Linde Freya Tangelder’s Latest Exhibition in Antwerp Is Bold, Brutalist and Beautiful.

Solidified Reflections collection is a collaboration between Linde Freya Tangelder, Carwan Gallery and IN Residence under the cultural patronage of Cassina. It features the publication of the designer’s first illustrated monographic book, written by Barbara Brondi and Marco Rainò and published by NERO Editions, and is presented alongside the designer’s body of work conceived in Turin during the residency program together with her first product designed for Cassina in a solo show at Carwan Gallery. Shot at Westrand Cultural Centre by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht.

Destroyers/Builders is an unlikely name for a design firm, but it suits its founder. After all, Linde Freya Tangelder has never been one to fit the mould. The Dutch-born, Belgium-based designer, whose first solo exhibition—titled FUNDAMENTS—is on exhibit between 1st September and 1st October at Valerie Traan Gallery in Antwerp, has upended the rulebook once again with furniture and objects that riff on brutalist: Basel sandstone objects, brick backrests, untreated oak wood stools, hand-sanded aluminium seats and blown-glass lamps, to name a few.

For Linde, the collection—which she designed specifically for the exhibition—is a reflection of her minimalist design ethos. The work is also a continuation of her collaboration with Carwan Gallery and IN Residence under the cultural patronage of Cassina (seen above). The display at Valerie Traan follows a similar philosophy. Each piece is given pride of place somewhere along the gallery’s inner or outer spaces, symbolising a harmony of old and new typologies. “I have introduced new ideas and reinterpreted old ones, and challenged models and samples that usually hide on the shelves in my studio,” says the designer, adding that the exhibition nods equally to her past and present.

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Fundaments exhibition at Valerie Traan Gallery. Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Linde’s penchant for architecture is evident in her designs. “Both topical and historical, and across the borders of culture”, she says of the types of architecture that intrigue her. “It is there that I find the structures and methods, forms and materials that I need to translate ideas into sculptural furniture, interventions and objects that meet a human scale.”

But by her own admission, architecture is simply a springboard. Much of the design process, she says, is seeded in instinct—such as her approach to contrasts, her industrial flourishes, or the way she elicits an interaction between open and closed volumes.

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Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Photo by Ligia Poplawska.

Inside Valerie Traan, the high and low volumes alternate, undulating like tidal waves.

With a lithostone path that parlays into a pond and curved aluminium sides enclosed by lush foliage, the exhibition is designed to be a landscape that can be explored and felt and lived in.

For more information on Fundaments, the first solo exhibition by Linde Freya Tangelder (Destroyers/ Builders) at Valerie Traan Gallery, head to valerietraan.be/62-fundaments.

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[Images courtesy of Destroyers/Builders. Photography by Jeroen Verrecht & Ligia Poplawska.]