Brutalist furniture: understanding a taste that is back

The word comes from architecture — Le Corbusier's raw concrete — but in furniture it means something else: a body of work made between 1955 and 1980 in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, where material is no longer hidden.

In practice, a brutalist piece is recognised by three things: an accepted mass, usually solid oak or elm; visible working — gouging, scorching, welds left proud; and blunt geometry, without mouldings or softening.

The names that structure the market are De Puydt, Defour, Chapo, Evans, Jean Touret. But most of the production is anonymous, from Belgian and Flemish workshops supplying the architects of the day. That is where the best pieces at sensible prices still are.

This furniture sits surprisingly well in very pale interiors. A gouged oak coffee table on a light floor works like a set sculpture: it absorbs light instead of reflecting it, giving a depth no lacquered piece produces.

Two cautions. The solid oak of those years still moves: avoid direct sun and untempered underfloor heating. And check the welds on metal bases, often hand-made and sometimes since repaired.

English-speaking buyers actively search for brutalist furniture, while competition remains light in continental Europe: it is currently one of the most dynamic segments of 20th-century furniture.