Linde Freya Tangelder

What if a key process in art-making is art-destroying? Not creating, but its opposite? To think about the tension in these opposing forces is to consider the work of visionary designer Linde Freya Tangelder, the young founder of the buzzed-about Belgian studio Destroyers/Builders. The name is wonderfully ironic and authentically full of intent, process, and boundary-setting ideas—just like everything the studio produces. 

Born in The Netherlands near the German border, following a short stint in art school, she graduated from Eindhoven’s prestigious Design Academy in 2014. “I wanted more function in my projects,” she says, “and rather than in art school, I found it there. Sometimes, I still refer to specific tasks that I received from a teacher and mentor at Eindhoven. I remember that we were assigned an exercise to look at the sun and make a sketch from the shadows every hour throughout the day.” This exercise is ingrained in Tangelder’s meticulous attention to detail and an appreciation for the subtleties of form, qualities she continues to utilize in everything she creates

Visiting her in the studio that doubles as the home she shares with her partner, a landscape architect, it’s clear that the studio is where she thrives. It’s her safe space, but also a creative sanctuary. “I may be Dutch, but I feel very connected to being Belgian and all the aesthetics that it implies. Architecture is also my biggest inspiration.”