Industria’s balance between expression and restraint was learned over years of trial and rejection, prompted by the company’s transition from metal furniture manufacturer and exporter to design brand in the mid-2000s. Industria as it is today, debuted its first branded collection only thirteen years after setting up the iron workshop in designer Jude Tiotuico’s backyard in 1993. Raw and untethered, Jude would regard his first creations as bizarre, featuring geometric human figures as magazine and umbrella stands, and avant garde reimaginings of french bistro seating — catching the eyes of some, but not most. Industria’s design ethos began refinement here, while honing the workshop’s hammering techniques. 

Jude further collaborated with Filipino designers, through which he learned to place his curiosity within the bounds of context, to begin bridging the connection between design objects and the user. “An artist creates to be understood while a designer has to understand before creating.”, Jude often concludes. Referencing human scale and concepts of interior design, Industria now draws from restraint as a pivotal trait while handling a wildly sculptable material as metal.