Designers
Etel Carmona
A self-taught designer, Etel was born in Minas Gerais,
Brazil , and began her work researching and restoring period furniture in a small warehouse on her rural compound in Louveira in the State of São Paulo. In 1988 she founded Etel Marcenaria, a factory located in the
municipality of
Valinhos,
São Paulo for the production of exclusive, high quality, custom wood furniture created by well-known Brazilian designers. A showroom was established in 1993 in the city of
São Paulo . Etel also manufactures re-editions of pieces from the famous Branco i Preto furniture store which was established by a group of architects in
Sao Paulo in 1952.
Since 1999 Etel has been involved in projects related to rain forest management and sustainable development in the Amazon region.
Sergio Fahrer
Sergio Fahrer is a young designer who has made an instant impact in
Brazil and around the world. He graduated from MIT,
Los Angeles and began his design career designing musical instruments. This original interest comes through in the fine detailing and delicacy in his furniture designs. He designed the 2005/6 collection for Brentwood, one of the most fashionable furniture shops in
Sao Paulo and a collection of furniture for the San Francisco Design Centre. In the same year he was invited to represent Brazil at the "Design Possible" Exhibition in
Milan . In the last two years he has had no less than five pieces short listed for the IF product design awards in
Germany .
Claudia Moreira Salles
A graduate of the
Rio de Janeiro
School of Industrial Design in 1978, Claudia focused on furniture design quite early in her career. She worked as an apprentice at the
Rio de Janeiro
Museum of Modern Art Industrial Design Institute and then as a member of the client team for furniture and interior design projects. In 1988 she began designing furniture for Nanni Movelaria and since 1993 has been creating yearly furniture designs for Etel who also produces and sells her pieces. Like Etel, she works principally in wood, combining traditional woodworking techniques with strikingly modern designs. Her work has an understated elegance combining a robustness of construction hidden behind a deceptive lightness of form. Sergio Rodrigues is a great admirer of her work, comparing her to the great dames of world design such as Eileen Gray, Carlottte Perrian, and Lina Bo Bardi, amongst others.
Isay Weinfeld
Isay Weinfeld is primarily an architect who also likes to make films and design furniture. He has designed many high profile buildings and interiors in
Brazil often designing furniture as part of his interior scheme. He has won many awards from the Brazilian Institute of Architects and recently designed the interior of the Mocoto Brazilian restaurant in
London . In 2004 his Zezinho sideboard won the idFX award for the best furniture design at Decorex in
London . Etel currently produce many of his designs. His work has a slightly retro look, echoing the style of earlier Brazilian architects of the 1950’s.
Campana Brothers
The brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana are two of the most famous Brazilian designers. Since 1983, Fernando, who graduated in architecture, and Humberto, who studied law, have worked together in the field of design. in their joint studio, a converted garage, in São Paulo., They have developed furniture which utilises everyday, ready-made materials often even refuse. They enjoy the challenge of transforming the use of materials converting “rubbish” or items of everyday use into works of high design or even art. Their furniture can be seen in art galleries and design exhibitions all over the world including MOMA in
New York .
Sergio Rodrigues
Born in 1927, Sergio Rodrigues is considered one of the founding fathers of Brazilian furniture design. He graduated from the National School of Architecture in
Rio in 1952 and by 1953 he had already opened the first modern art and furniture store in Curtiba in partnership with the Italian Hauner brothers. Though not a commercial success it formed the basis of the later Forma company founded in
Sao Paulo state in 1954 and it was here that he met up with and was influenced by Gregori Warchavchik and Lina Bo Bardi. In 1955 he founded Oca which was to become one of the most powerful influences on Brazilian furniture. Perhaps his most famous design, the Poltrona Mole (“soft armchair”) was created in 1957. It won first prize at the IV Concorso Internatiozionale del Mobili in
Cantu, Italy . The company Isa, in
Bergamo, Italy , manufactured the chair and exported it to many countries. Since the 1973 Sergio has lived in
Rio de Janeiro working independently on many architectural and furniture projects. His furniture is in many important buildings including the Brazilian Embassy in Rome,
Brasilia
University and the National Theatre in
Brasilia . His work has appeared in many international exhibitions including MOMA in New York and he received the Lapiz de Plata award for his whole collection of work at the Biennial Exhibition of Architecture in
Buenos Aires .
Carlos Motta
Carlos Motta graduated in architecture in
Sao Paulo in 1976. Since the 1970’s he has been an advocate for re-cycling and sustainability in furniture production. During the ’70’s he spent a lot of time collecting driftwood along the beaches of the southern coast of
Sao Paulo , transforming it into a very distinctive style of heavily framed wood furniture. He has also re-claimed wood from demolition sites and more recently has used FSC certified wood. He has been awarded many prestigious prizes including the Hors Concours Award at the IX Premio do Museu da Casa Brasileira. This year he will have a solo exhibiton at the Gallery Mandalian Paillard in
Paris – their first showcasing of a Brazilian designer.
Paulo Mendes da Rocha
Brazil ’s most successful architect after Oscar Niemeyer and the only other Brazilian architect to win the Pritzer Prize (2006). He also won the Mies van der Rohe Prize (2000). He is credited with many fine buildings in Brazil, mostly in
Sao Paulo where in 1957 he built the Gymnasium for the Paulistano Athletics Club for which he also designed the now classic Paulistano chair featured in this collection.
Rafic Farah
Rafic Farah is a complete artist. Designer, architect, artistic director, graphic designer, photographer, he is a man of many skills. He says that he was particularly influenced by the mediteranean artists and that he chose to design by chance. At the end of the 1980's Rafic reached out into the design of objects and furniture. One of his best creations is, without doubt, the coffee table initially designed for Doctor Kaeco's practice. His creations are uncluttered, almost ethereal, and made of dimple lines.
Mauríco Klabin
Mauríco Klabin's main concern was to inspire a feeling of wellbeing and protection; more precisely, to give the sensation that one can feel when giving a hug. He chose to create objects which contain and cocoon. His work is characterised by the absence of salient angles, complex requirements or complicated instructions. His projects are at the same time simple and direct. He also fought to impose the idea that design had to be accessible to everybody.
In 2006, his main creation, the iconic Eclipse lamp, became part of the permanent collection of the Architecture and Design's department of the MoMA in New York.
Francisco de Almeida
Francisco de Almeida stands out particularly in the fields of interior architecture, lighting projects, furniture and lamps design. All his projects are both singular and simple. Nobel raw materials, semi-industrialised materials and other elements like re-cycled glass, fabrics or papers are ingeniously combined with light to give birth to simple and refined creations. In this process, craftsmen and designers share their competances to find alternative techniques to give life to Francisco's ideas. The strong implication of the craftsman in this process is what he calls "induscraft".
One of Francisco's most famous creations is the Disco Lamp, which is included in our collection.
