Sheila Llovet founded Crude in 2018. She began as an interior designer, with a vision of spaces centered around the concept of raw, quality material. Before founding the studio, Sheila traveled extensively and was deeply influenced by her experiences of different cultures. She was inspired by a quality present in certain spaces and objects, such as the presence of traditional African stools or the spiritual undertone of the churches by the Belgian Monk Hans van der Laan, a character that embodied both serenity and stability.

Each interior design project presented a new need for furniture, and Crude began to develop their approach to objects, based on a subtle geometric language and an awareness of the surrounding space. There are no decorative elements in Crude's pieces. The identity of each object emerges through an understanding of material and geometric shape. The Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka took a similar approach to space-making, designing through a process of reduction; always returning to "a relationship that allows for change." In many ways, this adaptive relationship has been a guiding principle in Crude's work. Over time materials change, spaces change, and human lives change. Crude's work embraces these fluctuations, creating objects that adapt to life and age with grace.

The design world is at a point of transition. Industrialized processes and visual media have led to a market where superficial aesthetics are often valued over functional reality. At the same time, people are beginning to reconnect with the value of objects made with human consciousness. Designers play a fundamental role in this transition. They are the bridge between the craftsman and the consumer, maintaining the web of relationships that shape our future. Through these relationships, artisan knowledge is kept alive and modernized. Crude's furniture is an embodiment of circular design, built for decades of use and eventually natural decomposition.

Fine art has been a constant aspect of Crude’s practice as interior designers. Not as an additional, decorative element, but as something soulful and essential, weaving a spiritual quality into a space. As the studio moved into the realm of furniture design, there was more space for this creative exploration. This took the shape of an ongoing series of collaborations with emerging artists, each resulting in a unique piece of collectible design. In the last year, these creative encounters have deepened Crude’s approach to material and form. From the rustic pit fire ceramics of the Spanish artist Yoyo Balagué to Crude’s most recent collaboration, exploring the potential of cork with the Belgian designer Cedric Etienne.

In a world increasingly pressed for time, absence has become as important as presence. Absence of distractions, decorations, complications. Absence is the counterpart to presence. In the words of the modernist sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, "Simplicity is not an end in art, but one arrives at simplicity in spite of oneself, in approaching the real sense of things."