Joaquim Tenreiro Pair of '60s Cane Chairs

Joaquim Tenreiro was born in the small village of Melo, Portugal, 1906. A third generation carpenter, since childhood he worked with wood. He settled in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 22 and studied drawing at the Liceu of Arts and Crafts. There he participated in the Bernardelli nucleus, composed of anti-academic painters. The need for a steady job leads him to work as a designer at Laubisch & Hirth, a company that manufactured European style furniture to suit the elite. In the 1940s, from a first order made by Oscar Niemeyer, Tenreiro began his path in modern furniture. He opens stores in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, where highly sought-after orders are dispatched. Administrative difficulties disconnected him from the design activity, for definitive, in 1968. That’s when he returns to art, mainly wood and metal sculptures. He died in 1992, in Rio de Janeiro.

 

Joaquim Tenreiro
Pair of Chairs
1960s
Brazilian ‘Perobinha do Campo’ Wood and Cane
60 x 60 x 76 cm / 23,6 x 23,6 x 29,9 in