Jorge Zalszupin Rosewood foldable Desk, Brazilian Midcentury

Name: Jorge Zalszupin Rosewood foldable Desk, Brazilian Midcentury
Brand: Jorge Zalszupin
Price: 8500 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Writing desk designed by Jorge Zalszupin and manufactured by his company, L'atelier. This piece is covered with rectangular pieces of marquetry wood, a creative resource developed by Zalszupin. The technique consists of gluing several pieces of rosewood leaves of different textures and shades on a furniture surface, which forms a beautiful wood patchwork. This feature allows large surfaces to be coated with a larger visual unit, making it easier to combine different furniture together. This writing desk is a dynamic piece, which can be used both in the corporate and domestic places, a characteristic very present in Zalszupin's production. About his marquetry technique, Zalzszupin affirms: "I thought about combining several patterns of rosewood, lighter, darker, with different types of veins, that is, creating a new pattern for all desks to combine with each other, hence the idea of ??the wood-patchwork. (...) It was a technique that we developed and that helped to produce furniture industrially with sophisticated marquetry. I started to use this new pattern in other furniture (...). In a short time, we had a complete line that, by the way, made a lot of success - at the time." This piece is part of a series of desks that belonged to ESAF - School of Farm Administration, an organ of the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, which was extinguished in January 2019 and incorporated into the Ministry of Economy. ESAF was incorporated into ENAP - National School of Public Administration, and in this process, it was decided to maintain more current furniture, already used by ENAP. It presents patrimony labels.

Creator:

Jorge Zalszupin (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 31.5 in (80 cm)Width: 51.58 in (131 cm)Depth: 28.75 in (73 cm)

Style:

Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Rosewood,Patchwork

Place of Origin:

Brazil

Period:

1960-1969

Date of Manufacture:

1968

Condition:

Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. The piece's in original vintage condition, but will be restored by our team according to client's wishes.

Seller Location:

New York, NY

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU3979119599682

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Shop All Jorge Zalszupin

Jorge Zalszupin

Just as emigrant Europeans — from Kem Weber and Paul Frankl to Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe — helped establish modernist design and architecture in the United States, so too did many of their peers foster the new design aesthetic in Brazil in the middle decades of the 20th century. Along with architect Lina Bo Bardi (from Italy) and Joaquim Tenreiro (from Portugal) — both of whom helped popularize Brazilian modern design and influenced today's generation of Brazilian designers — there was Jorge Zalszupin, who arrived from Poland in 1949 and created consistently sleek and elegant chairs, tables and case pieces using the South American country’s vibrantly grained tropical hardwoods.

Zalszupin was born in Warsaw (his given first name is Jerzy) and went on to study architecture at the École des Beaux Arts in Bucharest, Romania, graduating in 1945. Zalszupin moved to Paris but found few opportunities in the postwar City of Light. He was impressed by articles on the work of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer that he saw in the André Bloc–edited magazine L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui (Architecture Today). And after sailing to South America, Zalszupin went to work with his fellow Pole and architect Luciano Korngold in São Paulo. Zalszupin began designing furniture as part of his architectural commissions and created several pieces for Niemeyer for use in the new capital city, Brasília. He opened his own design and manufacturing firm, L’Atelier, in 1959.

While Zalszupin cannot be said to have had a signature style, his furniture designs all share a characteristic simplicity and purity of line and form. His work is often compared to that of Danish designers, most especially in their shared commitment to quality construction. He was a master of many materials: travertine marble for tabletops, slung leather for seating, man-made fabrics for upholstery and — his forte — highly figured woods such as jacaranda and rosewood. The latter plays prominently in two of Zalszupin’s best-known lounge chairs: the Brasiliana, with its austere, angular wood frame, and the Presidencial, with its curved seating shell and slatted backrest. Both chairs feature deep cushions and generous proportions in deference to the Brazilian proclivity for long and languid conversations. Yet both pieces — like all Zalszupin designs — possess a striking, tailored grace that would be perfect in any environment.

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