NOVEMBER 29 2019 WHAT YOUR SHOE SAYS ABOUT YOU by Robert Armstrong FE99_Cover_PRESS.indd 1 15/11/2019 16:33 SAMBA LIKE IT HOT From Oscar Niemeyer and Lina Bo Bardi to the cutting-edge Campana Brothers, Brazilian design is back with a bang, says Katrina Burroughs I magine European modernism after several Caldas, Giuseppe Scapinelli, Jorge Zalszupin, Branco caipirinhas – tie loosened, shoes kicked off and and Preto and Lia Siqueira, and expects that they ready to samba. What you are picturing is the will particularly appeal to her European clients. “Many midcentury design of Brazil. Its 20th-century of the great Brazilian designers have lived or worked masters created an opulent, tropical alternative to in Europe – the link was already there creatively the cool linear stylings of Breuer, Eames, Jacobsen as well as sentimentally,” she says. “This makes it easy and Le Corbusier, featuring sensuous curves, for European interior designers to relate to Brazilian richly coloured indigenous hardwoods and the luxurious design.” The highlight of the range is the JZ trolley, leather and cane used in local craft. Works by Brazil’s conceived in 1959 by Jorge Zalszupin, a Polish émigré midcentury greats, such as Oscar Niemeyer, Sergio who moved to Brazil after the second world war, and Rodrigues, Joaquim Tenreiro and Lina Bo Bardi, have worked with architect Oscar Niemeyer on furniture for long been pursued by museum curators and specialist Brasilia. The cart is a cocktail of plain geometry and rich collectors. Now, with authorised reissues of the materials – an assemblage of triangles and circles in most admired originals and the emergence of a new honey imbuia wood and brass. generation of artist-designers, it’s time for a wider Giusi Tacchini, CEO of Tacchini, who presented a audience to celebrate the audacious design of Brazilian collection of work by Brazilian designers at Milan’s Salone creatives past and present. del Mobile this year, also admires the transcontinental Fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic featured furniture aesthetic of the Brazilian greats. “Its midcentury-modern by Lina Bo Bardi in her first-ever residential project – furniture is a symbol of a unique cultural exchange an apartment at Gasholders in King’s Cross. “I was always between Europe and Latin America. In other words, it a huge admirer of her work – both of her architecture and is the fusion of old world and new,” she says. The star her furniture. Her minimal approach, the beauty of of her new collection is the limited-edition Reversível natural leather mixed with the simplicity of metal shapes chair designed in 1955 by Martin Eisler, the Viennese is something that really resonates with my own aesthetic,” architect who left Austria for Argentina in 1938, finally says Ilincic. Born in Italy, Bo Bardi arrived in Brazil in settling in São Paulo. As well as Eisler’s classics, 1946, where she became one of her adopted nation’s Tacchini’s stable also features contemporary pieces that most celebrated architect-designers. Ilincic grew up in touch on a key theme of Brazilian design today – namely Serbia and established her fashion label in London but reuse. Giorgio Bonaguro’s Joaquim marble tables, fell in love with Brazilian midcentury style when she named after Joaquim Tenreiro, “the father of Brazilian studied architecture and applied arts at the University modernism”, are a case in point – they are made from of Belgrade. Invited to decorate the interiors at the discarded off-cuts of Brazilian marble. Gasholders development, she included two leather seats: The subject of creative salvaging brings us to the 1951 Bola de Latão chair and the Três Pés armchair Humberto and Fernando Campana, pioneers of from 1948, both reissued by Etel, the furniture brand Brazil’s contemporary design scene, who have been founded by designer Etel Carmona to re-release gems of creating experimental and innovative work from Brazilian modernist furniture. recycled waste since the 1980s. Their multidisciplinary For collectors, the period when the modernist studio in São Paulo has completed design projects of capital Brasilia was being conceived and constructed every type, from architecture to jewellery to costume marks the pinnacle of 20th-century Brazilian design. and furniture design for luxury brands such as Louis “The last truly great international moment occurred from Vuitton. Humberto Campana says that while the new 1955 to 1960 with the planning, building and furnishing wave of Brazilian designers are mindful of their of the national capital according to the most progressive, modernist history, they are also open to alternative Above: 1948 Três Pés utopian, even futuristic thinking of the day,” says influences. “You know, 30 years ago Brazilian designers armchair by Lino Bo Bardi Christian Larsen, associate curator of modern and were much more focused on Italian and Scandinavian reissued by Etel (etel.design) contemporary at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in design… now everything has changed and the younger and included by Roksanda New York. Original furniture from that time is scarce. generation is looking to their own backyard for Ilincic in her first residential “This is due in part to the relative rarity of modernist inspiration, while speaking globally,” he says. “It’s a project. Opposite page: a São design in Brazil,” says Larsen. “It was never the generation that is interested in focusing on our roots Paulo apartment designed by predominant trend for decorating homes.” and is proud to be Brazilian.” Marcio Kogan of Studio MK27, Hence the latest re-releases – faithful to the originals The Campanas currently create art-furniture with sustainable freijó wood and made in collaboration with institutes and families collections with a team of 20, including designers panelling and a re-edition of of the creators – are finding an avid market. “From and artisans, in their studio. “I’m very proud to provide Jorge Zalszupin’s midcentury PHOTOGRAPHS: JONAS POULSEN a collector’s point of view, the key characteristics I’m work for people in a country where currently there Capri bench looking for in a piece are the relevance, the historical are almost 12 million unemployed,” Humberto says. context, the originality and the quality,” says Anna “I create jobs working on limited editions, producing Zaoui, French-Moroccan co-founder of The Invisible them in my studio for Carpenters Workshop Gallery Collection, an online curation of collectable furniture in London, among other partners around the world. and design art pieces. She has launched her selection of I am constantly developing new concepts because Etel reissues of designs by Lina Bo Bardi, José Zanine the idea is to keep this team working with me.” The howtospendit.com 43 FE99_Brazilian_Design_PRESS.indd 2 14/11/2019 15:47 PHOTO CREDIT: XXXXXX 1 howtospendit.com FE99_Brazilian_Design_PRESS.indd 1 14/11/2019 15:47 Campanas’ Pirarucu armchair (2015), a cast bronze seat upholstered in the skin of the pirarucu, a huge Amazonian fish, was shown by Carpenters Workshop Gallery at PAD London this autumn. Quite the catch for any collector of Brazilian design. While the Campanas’ furniture – including, memorably, their Teddy Bear Banquete made from Bulbo chair by Campana Brothers dozens of stuffed toys – can be filed under risk-taking for Louis Vuitton, £64,000, from design, some of their peers are aiming for a more louisvuitton.com classic style. Architect, interior- and furniture-designer Patricia Anastassiadis, who lives and works in São Paulo, takes inspiration from her venerable midcentury ancestors while adding her own unique stamp. “Modernism is all about simplicity with precision and I like to work with these two concepts in my projects,” she says. “Oscar Niemeyer believed that a good project was not universal and that it could never be replicated in different locations because each place had its own specific needs. This is something that I also Rodrigo Almeida banquette-sofa search for.” Hence her new collection includes the Vivika for Christian Lacroix, €18,000, bench for Artefacto, a slender wood and leather seat from christian-lacroix.com whose form is drawn from the sinuous shapes of 20th-century Brazilian architecture. Tactile materials – whether fish skins, soft leather slings or the faux-fur of plush toys – are at the heart of Brazilian design. And no material has more significance to its designers than timber, specifically the rainforest hardwoods such as jacaranda, imbuia, purpleheart and pau marfim. This is elegantly demonstrated in an David Elia Reel table, apartment in São Paulo designed by Marcio Kogan, £14,000, from davidelia.com founder of Studio MK27, which is panelled in sustainably sourced freijó – a chestnut-coloured wood from the Para area of the Amazon rainforest – and a selection of timber furniture by remarkable Brazilian designers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Re-editions of midcentury pieces include the Capri bench and Ipanema chair by Jorge Zalszupin, the Costela armchair PHOTOGRAPHS: ANDREA FERRARI (2). JONAS POULSEN. MAREK SIKORA by Martin Eisler and the Mucki bench by Sergio Rodrigues. These sit harmoniously alongside pieces by contemporary Brazilian creatives such as Jader Almeida, The JZ trolley, €8,830, from whose contributions include coffee tables and a dining theinvisiblecollection.com table and the luxe-industrial Gramp lamp. Plenty of playful, inventive designs by contemporary Brazilians eschew the use of precious timbers entirely. Rodrigo Almeida, a friend of the Campana brothers, mixes unexpected materials and found objects – think nylon threads, make-up mirrors and feathers – to form limited-edition artworks, such as his celebrated Concrete chair of 2012. More mainstream furniture pieces from Almeida’s São Paulo studio include a strikingly striped upholstered banquette-sofa for Martin Eisler Costela armchair, Christian Lacroix Maison (2016) and the woven-rope from £3,050, from tacchini.it Trama stool for Nós Furniture (2014). Brunno Jahara, who began his career in Brasilia before Tactile materials – whether fish skins, soft leather slings or the setting up Jahara Studio in Rio de Janeiro, calls faux-fur of plush toys – are at the heart of Brazilian design his aesthetic “Tropical Industrial”. “It’s inspired Some of the best-known modernist masters travelled midcentury design, as seen in his Microarquitectura by the daily life of to South America from Europe in the 20th century. bench, while drawing on a wider variety of styles and eras. Brazil and references Now the tide of talent is turning and Brazilian designers His new Lagoas table lamp and side tables, along with culture, climate and are migrating across the globe. David Elia, an artist- outdoor furniture for Lovato displayed at the London happiness – all merged designer born in Rio de Janeiro, is now based in London. Design Fair in September, show influences from Bauhaus, into a work produced His work centres on the theme of gambiarra, “a makeshift Memphis and minimalism. with factories and artisans problem-solving style common to Brazil, generally Thanks to the revival of the cream of modernist to promote and create necessitated by or alluding to a lack of tools and inspired furniture and a crop of brilliant new creatives, the the best of contemporary by a tradition of resourcefulness in poverty,” he says. Brazilian design scene is flourishing, both proud of Brazilian style,” he His Gato Eletrico lamps, featuring exposed wires and its past and eager to embrace the future. Next year, at the says. Jahara’s Paleae wooden boxes, references the illegal wiring used to Museum of Modern Art in Rio, the Campana brothers Brasilis collection of steal electricity witnessed in Rio’s unregulated favelas. will stage an exhibition celebrating their work from the brass and natural straw Elia’s Reel coffee table addresses the hot topic of waste, past 35 years. “The whole museum is going to be an Above: Pétala coffee table by trays and lamps, created the moulded concrete terracotta tabletop mapping installation,” says Humberto Campana. “It will show new Jorge Zalszupin in a São Paulo in collaboration with patterns of recycling in Rio. projects, art pieces, sculptures, collages, jewellery, apartment designed by Studio fellow Brazilian fashion Another Brazilian expat is Filipe Ramos, born in architecture and costumes. We want to recall our history, MK27. Top right: Tacchini’s designer Ana Voss, is São Paulo and now a New Yorker working for interior because we are storytellers, Fernando and I. We’re very reissue of the 1955 Reversível inspired by indigenous designer Andre Mellone, as well as producing his happy to have opened a lot of doors for the younger chair by Martin Eisler basket-making traditions. own collection. Like his peers, Ramos is fascinated by generation, so it will be exciting to see the response.” ✦ howtospendit.com 45 FE99_Brazilian_Design_PRESS.indd 3 15/11/2019 16:23
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