Inspired by both heavy machinery and natural forms, a Dutch design studio has created a furniture collection modeled after bunker forts from WWII.

Made full of steel pipes, lacquered plywood and glass, the Islands collection has an Art Deco appeal.

‘You could say we tried to make an archipelago of objects without any scale references,’ says designer Johannes Gille of Kranen|Gille. ‘Islands grown from steel. A combination of nature and industry. Intuition versus ratio.’

Gille says he and Jos Kranen created pieces by using industrial materials and the structural rules that come with them. They were influenced by the photography of Karl Blossfeldt and the steel sea forts that defended the British coast in WWII.

Photos courtesy Frans Lossie.