A monumental chair shaped by absence.
Heavy Light transforms the visual language of brutalism into an unexpectedly warm place to sit. A soft, human-scale interior is removed from a strict architectural block: heavy to see, light to feel.
Heavy to see. Light to feel. Brutalism made tender.
Heavy Light looks like a block that should not move. As you approach it, the mass opens into a soft interior. The seat is not attached to the cube; it is created by removing a semi-spherical volume from it. The absence becomes the most important part of the object.
It sits between furniture, architecture and sculpture: functional enough to welcome the body, but monumental enough to hold a room.
Most chairs are designed by adding: legs, a seat, a backrest. Qbé began with the opposite gesture. A spherical void was carved from a pure cube, leaving equal bands of material around the opening. Nothing ornamental was added - the form is defined by what is missing.
Designer Valentin Penev grew up around the monumental concrete language of post-Soviet architecture: buildings that appeared permanent, severe and emotionally distant. In Eindhoven he built BouwBouw Nederland around renovation, interiors and craftsmanship. Heavy Light does not reject brutalism - it asks whether brutalism can become intimate.
From scale study to sitting scale, every proportion became physical. The core was carved and sanded by hand, then finished coat by coat with TopCret microcement - a material normally read across floors and walls, brought down here to the scale of the body. The hand-trowelled finish keeps the monolith human.
Cool, compact and graphic. The first scale study (± 35 cm) retains the directness of the original idea and reads as the most severe expression of the concept: a dark grey shell around a black upholstered interior.
TopCret BAXAB® Eco · AceroKvadrat Hallingdal 65, black
Warm, at sitting scale (± 70 cm) and welcoming - the piece presented at Dutch Design Week. The same geometry, softened by a caramel-toned exterior and a light beige, almost room-like interior.
TopCret BAXAB® Eco · CaramelatoKvadrat Acca, light beige| Project | Heavy Light - Tender Brutalism |
|---|---|
| Object | Qbé N° 001 |
| Designer | Valentin Penev |
| Year | 2025 |
| Made in | Eindhoven |
| Typology | Sculptural lounge chair / collectible object |
| Exterior | Hand-applied TopCret BAXAB® Eco microcement |
| Colours | Acero / Caramelato |
| Interior | Layered cold foam and memory foam, Kvadrat upholstery |
| Dimensions Qbé I | ± 35 × 35 × 35 cm |
| Dimensions Qbé II | ± 70 × 70 × 70 cm |
| Production | Made to order, numbered and signed |
| Lead time | 10-12 weeks |
| Delivery | Quoted separately; placement across the Netherlands and Europe available |
| Transport | Custom transport crate available |
Heavy Light uses materials for what they communicate as well as what they do. The microcement exterior suggests mineral weight, permanence and architecture; the textile interior introduces touch, warmth and acoustic softness. The contrast is not hidden - the contrast is the project.
TopCret BAXAB® Eco holds an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and is a water-based, VOC-free microcement system. Kvadrat Hallingdal 65 and Acca are durable upholstery textiles made for years of use. Heavy Light does not claim to be impact-free: its material position is based on durability, long service life and documented materials.
Heavy Light debuted during Dutch Design Week 2025 (18-26 October) in the lobby of The Social Hub Eindhoven, presented as "Heavy Light - Tender Brutalism" in the context of La Bolleur. Visitors were invited not only to view the chair but to sit inside it.
Valentin Penev is the founder of BouwBouw Nederland, a construction and design house in Eindhoven. His work moves between building, interiors, material application and collectible objects. He designs by making: scale, weight, coatings and use are tested in his own workshop. Heavy Light is the first public object of this new chapter.