Monolith Bench is a minimalist bench created by Hungary-based designer Boldizar Senteski for STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN. Senteski’s work exists at the intersection of furniture and sculpture, where utility meets monument. “I’m interested in the moment when an object becomes more than itself,” explains Senteski. “When a bench isn’t just for sitting, but becomes a presence in the room—a character with its own gravity.”

The bench’s form recalls the monolithic structures of mid-century brutalism, yet avoids concrete’s cool austerity through its materiality. The dark suede leather wrapping creates a curious visual effect—it both absorbs light and reveals subtle variations in texture as one moves around it. This material choice transforms what could have been forbidding into something that beckons close inspection and touch.

The Monolith Collection’s lineage can be traced through multiple design traditions. It shares DNA with the minimalist sculptures of Donald Judd, whose explorations of form and space questioned the boundaries between art and furniture. Yet it also connects to Ettore Sottsass’s more playful Memphis Group experiments with geometric primitives, though stripped of their chromatic exuberance.

What distinguishes Senteski’s bench is how it recontextualizes brutalism’s public scale for intimate domestic spaces. Where architectural brutalism often imposed itself upon urban landscapes, this bench instead creates a focal point that organizes private space around it. The piece doesn’t dominate—it anchors.

The technical achievement here shouldn’t be overlooked. Creating sharp geometric forms with suede requires precise construction methods that prevent the material from bunching or losing definition at edges and corners. The result is a seamless integration of form and material that appears deceptively simple.