Brutalist Candlesticks
The design of brutalist furniture 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. Lately, the word “brutalist” has been adopted by the realms of furniture design and the decorative arts to refer to chairs, 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.
ORIGINS OF BRUTALIST FURNITURE DESIGN
- Brutalism emerged during the mid-20th century
- Term coined by architecture critic Reyner Banham
- Originated in the United Kingdom
- Brutalist architecture gained popularity in the United States beginning in the early 1960s
- Inaugural brutalist projects include Unité d'habitation and the city of Chandigarh, India, both of which owe to influential architect Charles-Édouard “Le Corbusier” Jeanneret
- Le Corbusier’s cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, designed hundreds of chairs, tables, cabinets and lamps for Chandigarh
- Informed by the Bauhaus, constructivism, modernism and the International Style; part of mid-century modernism
- Contrasted starkly with Beaux Arts style
CHARACTERISTICS OF BRUTALIST FURNITURE DESIGN
- Use of industrial materials — tubular steel, concrete, glass, granite
- Prioritizes functionalism, minimalism and utilization of negative space
- Spare silhouettes, pronounced geometric shapes
- Stripped-down, natural look; rugged textures, modular construction
- Interiors featuring airy visual flow and reliance on neutral palettes
BRUTALIST FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
VINTAGE BRUTALIST FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The term brutalism — which derives from the French word brut, meaning “raw” — was coined by architecture critic Reyner Banham 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 Whitney Museum of American Art, which was designed by Marcel Breuer, and Paul Rudolph's Yale Art and Architecture Building. The severe style might have been the most criticized architectural movement of the 20th century, even if it was an honest attempt to celebrate the beauty of raw material. But while the brutalist government buildings in Washington, D.C., seemingly bask in their un-beauty, brutalist interior design and decor is much more lyrical, at times taking on a whimsical, romantic quality that its exterior counterparts lack.
Paul Evans is Exhibit A for brutalist furniture design. His Sculpture Front cabinets laced with high-relief patinated steel mounts have become collector's items nonpareil, while the chairs, coffee table and dining table in his later Cityscape series and Sculpted Bronze series for Directional Furniture are perhaps the most expressive, attention-grabbing pieces in American modern design. Other exemplary brutalist designers 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.
Brutalist furniture and sculptures remain popular with interior designers and can lend unique, eccentric, human notes to an art and design collection in any home.
Find authentic vintage brutalist chairs, coffee tables, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1940s Argentine Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
1970s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
1970s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Cut Steel
Mid-20th Century Spanish Brutalist Candlesticks
Aluminum, Brass
Mid-20th Century French Brutalist Candlesticks
Wrought Iron
1970s Italian Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Ceramic
1970s American Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Copper
20th Century German Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal, Brass
20th Century Latvian Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
Mid-20th Century American Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass
Late 20th Century American Brutalist Candlesticks
Copper
1960s French Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
Mid-20th Century American Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
1960s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass
1990s French Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
1960s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal, Iron
1970s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Bronze
2010s Spanish Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass
Late 20th Century North American Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
1960s French Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
Mid-20th Century European Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
1970s Spanish Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Wrought Iron
1950s French Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Wrought Iron
1980s Scandinavian Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Ceramic
1970s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century Swedish Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
1960s Austrian Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Bronze
20th Century North American Brutalist Candlesticks
Bronze
1990s French Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
1960s Austrian Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Bronze
1960s Austrian Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Bronze
Mid-20th Century Unknown Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
1980s French Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
1960s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
1970s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Aluminum
1960s Swedish Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass
Mid-20th Century European Brutalist Candlesticks
Wrought Iron
2010s Spanish Brutalist Candlesticks
Aluminum, Brass
1970s Finnish Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Glass, Blown Glass
1970s Dutch Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Enamel
2010s Spanish Brutalist Candlesticks
Aluminum, Brass
1970s Swedish Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Glass, Art Glass
Mid-20th Century Italian Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass, Copper, Aluminum
Mid-20th Century European Brutalist Candlesticks
Wrought Iron
1970s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
Mid-20th Century French Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal, Wrought Iron
1970s Italian Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass, Nickel
2010s Spanish Brutalist Candlesticks
Aluminum, Brass
Mid-20th Century North American Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass, Nickel
1950s Dutch Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Iron
1950s European Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Steel
Mid-20th Century German Brutalist Candlesticks
Bronze
1930s French Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Wrought Iron
1950s European Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Steel
2010s Spanish Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass, Metal, Aluminum
1970s German Vintage Brutalist Candlesticks
Metal
Late 20th Century Brutalist Candlesticks
Stone
20th Century Norwegian Brutalist Candlesticks
Brass