Canapé Sofa by Joaquim Tenreiro, Amoreira Wood, Cane, Mid-Century Modern, C.1960

The set reflects a few characteristics present in Tenreiro’s production: the lightness (visual and material), the reductiveness of forms, the texture. The pieces were designed in 1958, when Tenreiro still led his company Tenreiro Móveis e Decorações but were produced only at the end of the 1960s by Tenreiro Arquitetura de Interiores S/A – company established in 1968 in which Tenreiro no longer participated, but still produced his drawings.

The artist and furniture designer used his Portuguese roots to rediscover raw materials and create a new formal language in 20th-century Brazilian furniture design. He was a pioneer in combining the plaited cane texture with the simple lines proposed by modern furniture making, bringing to the pieces a material that already was familiar to Brazilians.