The Portugese-born furniture designer Joaquim Tenreiro was a pioneer of modernism in Brazil, where his work paved the way for the successes of such mid-20th-century design greats as Sergio Rodrigues, Jorge Zalszupin, and Lina Bo Bardi, an Italian-Brazilian architect whose futuristic São Paulo buildings are only part of her legacy.
Tenreiro’s vintage tables, chairs and storage cabinets are known for their simplicity of line and an elegance that is enhanced by the use of richly grained South American hardwoods such as jacaranda and imbuia.
Tenreiro’s father and grandfather were both master woodworkers, under whom he trained in the craft. He had artistic leanings and in the late 1920s enrolled as a university student at the School of Arts and Crafts in Rio de Janeiro, where he joined a group of upstart modernists protesting the staid, retrograde curriculum at the college. At the time, Brazil was culturally mired in a 19th-century mindset that was reflected in an upper-class preference for academic painting and reproduction furnishings in antique European styles. But the progressive spirit that Tenreiro and his colleagues fostered slowly gained force.
With the terms “lightness” and “functionality” as his bywords, Tenreiro opened a furniture-design business in 1943, where one of his first clients was the legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer. The arrival of Brazil’s first democratically elected government, in 1945, lent modernism official sanction, which culminated in the construction of the new capital, Brasília. Tenreiro eventually stepped away from design in the late 1960s to devote his time to sculpture and painting.
To appreciate how revolutionary Tenreiro’s work seemed, one must imagine the heavy, ornately carved, deeply varnished furniture that was the standard for top-end Brazilian interior design in the 1930s. Tenreiro’s chairs and sofas employed slender, softly angular frames that were only lightly stained to highlight the grains of the local woods. He preferred chairs and chaises with caned seats and backrests that “breathe” in the tropical climate, and as a carpenter and joiner he wanted to show off the beauty of Brazilian wood.
Two versions of a three-legged side chair introduced in 1947 serve as a veritable manifesto for a new age in Brazilian design: Using the stack-lamination technique, Tenreiro bonded together a gently contoured seat made of alternating layers of different-colored native woods to produce a magnificent stripe effect. These chairs, like all Tenreiro works, demonstrate the enduring power of simple design and superb construction — with a teaspoon of flair.
Find vintage Joaquim Tenreiro furniture on 1stDibs.
"Joaquim Tenreiro: Madeira, Arte e Design" — Brazilian Design Book
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in Deerfield Beach, FL
Published more than a decade before the landmark Tenreiro monograph edited by Soraia Cals (1998), this volume is regarded as one of the earliest comprehensive publications dedicated ...
Paper
Room Divider by Joaquim Tenreiro Moveis e Decoraçoes, 1960
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in Barcelona, ES
Room Divider Manufactured by Tenreiro Moveis e Decoraçoes Brazil, 1960 Black and white painted jacaranda Measurements 280 cm x 3,5 cm x 201,2h cm 110,23 in in x 1,37 in x 71,29h in ...
Jacaranda
Joaquim Tenreiro, Rare Screen or Room Divider, Brazil, 1960s
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in Amsterdam, NL
Joaquim Tenreiro Rare Screen or Room Divider Separated in Two Pieces Perobinha de Campo Wood !960s
Wood
Screen by Joaquim Tenreiro, Mid-Century Modern, 1960s
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Elegant and architectural, this Jacarandá rosewood screen exemplifies Joaquim Tenreiro’s mastery of rhythm and proportion. Composed of vertical wooden slats that undulate with sculpt...
Rosewood, Jacaranda
Fontana Arte: Una Storia Trasparente by Laura Falconi (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
Hardback book with dust jacket in good condition. 239 pages with text in English and Italian, this book discusses the history of Fontana Arte the company which was famous for the cou...
Paper
Tenreiro (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
A Monograph on this most important Brazilian furniture designer and maker from the mid-20th century. He opened his factory in 1943 and one of his main clients was the architect Oscar Niemeyer, for whose designs a number of original pieces were commissioned. He was well-known for making use of indigenous...
Paper
$2,518Sale Price|20% Off
H 70.48 in W 61.42 in D 1.58 in
Rattan Bamboo Folding Screen Room Divider, 1960s
Located in Barcelona, ES
Eye-catching handcrafted rattan / wicker and bamboo three-panel folding screen / room divider with filigree decoration. Manufactured in Spain, 1960s. This rattan folding screen combi...
Bamboo, Wicker, Rattan, Cane
$789 / item
H 4.73 in W 4.73 in D 3.15 in
Mid-Century Modern Brass Bookends by Werkstätte Carl Auböck, 1960s
By Werkstätte Carl Auböck
Located in Berlin, DE
Classic pair of Carl Auböck bookends in a patina and polish brass mix.
Brass
Defining Style The Book of Interior Design
Located in New York, NY
Discover 25 of the most recognizable design styles through 150 residential interiors from the world’s leading designers From Coastal to Contemporary, Maximal to Mediterranean, Tailored to Textured, this inspirational lookbook guides beginners and enthusiasts alike through the most timeless interior design styles of the last century. Learn to identify and understand each style like an expert through introductory texts describing key tenets and featured real-world examples by today’s best contemporary designers, such as Studio Shamshiri, Laura Gonzalez, and Vincenzo De Cotiis...
Paper
Chinoiserie Folding Screen or Room Divider
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
China, 1940s-1960s Folding screen or room divider in black lacquer with hand painted decoration. Chic and functional chinoiserie piece. Each side of the screen has a different design...
Wood, Lacquer, Paint
Eileen Gray: Objects and Furniture Design (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
by Sandra Dachs, Patricia De Muga & Laura Garcia Hintzo Focuses on Eileen Gray, a breakaway designer in a world dominated by male-centric style schools Besides an introductory essay, each title in the By Architects series is compiled by key modern architects through sketches, drawings, photos of the original productions, and ambient shootings A design-orientated book for a design-orientated series, Eileen Gray boasts an innovative layout and a special binding Neglected for most of her career, Eileen Gray (1878-1976) is now regarded as one of the most important furniture designers and architects of the early twentieth century and the most influential woman in those fields. Her work inspired both modernism and Art Deco. Eileen Gray was to stand alone throughout her career, first as a lacquer artist, then a furniture designer, and finally as an architect. At a time when other leading designers were almost all male and mostly members of one movement or another - whether a loose grouping like De Stijl in the Netherlands, or a formal one such as the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne - Gray remained staunchly independent. Her design style was as distinctive as her way of working. Gray developed an opulent, luxuriant take on the geometric forms and industrially produced materials used by the International Style designers, such as Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand and Mies van der Rohe, who shared much of her ideology. Her voluptuous leather and tubular steel Bibendum Chair and clinically chic E-1027 glass and tubular steel table...
Paper
Kumiko Teak Room Divider, Japanese Folding Screen, Modern 1960s Design
Located in San Francisco, CA
Four-panel teak folding screen featuring traditional Japanese kumiko joinery with hemp leaf (asanoha) geometric pattern. Kumiko is an intricate woodworking technique where thin woode...
Teak
$8,895
H 41.5 in W 47.25 in D 5.5 in
Rare Pierre-Adrien Ekman Hand Painted Folding Screen / Room Divider
Located in Forney, TX
An extraordinarily scarce French hand-painted oil on canvas wooden three panel folding screen - room divider; Signed P.A. Ekman (Pierre-Adrien Ekman, France, 1904-1993), fabulous Tro...
Wood, Paint
French Hollywood Regency Three Panel giltwood Screen or Room Divider
Located in Miami, FL
French 3 fold giltwood screen with Empire eagle motifs and beveled mirrors. Antique gold style painted panels back this piece creating a finished look fro...
Mirror, Giltwood
$1,680Sale Price|20% Off
H 71 in W 100 in D 1 in
Handsome Mid-Century Modern 4 Panel Folding Screen Bohemian
By Edward Wormley
Located in Pemberton, NJ
Handsome Mid-Century Modern 4 panel folding screen with starburst pattern. This unique Bohemian style four part lattice wall divider features th...
Mahogany
$3,675
H 68 in W 72 in D 20 in
Modernist Danish Teak Four Panel Room Divider / Folding Screen, Circa 1960s
Located in Peabody, MA
A Danish four-panel folding screen / room divider in teak, circa 1960s. The teak on one side features a radiating starburst pattern. The reverse features carved botanical designs in ...
Teak
“Tenreiro” book, 1998.
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in Barcelona, ES
Publisher: Bolsa de Arte do Rio de Janeiro Edited By: Soraia Cals Building: Softback Dimensions: 29 x 24 cm, 2.5cm. Language: Portuguese Pages: 223
Paper
Sold
H 78.75 in W 94.49 in D 1.19 in
1950s Folding Screen by Joaquim Tenreiro for Rio De Janeiro Jockey Club, Brazil
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in Sao Paulo, SP
The Classic folding screen from Rio de Janeiro's Jockey Club, a project by Lucio Costo that used Tenreiro and Rodrigues' furniture designs throughout. This screen is still in it's or...
Hardwood
Sold
H 70.87 in W 61.03 in
1950s Folding Screen in Iron and Cotton Cords by Joaquim Tenreiro, Brazil Modern
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in Sao Paulo, SP
This folding screen / room divider is a unique piece designed by Tenreiro in the late 1950s. The proportions between panels and color disposition are typical of Tenreiro's geometrical pattern works, observed in several different custom projects. The use of tinted cotton cords, vinyl panels and iron resembles the Classic black and white iron chair...
Wrought Iron
Joaquim Tenriero - Side Table
By Joaquim Tenreiro
Located in San Francisco, CA
Stunningly beautiful and extremely rare side tables by Joaquim Tenriero with a single shelf and drawer.
Glass