to hold the shelves capt...
Ash, Maple, Oak, Walnut
$1,038 / item
H 1.58 in W 54.53 in D 10.04 in
W2403 Wall Hanging Shelf in Teak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
W2403 Wall Hanging Shelf in Teak Wood by Jörg Pietschmann Dimensions: D 25,5 x W 138,5 x H 4 cm. Materials: Teak wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discreet mounti...
Teak
Contemporary Wood Pin Shelf in White Oak by Fort Standard
By Fort Standard
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Designed with a focus on traditional joinery, there is not a single piece of metal hardware used in these wooden shelves. Small wooden wedges are used to hold the shelves captive bet...
Ash, Maple, Oak, Walnut
Shelf by Olivia Cognet
By Olivia Cognet
Located in Geneve, CH
Shelf by Olivia Cognet Dimensions: W 210 x D 15 x H 20 cm Materials: Ceramic. Module of 3 parts. Each of Olivia’s handmade creations is a unique work of art, the snapshot of a preci...
Ceramic
Ring Shelf in Laquer Wood
By Panorammma
Located in Ciudad de México, CDMX
Ring Shelf is a free-standing, asymmetric, laquered wood ring. This object’s variations in form along with the dynamic composition of aluminum sheets that the ring encompasses open t...
Marble, Aluminum
$4,600 / item
H 34.26 in W 86.62 in D 15.75 in
Contemporary Shelf 'Mogwai' in Burnt Wood by CarmWorks, Customizable
By Camilo Andres Rodriguez Marquez
Located in Paris, IDF
Customizable Shelf Mogwai by Camilo Andres Rodriguez Marquez (aka CarmWorks) Solid oak or cedar / Burnt wood or natural Standard size: H 87 x 220 x 40 cm (customizable) Each piec...
Wood, Cedar
$1,470
H 34.26 in W 17.33 in D 17.33 in
Czech Brown Bauhaus Chrome Flower Stand by Mücke, Melder, Zebrano Wood, 1930s
By Mücke & Melder
Located in Brandys nad Labem, Středočeský kraj
This étagère, with a chrome-plated steel tube and Zebrano wood shelves, was made in the 1930s in the Czech Republic. Original chromium plating in a very nice original condition. S...
Chrome
$10,609 / item
H 51.19 in W 15.75 in D 13.78 in
Contemporary Marble Shelf 'A-Symmetry' by Frédéric Saulou
By Frederic Saulou
Located in Paris, IDF
Contemporary marble shelf 'A-Symmetry' by Frédéric Saulou Marble granite, massif oak stained H. 130 cm x 40 cm x 35 cm Numbered and signed. Edition...
Marble
$1,168 / item
H 0.99 in W 44.1 in D 7.29 in
Unique Wall Hanging Shelf in Ziricote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann
By Jörg Pietschmann
Located in Geneve, CH
Unique Wall Hanging Shelf in Ziricote Wood by Jörg Pietschmann. Dimensions: D 18,5 x W 112 x H 2,5 cm. Materials: Ziricote Wood. All wall shelves include steel pin holders for discr...
Wood
$701 / item
H 63 in W 1.58 in D 9.85 in
White Hand-Sculpted Steel Contemporary Art Shelf by Samuel Costantini
By Samuel Costantini
Located in Geneve, CH
Steel hand sculpted shelf by Samuel Costantini Entirely handmade by the artist Dimensions: D12 x H6 cm Material: Steel Samuel Costantini The abil...
Steel
"Primitive Progressive" Plinth by Soft Baroque
By Soft Baroque
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Soft Baroque Primitive Progressive Plinth 40 x 44 x 115 cm Aluminium dancing shelf and air hardening clay 2016 The primitive aesthetic has permeated int...
Aluminum
Surface Service, Granite Shelf
By Soft Baroque
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Project surface service sees the sensory manipulation of interior design objects like benches and shelves, and the automated value inscription embedded in everyday objects. The surfa...
Granite