Brazilian Religious Items
More often than not, vintage mid-century Brazilian furniture designs, with their gleaming wood, soft leathers and inviting shapes, share a sensuous, unique quality that distinguishes them from the more rectilinear output of American and Scandinavian makers of the same era.
Commencing in the 1940s and '50s, a group of architects and designers transformed the local cultural landscape in Brazil, merging the modernist vernacular popular in Europe and the United States with the South American country's traditional techniques and indigenous materials.
Key mid-century influencers on Brazilian furniture design include natives Oscar Niemeyer, Sergio Rodrigues and José Zanine Caldas as well as such European immigrants as Joaquim Tenreiro, Jean Gillon and Jorge Zalszupin. These creators frequently collaborated; for instance, Niemeyer, an internationally acclaimed architect, commissioned many of them to furnish his residential and institutional buildings.
The popularity of Brazilian modern furniture has made household names of these designers and other greats. Their particular brand of modernism is characterized by an émigré point of view (some were Lithuanian, German, Polish, Ukrainian, Portuguese, and Italian), a preference for highly figured indigenous Brazilian woods, a reverence for nature as an inspiration and an atelier or small-production mentality.
Hallmarks of Brazilian mid-century design include smooth, sculptural forms and the use of native woods like rosewood, jacaranda and pequi. The work of designers today exhibits many of the same qualities, though with a marked interest in exploring new materials (witness the Campana Brothers' stuffed-animal chairs) and an emphasis on looking inward rather than to other countries for inspiration.
Find a collection of vintage Brazilian furniture on 1stDibs that includes chairs, sofas, tables and more.
18th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Cedar
1750s Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Cedar
Late 18th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Cedar
Late 17th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Cedar
Mid-19th Century Folk Art Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Cedar
Late 17th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Cedar
2010s Brutalist Brazilian Religious Items
Brass
17th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Marble
Mid-18th Century Baroque Revival Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Wood
19th Century Folk Art Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Bronze
Late 19th Century Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Mahogany
17th Century Spanish Colonial Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Gesso, Hardwood
17th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Leather, Wood, Paint
18th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Silver
18th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Oak
18th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Iron
17th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Wood
17th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Wood
18th Century Baroque Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Blown Glass, Wood
18th Century Neoclassical Antique Brazilian Religious Items
Wood