About

BRUTALIST FURNITURE

STRYD (IPA: “strɛid”; Dutch: “strijd”) is a Brussels-born design and furniture brand, with a creative ethos based on a defining essay on Brutalism. In The New Brutalism (1955), Reyner Banham attempts to codify the then-emerging architectural movement under the following principles:

1. Memorability as an image
2. Clear exhibition of structure
3. Valuation of materials ‘as found’

All objects by STRYD are designed according to a reinterpretation of Banham’s principles in an endeavour to provide answers to issues in today’s furniture industry.

RADICAL APPROACH

“New work always involves objections to the old, but these objections are really relevant only to the new.” (Donald Judd, Specific Objects, 1964).

All furniture by STRYD begins with a fundamental question: Why design any new furniture at all? The landscape of furniture styles nowadays is ultimately shaped by movements that have emerged in the middle of the past century. Generally speaking, we distinguish classical from modern furniture. Without diving too much into detail, one could also indicate what seems to have emerged from antidesign, which includes the vast array of organic, futuristic shapes, usually involving industrial and synthetic production processes. Although considered outdated, the classical style irrevocably sets the standard for our notion of comfort. This involves a great deal of cushioning and curved shapes, reminiscent of Victorian culture, with the aim of providing comfort, but at the expense of muscle activation, thereby depriving the body of its natural function. With modernism came an initial counteraction, valorising hard surfaces and geometric shapes, albeit with a focus on production scale and accessibility. The result is standardisation through mass production, promoting efficiency in satisfying shareholders while proclaiming efficiency of design. Whether we consider old or modern furniture, the common element in most new work is imitation. To distinguish oneself from this formula, should form the basis for creating new furniture today.

HANDMADE

Value is the result of prioritising craftsmanship. This necessitates limited scale, as neither value, nor craftsmanship can be obtained through large production and distribution. Donald Judd writes: “The distribution of furniture, and of books, probably of most things, are monopolies against diversity, which eliminate exceptions and complication, which have an invariable scheme for production and for costs, and of course for appearance, and, for books, subject matter.” (It’s hard to find a good lamp, 1993).

This philosophy on value means more than just handmade objects for their own sake. It is reflected in the choice of materials, which will always be organic and regenerative in the case of wood, or durable and malleable in the case of steel. STRYD forms a resistance to the myth of progress by returning to the basics, by subtracting the ornament, by guaranteeing brute strength and quality.

BELGISCH DESIGN BELGE

STRYD was born out of a will to fundamentally embody Belgian design. It does not seek to be practical, fashionable or even aesthetically pleasing. It offers non-solutions to problems you never knew were there. It exists for those who are intuïtively drawn to Belgian design: a radical ode to form follows function that will unsettle any devotee to elegance.

BIO

Marnix Aditeya
Mantrimayum
Van Strydonck
Born in Mumbai
Atelier in Zuid-Holland

After majoring in both Art History and Management, I worked as a deputy director in the arts at the Flemish Communal Commission in Brussels. While pursuing a career in academia, I enrolled in a carpentry course and eventually started working full-time as an apprentice. After two years of acquiring experience in furniture making and timber framing, I founded STRYD with the ambition to challenge the way we understand furniture.