aequo.design's édifice stools stack bricks into architectural miniatures

ÉDIFICE stools echo iconic architectural typologies

French studio aequo.design stacks up architectural miniatures with ÉDIFICE. The furniture collection is composed of varnished bricks and birch plywood of varying shapes, patterns, and textures, assembled into vertical seating structures. Sculptural in form, the stools take inspiration from architectural techniques used prior to the 1900s, binding the bricks together with a traditional tie system involving metal rods.

While drawing from these historical masonry methods, designers Tim Defleur and Arthur Lenglin inject their own contemporary spin through abstract configurations. The structures mimic iconic building typologies, with some evoking ancient stone ruins or brutalist expressions, while others resemble geometric cross-sections of modernist architecture.

all images by Benjamin Helle

aequo.design utilizes brick for artful expressions 

The tie system technique used across the ÉDIFICE Collection was commonly used in brick construction before modern reinforced concrete systems, enabling complex patterning and load distribution in arches, domes, and vaults. Here, aequo.design carefully selected and arranged components with distinct glazes, reliefs, and surface embellishments that further reinforce the architectural details.

Based in Roubaix, Northern France, aequo.design has built its image around brick, an emblematic material of its region. Since 2018, the multidisciplinary studio has drawn inspiration from its context and focused its work on reinterpreting and elevating the humble material. For aequo.design, brick is an important regional material that offers unbound creative and sustainable potential beyond typical construction uses. In 2022, at the invitation of the ICD Grand Hornu, the studio presented a retrospective of its works and research on brick at the exhibition La Brique Hors le Murs.

aequo.design stacks up architectural miniatures with ÉDIFICE

the stools take inspiration from architectural techniques used prior to the 1900s

tinted birch plywood and bricks

pedestal table echoes historic architectural elements

aequo.design utilizes brick for artful expressions

the bricks are bound together with a traditional tie system involving metal rods

an interplay of raw tones and textures

varnished brick detail

pedestal table painted in full white

evoking brutalist volumes

Arthur Lenglin and Tim Defleur of aequo.design | image by Florent Baheux

project info:

name: ÉDIFICE
designer: aequo.design

photographer: Benjamin Helle | @studio.b.helle

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edited by: ravail khan | designboom