Architect Caroline Voet is launching her LOBSTER bench at Antwerp Design Week

Caroline Voet is an Antwerp-based architect whose practice crosses the boundaries between architecture, design, scenography and graphic expression.

With her studio, Voet works on various projects for museums and clients such as the Flemish Architecture Institute VAi and the deSingel Arts Center in Antwerp (B). In addition to these public interiors, she also designs original furniture, inspired by the poetry of movement and the essence of daily use.

During Antwerp Design Week, from 2 to 7 June 2024, Caroline Voet will launch the LOBSTER bench. Made from powder-coated steel, the bench plays with form and function, combining creative play, sustainable materials, and local craftsmanship. Designed with the "eye of an architect," the LOBSTER bench is a simple yet poetic design with an elegant form and spatial functionality.

The Lobster's choice of materials makes it ideal for outdoor use. Its eleven simple and narrow legs give it a playful and elegant character, while the seating area offers multiple options. ​ All sides are front-facing, allowing the Lobster to nestle comfortably in the middle of a garden or a central spot within a building. Its pleated shape with opposing railings ensures you can always sit facing the sun. It invites you to sit together at different angles, both surprising and playful. The Lobster sofa is available in three colors.

Caroline Voet and her studio have been creating architecturally inspired, functional an poetic furniture for years, consistently integrating them into exceptional architectural projects and interiors, such as the Prélude bench for deSingel or the tables for VAi. This process also works in the opposite direction, creating a layered dialogue full of interactions and cross-pollinations. For Caroline Voet, this human scale of “interior architecture”, encompassing furniture and objects, is the starting point for her spatial designs.

​For the first time, Caroline Voet is designing a piece of furniture that originates from her own story:

“The Lobster bench is an ode to my father, who passed away in April of this year. As a child, we often walked along the left bank of Antwerp, in front of the Boeienweide open-air maritime museum. My sister and I would climb on the propellers, anchors, and buoys installed on a vast lawn. The green buoy was Sofie's, the red one was mine. My father, who was also a Cancer by his astrological sign, was always nearby, at a familiar distance. This playful complicity, sharing our little secrets, taking a moment to make a place our own that is also shared with others, this carefree sense of creating a small home with a wide view, that is what the Lobster bench embodies.”
​— Caroline Voet

The LOBSTER bench

About Caroline Voet

Caroline Voet is an Antwerp-based architect whose artistic work crosses the boundaries between architecture, design, scenography and graphic expression. Caroline Voet worked for Zaha Hadid in London and Christian Kieckens in Aalst/Brussels before setting up her own design studio in Antwerp in 2003. Her designs focus on people through authentic materiality and detail, intense proportional dialogue and emotion. With her team, she crosses disciplinary boundaries between architecture, interior design and scenography, working on a series of projects for private and public clients such as the Flemish Architecture Institute, Kunstencentrum deSingel, the Kortrijk Interior Biennale and Cinematek Brussels. His furniture has won several awards (Good Design Award, Henry Van De Velde Label). Her construction practice is combined with and inspired by research, experimentation, teaching and analytical assignments in public buildings and heritage.

Based on the principle that a space influences its users, Caroline Voet and her studio inscribe each project in an investigation of the interwoven layers of strong geometry and soft haptics.

About the Antwerp Design Week

Antwerp Design Week takes place in the heart of Antwerp, Belgium, offering a unique showcase of renowned Belgian and international brands. Unlike traditional fairs, this event goes beyond the confines of booths, allowing you to explore entire showrooms, warehouses, and offices, creating an immersive brand experience. It presents Antwerp as the design capital that it is.

Caroline Voet at the Antwerp Design Week
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​2-7 June 2024
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​HUB Winkelhaak:
​Lange Winkelhaakstraat 3
​Antwerp
​Belgium

Images (download here)