Sergio Rodrigues On Sale
Antique 1650s Mid-Century Modern Benches
Hardwood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Game Tables
Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
Laminate, Wood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Leather, Hardwood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Hardwood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Stools
Hardwood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Stools
Imbuia
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Hardwood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Hardwood
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Jacaranda
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Hardwood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Wood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Textile, Jacaranda
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
Formica, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Benches
Rosewood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Stools
Wood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Benches
Wood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Sideboards
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Granite
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
Wood
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
Wood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Upholstery, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Rosewood, Leather
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
Formica, Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Jacaranda
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Beds and Bed Frames
Rosewood
Vintage 1950s South American Mid-Century Modern Stools
Hardwood, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Plywood, Hardwood
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Patio and Garden Furniture
Lacquer
Vintage 1950s Finnish Lounge Chairs
Leather, Walnut
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Fabric, Hardwood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Hardwood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Cane, Rosewood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
Jacaranda
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Cedar
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Benches
Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Sets
Granite
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Natural Fiber, Hardwood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Credenzas
Granite
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Jacaranda, Rosewood, Bouclé
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Hardwood, Faux Leather
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Cocobolo
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Straw, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Leather, Jacaranda
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Stools
Rosewood, Jacaranda
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Jacaranda, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Footstools
Leather, Jacaranda
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Center Tables
Rosewood
20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Credenzas
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
Metal
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Wood
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Sergio Rodrigues On Sale For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Sergio Rodrigues On Sale?
Sergio Rodrigues for sale on 1stDibs
The prolific architect and designer Sergio Rodrigues is often called the "father of modern Brazilian design," but it is the second adjective in that phrase that deserves emphasis: Rodrigues’s great achievement was to create furniture in a style that captured the spirit, character and personality of his country.
Modernity came slowly to 20th-century Brazil, politically and culturally. The nation finally realized genuine constitutional democracy in 1945, ushering in a new, progressive era in the arts. Until that time, heavy furniture based on historical European models had been the norm. In the late 1940s, designer Joaquim Tenreiro introduced sleek, minimalist chairs and cabinets; José Zanine Caldas, now best known for his later artisanal work, created plywood furnishings for mass-production; the Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi, a former editor for the Gio Ponti-founded magazine Domus, set up shop in São Paulo, designing elegant, flexible chairs set on slim metal frames.
This was the heady scene into which Rodrigues, the son of an artistically prominent Rio de Janeiro family, arrived after graduating in 1952 from the national university. He established Oca Industries in 1955, a company that would become the preeminent maker of modernist furniture in Brazil. When architects Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer were tasked in 1956 with the whirlwind project to plan, design and build the new capital, Brasília, in five years, they used Rodrigues’s early chairs, with their softly-contoured lines and caned seats and backrests, to furnish many of the buildings.
Rodrigues would realize the true expression of his talents in — and garner international awards and acclaim with — his Mole chair of 1957. The word mole means "soft" in Portuguese, but can be interpreted as "easygoing" or even "listless." Rodrigues's chair features a sturdy, generously proportioned frame of the native South American hardwood jacaranda, upholstered with overstuffed leather pads that flap like saddlebags across the arms, seat, and backrest. It is a chair that invites sprawling — perfect for the social milieu of the bossa nova and caipirinha cocktails; where a languorous afternoon spent chatting and joking is the apex of enjoyment.
Most of the estimated 1,200 armchairs, sofas, tables, storage cabinets and dining tables Rodrigues designed in his long career are imbued, in one way or another, with this air of robust relaxation. Sergio Rodrigues was a designer true to the temperament of his people.
A Close Look at Mid-Century Modern Furniture
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the mid-20th century
- Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
- A heyday of innovation in postwar America
- Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe
CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
- A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
- Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
- Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
- Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
- Promotion of functionality
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
- Charles and Ray Eames
- Eero Saarinen
- Milo Baughman
- Florence Knoll
- Harry Bertoia
- Isamu Noguchi
- George Nelson
- Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa
ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS
- Eames lounge chair
- Nelson daybed
- Florence Knoll sofa
- Egg chair
- Womb chair
- Noguchi coffee table
- Barcelona chair
VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.
Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.
Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.
The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.
Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.