Tenreiro Moveis E Decoracoes
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Screens and Room Dividers
Jacaranda
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Iron
Vintage 1960s South American Desks
Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Hardwood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Dining Room Tables
Formica, Jacaranda
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Rosewood, Leather
Vintage 1940s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Glass, Hardwood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Leather, Hardwood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Leather, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Imbuia, Glass
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Cane, Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Cane, Wood
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Side Tables
Formica, Wood
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Steel
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Steel
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Side Tables
Glass, Jacaranda
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Dining Room Chairs
Cane, Jacaranda
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Armchairs
Fabric, Jacaranda
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Iron
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Leather, Wood, Cane
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Cane, Hardwood
20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Jacaranda
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Hardwood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Wood, Cane
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Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
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Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Sideboards
Rosewood
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Walnut, Cane
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Sofas
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Jacaranda
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Armchairs
Jacaranda
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Lounge Chairs
Jacaranda
Vintage 1940s Brazilian Rocking Chairs
Jacaranda, Leather
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Wood, Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Armchairs
Jacaranda
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
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Brass
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Jacaranda, Glass
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Dining Room Tables
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Tenreiro Moveis E Decoracoes For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much are Tenreiro Moveis E Decoracoes?
Joaquim Tenreiro for sale on 1stDibs
The Portugese-born furniture designer Joaquim Tenreiro was a pioneer of modernism in Brazil, where his work paved the way for the successes of such mid-20th-century design greats as Sergio Rodrigues, Jorge Zalszupin, and Lina Bo Bardi, an Italian-Brazilian architect whose futuristic São Paulo buildings are only part of her legacy.
Tenreiro’s vintage tables, chairs and storage cabinets are known for their simplicity of line and an elegance that is enhanced by the use of richly grained South American hardwoods such as jacaranda and imbuia.
Tenreiro’s father and grandfather were both master woodworkers, under whom he trained in the craft. He had artistic leanings and in the late 1920s enrolled as a university student at the School of Arts and Crafts in Rio de Janeiro, where he joined a group of upstart modernists protesting the staid, retrograde curriculum at the college. At the time, Brazil was culturally mired in a 19th-century mindset that was reflected in an upper-class preference for academic painting and reproduction furnishings in antique European styles. But the progressive spirit that Tenreiro and his colleagues fostered slowly gained force.
With the terms “lightness” and “functionality” as his bywords, Tenreiro opened a furniture-design business in 1943, where one of his first clients was the legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer. The arrival of Brazil’s first democratically elected government, in 1945, lent modernism official sanction, which culminated in the construction of the new capital, Brasília. Tenreiro eventually stepped away from design in the late 1960s to devote his time to sculpture and painting.
To appreciate how revolutionary Tenreiro’s work seemed, one must imagine the heavy, ornately carved, deeply varnished furniture that was the standard for top-end Brazilian interior design in the 1930s. Tenreiro’s chairs and sofas employed slender, softly angular frames that were only lightly stained to highlight the grains of the local woods. He preferred chairs and chaises with caned seats and backrests that “breathe” in the tropical climate, and as a carpenter and joiner he wanted to show off the beauty of Brazilian wood.
Two versions of a three-legged side chair introduced in 1947 serve as a veritable manifesto for a new age in Brazilian design: Using the stack-lamination technique, Tenreiro bonded together a gently contoured seat made of alternating layers of different-colored native woods to produce a magnificent stripe effect. These chairs, like all Tenreiro works, demonstrate the enduring power of simple design and superb construction — with a teaspoon of flair.
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