Sergio Rodrigues Mole Sheriff Sofa in Jacaranda Rosewood Boucle, Signed, 1960's

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Sergio Rodrigues Mole Sheriff Sofa in Jacaranda Rosewood Boucle, Signed, 1960's

About the Item

This sofa is absolutely stunning! It's rare to find a sofa that is arguably more attractive from the back than the front, and that can be floated effortlessly in any environment. This iconic sofa comes with a colorful history, and here's to shedding some light on that. Sergio Rodrigues, better knows as the father of modern Brazilian design, was a prolific Brazilian architect and designer. He designed furniture for people-- he would design a piece of furniture and take it home-- if the cook liked it, if his wife liked it, and the cat liked it, then it was good enough. He placed a priority on comfort as well as customizability-- which is also reflective in this sofa-- as the leather straps can all be adjust for a more firm sit, or more relaxed feel. The Mole was originally designed in 1957 and produced in 1958. Rodrigues believed this design to be really one of the first pieces of post modern design-- and maybe for that reason it's why it didn't immediately catch on. The Mole was met with a "bitter discouraging lack of interest," while it sat for a year in Oca's display window; onlookers would call it an "expensive dog bed" and others would complain it looked like a "fried egg". His partners wanted him to keep the Mole chair in the back of the shop, but Rodrigues finally had enough-- he knew his design was beginning to be accepted by "people of a certain cultural level," The design called the attention of several personalities, including the then Governor Carlos Lacerda, who practically then demanded that Sergio send the chair to a competition in Italy." Sergio sent the chair, but didn't have much faith in what would happen. Sergio was told the chair couldn't compete because the Mole chair's design was already a "known" design as it was already a couple years old. So Sergio made one small change and the chair was accepted. "Mole ended up taking first place in the 4th international furniture competition, in Cantu, Italy, in 1961. The European press highlighted, in various publications, as the casual atmosphere generated by the loose cushions thrown on the Sheriff chair structure, as it became known abroad. The award put Brazil in a prominent position in design on the world stage. The Sheriff name was given by the licensed manufacturer in Italy which went on to produce the chair." -- All excerpts taken with respect from Instituto Sergio Rodrigues Biography. Call it the Mole, call it the Sheriff, this sofa was designed to be a sort of sprawling sofa as if it were a Sultan's-- and built for comfortability. The sofa, even back then was expensive. Handmade from Jacaranda-- otherwise known as Brazilian Rosewood, this sofa, as well as the Mole chair have become icons in design. The Mole name, actually was not the name originally given to the designs. The factory workers who came up with that name-- which meant soft / limp in Portugese. The first iteration of this design were called the Mole (more rigid structure) created in 1957, then the Mole Sheriff created in 1961 and sent to Italy, and the Moleca. With only small adjustments to each design-- the moleca was able to be disassembled and shipped flat. This sofa is equal parts comfortable, and stylish. This sofa would look incredible in any mid century modern, Brazilian modern, or contemporary environment. We currently have this sofa paired with a Finn Juhl cabinet and some Gio Ponti lounge chairs and not only does it make a statement, this piece clearly steals the show! Upholstered in a high pile light teddy bear tan boucle.

Creator:
Sergio Rodrigues (Designer),ISA Bergamo (Manufacturer)
Dimensions:
Height: 28.75 in (73.03 cm)Width: 76.5 in (194.31 cm)Depth: 36 in (91.44 cm)Seat Height: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Bouclé,Jacaranda,Leather,Hand-Crafted
Period:
1960-1969
Date of Manufacture:
1960s
Condition:
Reupholstered. Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. The frame of this sofa has been refinished, the cover of this sofa has been re-constructed and reupholstered. The leather straps are original and have been cleaned. There is some light cracking on the leather straps which is just cosmetic.
Seller Location:
Culver City, CA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1139229832742

Shop All Sergio Rodrigues

Sergio Rodrigues

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.