Hasta La Ideas

New furniture designs and reissues by Brazil’s modern masters now on show in NYC

Celebrating many generations and over six decades of Brazil’s rich history of design is the new exhibition at Espasso, a NYC gallery that features Brazilian design. Starting today, 20 September 2011, the group show presents beautiful furniture design from the country’s top architects and designers to America, much of it for the first time. Uniting the designers—Arthur Casa, Dado Castello Branco, Isay Weinfeld, Jorge Zalszupin and others—is the brand their furniture is manufactured under, ETEL. At the forefront of contemporary furniture design in Brazil, ETEL produces with an emphasis on sustainable processes, and only uses wood certified for sustainability. Another common theme is its underlying simplified aesthetic.

The highlight of the exhibition is Jorge Zalszupin’s “Veronica” chair. His first design since the 1960s, the chair shows a beautiful balance of fine leather and dark wood proving that the 90 year old designer still has the touch. Also included in the show are a number of his reissued pieces that offer a physical history lesson of his designs.

Distributed around the gallery are pieces by Etel Carmona herself. From oversized circular ottomans to elegant credenzas, all of her pieces are created with an unparalleled level of detail that can be seen in the wooden lattice work and felt in the movement of each drawer.

The exhibition runs for a month, at which point the most prized pieces will become part of Espasso‘s permanent collection and transitioned to the historical gallery downstairs, where the pieces will take on a new role by telling the transitional tale of modern Brazilian design.