August 31, 2025In the first half of the 20th century, a steady stream of European designers, architects and artisans made their way from war-torn Europe to Brazil, in many cases bringing modernist ideas across the ocean. They included Lina Bo Bardi and Giuseppe Scapinelli, both from Italy; Joaquim Tenreiro, from Portugal; and Jorge Zalszupin, from Poland. In Brazil, they joined home-grown talents like Sergio Rodrigues, the scion of an artistic Rio de Janeiro family, and José Zanine Caldas, born in Bahia, in creating a brand of modernism unique to the country. Today, pieces by each of these superstars can easily command six figures.
Luckily for collectors looking to get a toehold in the Brazilian market, many lesser-known Brazilian designers were also producing spectacular pieces before and after World War II. Their furniture, often priced more affordably than work by the “big names,” is increasingly sought after. Diego Casas, who has bought and sold Brazilian furniture for more than 30 years, says the work of these designers “evokes deep cultural memory” in that country, while in the U.S., “its appeal lies in the warmth, exotic woods and unique language of Brazilian design.”
Casas, whose Herança Cultural design gallery occupies a vast industrial space in São Paulo and who also has a storefront on 1stDibs, points to the Paris-born Michel Arnoult, who pioneered affordable modernism in Brazil. After arriving in Curitiba, in southern Brazil, in 1951, he recognized a need for compact furniture suited to the rudimentary apartments that proliferated in the postwar years. Mobilia Contemporânea, the company Arnoult founded in 1952, introduced ready-to-assemble furniture that coupled the efficiency of modern industry with the warmth of tropical woods. Casas recently acquired one of Arnoult’s Peg-Lev chair kits, which he calls “genius for its era.”
At the same time, the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios (Secondary School of Arts and Crafts) of São Paulo — founded in the late 19th century — was training Brazilian artisans. The school, Casas says, “produced some of the most exquisitely crafted furniture in the nation.” A striking example is a 1960s lounge chair with a single leather panel suspended from a frame, a model of simplicity but for the spheres that emerge whimsically from its armrests. The chair, like all the work of the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, is attributed not to a person but to the school itself.
Isabela Milagre, who sells Brazilian furniture from her Bossa gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea Arts District and on 1stDibs, knows that collectors focus on designers’ names, not companies. “People say, ‘I have a sofa by Charlotte Perriand,’ not, ‘I have a sofa from Cassina,’ ” she says. But if Brazilian modernism was pioneered by “name” designers like Bo Bardi and Rodrigues, it was popularized by manufacturers like Celina Decorações (Celina Decorations) and Fatima Arquitetura Interiores (Fatima Interior Architecture).
When Milagre began buying Celina and Fatima furniture, about five years ago, she had a lot to learn. “At first I thought, I’m going to do a show of work by two women designers, Celina and Fatima,” Milagre recalls. “Then, I started to do research.” She soon realized that Celina Decorações was run by Munis Zilberberg and named for his mother, an upholsterer. While producing furniture that tends toward solidity rather than sleekness, Zilberberg opened retail stores that helped introduce the look beyond his São Paulo base.
Fatima Arquitetura Interiores, meanwhile, was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1960 by architects Guilherme Nunes and Sávio Visconti, who designed most of the company’s pieces but also sponsored design competitions. The company’s right-angled furniture — even a lounge chair seems to promote good posture — is made mostly of jacaranda (also known as Brazilian rosewood) with leather, cotton and cane inserts.
Companies like Fatima and Celina brought machines into their workshops but still operated at an artisanal scale. It was Móveis Cimo (Cimo Furniture) that put modernism into mass production.
The firm grew out of a box factory founded in 1913 in Santa Catarina, Brazil. Owners Jorge Zipperer and Willy Jung turned it into what was said to be the largest furniture manufacturer in postwar Latin America. Yet design standards remained high. The seat of one particular sofa seems to float above the streamlined frame of imbuia wood, while lounge chairs rest on mere squiggles of hardwood and a bentwood rocking chair has arms as curvy as its rockers. “They did things with bent plywood that are more magical even than Breuer or Eames,” says Christian Larsen, a design curator and historian who specializes in Brazilian material culture.
Milagre acquires as many Móveis Cimo pieces as she can find, restoring them in Bossa’s São Paulo workshop before offering them for sale in near-perfect condition.
Founded in the 1960s, Cantù Móveis e Interiores Ltda (Cantù Furniture and Interiors Ltd) made and marketed the visionary work of architects Jorge Jabour Mauad and Osires Cunha Meale. Celebrated for their innovative interior installations, they were less well-known for their furniture, which included elegant caned armchairs and rosewood club chairs, among other luxury items. Rodrigo Salem, of Found Collectibles, sells many such pieces at his New York gallery and on 1stDibs.
He also sells furniture by Rino Levi, a Brazilian architect who studied in Milan and Rome. Levi’s hardwood lounge chairs, with struts between the seat and armrests, exemplify the precision work that Brazil’s artisans were known for.
Salem is also partial to the work of Pierre Weckx, whose Art Deco–ish compositions are composed of thin, straight lines. Viewed from the back, several of the Weckx designs he offers, including a 1950s caviuna wood chaise and a coffee table with a glass inset, evoke insects.
The chaise is one of many pieces that have needed significant restoration. “When I acquired it,” Salem says, “it was painted black and you couldn’t see how beautiful the wood was. So first, I took it to my wood restorer, who removed the black paint and gave it a satin matte finish. You don’t want historical pieces to look too new or too shiny. Then, I showed my upholsterer a vintage magazine photo of the piece so he could match the original appearance.”
Another lesser-known maker favored by Salem is John Graz, who studied architecture, decoration and design in Geneva early in the 20th century. He moved to Brazil in 1920 and soon started taking on home-design projects, many in the nascent Art Deco style. In 1925, Graz began making tubular steel furniture, including tables with beautifully grained hardwood tops. At the time, Brazilian factories weren’t capable of putting his prototypes into production, which is why his name is unfamiliar and his pieces rare. Among them is an elegant cane-backed chair, as well as an extra-tall club chair that strikes a perfect balance between practicality and whimsy.
Salem goes beyond selling pieces by little-known designers; he also sells pieces whose designers’ names aren’t known at all. “Some of the small joineries produced work as good as that of the well-known designers,” he says. “Thirty percent of the pieces in my collection are by unknown designers. They sell, and they sell very well.”
