Linde Freya Tangelder blends ancient and contemporary crafts in Fluid Re-Collection
Dutch designer Linde Freya Tangelder has partnered with Italian brand Cassina on a Milan exhibition featuring furniture and lighting made from blown glass, cast bronze, sheet metal and lacquered wood.
Presented at 10 Corso Como during Milan design week, the Fluid Re-Collection show featured an array of designs by the Belgium-based designer, founder of the studio Destroyers/Builders.
It included both gallery and production pieces, showcasing the blend of "ancient and contemporary" craft techniques that defines Tangelder's design language.
"Fluid Re-Collection offers a versatile view on my world, combining work from the past and present, and perhaps even the future," she told Dezeen.
"At its core, the exhibition generates a dialogue between ancient and contemporary techniques, shifting smoothly between disciplines and emphasising the relation between art, architecture and fashion, which all influence my work."
The exhibition included various pieces that Tangelder has developed for Cassina since first partnering with the brand in 2022, including the round-edged Soft Corners pouffs and the sculptural Wax, Stone, Light lamps, which are made from Murano glass.
Her latest collection for the brand, Fluid Joinery, features even more ambitious glass pieces. The mushroom-shaped table was presented alongside a brand-new table lamp, which was one of Cassina's Milan design week launches.
The collaboration with Cassina has been pivotal for Tangelder, whose work up until now has been primarily focused on collectable pieces for galleries such as Carwan in Athens, Aequo in Mumbai and Valerie Traan in Antwerp.
She was the first beneficiary of the brand's Patronage programme, which was set up in 2022 to support emerging design talents.
Before then, Belgian label Valerie Objects was the only design manufacturer Tangelder had worked with.
"When Luca Fuso [Cassina's CEO] approached me, it felt like the right moment to collaborate," she said.
"Cassina supported me and my artistic practice while I simultaneously worked on my first furniture pieces," she continued.
"Our relationship has evolved and become stronger over the years, so I was delighted to this year work on something special where my work was represented both artistically and industrially," Tangelder continues.
The exhibition featured various object compositions, divided by translucent curtains. Some reflected typical furniture arrangements, while others were more abstract or sculptural.
"Shaped by the same process-driven, sculptural attitude that is important in my work, the different elements within the installation seamlessly interact with one another," said Tangelder.
"Fragments of these worlds are uncovered through the use of semi-transparent foils, recalling the material that I use to cover work zones in my atelier, to protect surfaces and areas while creating my designs."
Also among the works are early prototypes of a chair currently under development with Cassina, and new versions of furniture from both her Reworked and her Remould furniture series.
Tangelder points to the Remould as a particular favourite from the show. "I really like the details of the spontaneous placing of the canvas flaps, as well as the deep green colour I gave them," she said.
Other highlights include the white-bronze Wax Desk Light, a cast lamp with a raw texture, and the Sculpting Archetypes low chair, described as "a piece unforcedly carved by hand".
Also in Milan, Theaster Gates showed ceramics with Prada and a guerrilla exhibition showed unusual door knobs.
The photography is by Eline Willaert.
Fluid Re-Collection was on show at 10 Corso Como in Milan from 21 to 26 April 2026 as part of Milan design week. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
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