Heavy Light - Tender Brutalism

Brutalism Reimagined

Heavy Light – Tender Brutalism is a design experiment at the intersection of architecture, furniture, and art. The project takes the monolithic language of post-Soviet brutalism—massive, heavy, and raw—and reframes it with an unexpected tenderness. The sculptural chair appears carved from a block of stone, yet reveals a welcoming softness within. It is both object and void, weight and lightness, presence and absence.

The chair is constructed using TopCret micro-cement, a material traditionally associated with architecture, here applied at a human scale. Its hard surface is contrasted by a cushion made of Piñatex, bio-based alternative to leather made from pineapple leaves and repurposed fruit waste. This choice highlights sustainability while questioning the meaning of comfort in a heavy, almost immovable form.

Presented at Dutch Design Week 2025 in Eindhoven, the work is not only a functional seat but also a meditation on heritage, resilience, and transformation. It reflects the designer’s background—growing up between post-Soviet concrete environments and contemporary Dutch design culture—translated into a single object of paradoxical presence.