The Italian-born Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi came to imbue the pure and lofty if somewhat bloodless tenets of modern design with the warm and earthy character of her adopted homeland.
Bardi was born in Rome and graduated in 1939 from the Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza” with a degree in architecture. She moved to Milan, worked with Gio Ponti, among other modernist luminaries, and began a career in design journalism. Bardi served as an editor for Ponti’s groundbreaking magazine, Domus, and in 1945 traveled for the publication throughout Italy with a photographer, documenting the physical destruction wrought by World War II.
Bardi moved to Brazil in 1947 with her husband, art dealer and critic Pietro Maria Bardi. There Pietro helped establish the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) while his wife resumed her work in journalism and soon launched her architectural practice. Her first building project was designing a house for herself and her husband on a hillside in what were then the outskirts of São Paulo.
Built in 1951 and known as Casa de Vidro (or Glass House), it is a glass-walled box set on slim steel columns, inspired equally by the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier. Its interiors, with their mid-century furnishings, folk-art pieces and ethnographic curios, are reminiscent of those of Charles and Ray Eames’ house in California. (Bardi also created the interiors of the original MASP and was a natural choice to design the second museum when the institution had outgrown its first home.)
As a furniture designer, Bardi demonstrated flair from the start. The Bowl chair, designed in 1951 but not manufactured until Italian furniture maker Arper recently issued it, is a marvel of versatility. The seat can be swiveled to satisfy any attitude of repose or dismounted to serve as a rocking baby crib. That same year, she made the throne-like Bola de Latão chair, which in place of arms has stanchions topped by brass balls. Its slung leather seat and backrest have unfinished edges secured with lacing, giving the piece an artisanal, perhaps even sexual, air.
In the late 1950s and early ’60s, Bardi designed cushioned chairs with wooden frames whose softened angularity recalls the work of Pierre Jeanneret and Marcel Breuer’s 1938 furniture designs for Bryn Mawr College. But Bardi’s furniture construction and aesthetic sensibilities evolved in tandem with her populist principles. Her embrace of Brazil’s social mosaic was most fully expressed in her last major project, and her masterpiece: a combined cultural and recreational center in São Paulo known as the SESC Pompéia.
Built in stages between 1977 and ’82, the complex has as its core a renovated drum factory. In it, Bardi — to use architectural parlance — created a nonhierarchical environment, with equal prominence and care given to areas as disparate as theaters, sports facilities and places for old folks to sit and gossip or play chess.
Bardi’s last chairs, designed for the center, are built of solid wood, sturdy and durable with simple and graceful forms. They seem to suggest that the most interesting thing about a piece of furniture should be the person using it.
Find vintage Lina Bo Bardi furniture on 1stDibs.
Lina Bo Bardi. Stool SESC Pompéia, Drawing 1982/ Edition 2023
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in PARIS, FR
Lina Bo Bardi Stool SESC Pompéia, Designed 1982 / Edition 2023 Laminated pine Dimensions: 52 x 40 x 68 cm (20.47 x 15.75 x 26.77 in) This stool is one of the most sought-after iconi...
Laminate, Pine
Iconic Sesc Pompeia Stool, by Lina Bo Bardi, 1979-1980, Midcentury Brazilian
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in New York, NY
This iconic stool was designed by Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) and made especially for Sesc Pompeia, a cultural center in São Paulo, Brazil. It consists of structures that resemble crat...
Pine
Girafa Stool by Lina Bo Bardi , 2022, Marcenaria Baraúna
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in Tokyo, Tokyo
Design：Lina Bo Bardi, Marcelo Ferraz, Marcelo Suzuki Material：Tauari In 1986, Marcelo Ferraz and Marcelo Suzuki Lina Bo Bardi worked on a series of projects in Salvador, including t...
Wood
SESC Stools by Lina Bo Bardi for SESC Pompeia, Brazil, 1970s
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in Antwerp, BE
These SESC stools, designed by Lina Bo Bardi, Marcelo Ferraz, and Marcelo Suzuki for the SESC Pompeia center in São Paulo, showcase the minimalist yet thoug...
Pine
Mid-Century Modern Glass House Stools by Lina Bo Bardi, 1951
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in New York, NY
Designed for the Glass House, Bo Bardi’s first built project, this three-legged stool features an iron-tubing frame with a circular wooden seat in black. Versatile as a stool or side...
Iron
Price Upon Request
SESC Stools by Lina Bo Bardi
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in London, England
Iconic SESC Stool designed by Lina Bo Bardi and Marcelo Suzuki for SESC Pompeia in 1982 completely unrestored.
Hardwood
Price Upon Request
SESC Stools by Lina Bo Bardi
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in London, England
Iconic SESC Stool designed by Lina Bo Bardi and Marcelo Suzuki for SESC Pompeia in 1982.
Hardwood
Set of Mid-Century Modern Bar Stools
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This stunning set of four vintage modern bar stools feature a backless seat and a chrome base with a footrest. The two-tone vinyl is sure to complement a...
Chrome
Charlotte Perriand Berger Wood Stool by Cassina, Mid-Century Modern
By Charlotte Perriand, Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Stool model Berger designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1953-61. Relaunched by Cassina in 2011. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. Reclaiming simple materials and basic shapes, with an eye to architecture and mountain life, led to the creation of two historic design low table-stools inspired respectively by the milking stool used by mountain shepherds in the French town much loved by the author. Placed individually or in lively arrangements, the two low tables bring the pleasing lightness of solid wood to indoor settings emphasized by the continuity of the grain between the top and the edges and the countless natural variations in the wood. Each piece is made of unique solid wood, so every piece will be different from one another and not exactly as the one on the photos. Both pieces are inspired by the mountains. While the latter takes its name from the milking-stool used by alpine shepherds, the former is inspired by the French locality much loved by designer and architect Charlotte Perriand. These furnishing accessories stand out for the honesty of their simple shapes and for the concrete expression of their materials and function. The turned seat meets the stylised legs both in the Tabouret...
Wood
Charlotte Perriand Berger Wood Stool by Cassina, Mid-Century Modern
By Charlotte Perriand, Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Stool model Berger designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1953-1961. Relaunched by Cassina in 2011. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. Reclaiming simple materials and basic shapes, with ...
Aluminum
$2,500
H 17.33 in Dm 29.53 in
Macaron Stool Designed by Daniel Basso and Estudio Florida, Argentina, 2022
By Estudio Florida, Daniel Basso
Located in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
"Macaron" stool designed by Daniel Basso and Estudio Florida. Argentina, 2022. The Argentinian artist Daniel Basso joins the architecture studio Estudio Florida to create an everyday...
Fabric, Wood
Pair of Mid-Century Modern Adjustable Bar Stools
Located in Port Jervis, NY
Pair available only. Fully adjustable in height from 30.5, 28.5, 26.5 and 24.5 seat heights. Swiveling freely bar stools are in amazing condition. Almost no wear. Made by the Admiral Chrome Corp from Detroit Michigan...
Steel, Chrome
Charlotte Perriand Berger Wood Stool by Cassina, Mid-Century Modern
By Charlotte Perriand, Cassina
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Stool model Berger designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1953-61. Relaunched by Cassina in 2011. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. Reclaiming simple materials and basic shapes, with an eye to architecture and mountain life...
Aluminum
$1,100 / item
H 36.62 in W 17.72 in D 19.69 in
Minimalist Bar Stool, Brazilian Contemporary Style, Black, by Tiago Curioni
By Tiago Curioni
Located in Sao Paulo, SP
Our Velvet collection has now the barstool version with the same comfort and perfect ergonomics in different colors and tapestries. Choose by cotton, linen, leather, velvet, and the ...
Steel
$1,980 / item
H 25.2 in W 15.75 in D 19.69 in
SESC Pompeia Chair by Lina Bo Bardi , 2022, Marcenaria Baraúna
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in Tokyo, Tokyo
Design：Lina Bo Bardi, Marcelo Ferraz, André Vainer Material：Laminated Pine Designed by Lina Bo Bardi in 1986, this chair was designed for the library and dining room in the SESC Pomp...
Wood, Pine
$2,550 / set
H 26 in W 27.5 in D 24 in
Brazilian Leather Sling Lounge Chairs Lina Bo Bardi Style with Sheepkins 1960s
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in Atlanta, GA
Sculptural Pair of Brazilian Mid Century Lounge Chairs, in the style of Lina Bo Bardi, Brazil, circa 1960s. The original leather slings retain their warm original patina and they inc...
Metal
$995 / item
H 18.51 in W 19.69 in D 14.57 in
Midcentury Bentwood Stools with New Bouclé Fabric by Ludvik Volak 1960s
By Ludvik Volak
Located in Almelo, NL
Midcentury Bentwood Stools with New Bouclé Fabric by Ludvik Volak 1960s These midcentury stools were designed by Ludvik Volak in Czech Republic in the 1960s. They are made bentwood ...
Bouclé, Bentwood
$3,000
H 17 in W 17 in D 1,715 in
Upholstered Stool in Cherry with Italian Wool Mohair Upholstery, 2023
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Upholstered stool, 2023 Cherry Italian Wool Mohair fabric COM AVAILABLE
Wool, Mohair, Cherry
Pair of Mid-Century Modern Danish Bar Stools
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This beautiful pair of Danish modern bar stools feature a teak frame with sled legs. Unique design with high rounded arm rests, an angled backrest, and a black vinyl covered seat. Th...
Faux Leather, Teak
Lina Bo Bardi SESC Stools Pompeia, Brazil, 1980
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in Roosendaal, Noord Brabant
Striking pair of 'SESC' stools designed by Lina Bo Bardi, Marcelo Ferraz and Marcelo Suzuki and created for the centre SESC Pompeia in Sao Paulo, Brazil 1...
Pine
Sesc Pompeia Stool by Lina Bo Bardi, 1980s, Brazil
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in Tokyo, Tokyo
Lina Bo Bardi Secs Pompeia Stool 1980s, Brazil Very heavy solid wood. Original vintage condition. Designed for the library in Sesc Pompeia, a cultural ce...
Wood
Side Chair by Lina Bo Bardi
By Lina Bo Bardi
Located in San Francisco, CA
A side chair in solid pine wood designed by Lina Bo Bardi and created for the center SESC Pompeia in Sao Paulo. Brazil.