Joaquim Tenreiro

Joaquim Tenreiro was born on 26 April in 1906 in Melo, Portugal. After experiencing life both in Portugal and Brazil, Tenreiro decided to move to Rio de Janeiro at the age of 22.

Following the trade of his Portuguese carpenter father and joiner grandfather, Tenreiro pursued furniture making. In the beginning, he worked for various furniture companies like Francisco Gomes, Leandro Martins and Laubisch & Hirth, where he had to copy traditional European designs for their wealthy but conservative clientele. An occupation that was very much disliked by Tenreiro. However, on a sunny day in 1943, life handed him a shining opportunity.

While working at Laubisch & Hirth, an assignment came in to design the furniture for a house by the rising star architect, Oscar Niemeyer in Cataguases, Minas Gerais. Inspired by the modern design of the residence, Tenreiro broke tradition and boldly proposed furniture with a truly modern design. Niemeyer and his client, the writer and industrialist Francisco Inacio Peixoto, were both excited and Tenreiro’s proposal was chosen for the project. Not only was this the first of many collaborations with Niemeyer, but also provided the validation Tenreiro needed as a designer. One year later, he established his own company, Langenbach & Tenreiro, later followed by Tenreiro Móveis e Decorações.

Free from his obligation to copy European styles, Tenreiro started working on his own vision: to modernise Brazilian furniture while making use of Brazilian resources; the wonderful species of wood, combined with traditional materials like Palhinha Indiana (woven cane). Thus, he started creating modern designs without excessive ornamentation – according to the international trend – with the Brazilian soul and character at their core.

Since Tenreiro was exposed to woodworking techniques from a young age, the craftsmanship of his works was second to none. Combined with his perfectionism, Tenreiro managed to achieve the highest quality known in South America. At the height of his success, shops in Rio de Janeiro and Sâo Paulo. His numerous designs, from seating to tables and lamps, had his trademarks and were celebrated by a small audience of front-runners looking for truly modern design in Brazil.

Sadly, dark clouds gathered over Brazil and the optimistic days of President Kubitschek came to an end, and so did Bossa nova (the new trend) and the feeling of endless opportunities, when Brazil was taken over by a right-wing military coup in 1964. Repression and a deep economic crisis followed, with cultural bitterness and a very sour climate for design and business in general. These circumstances and Tenreiro’s strong personal feeling that he couldn’t reinvent himself anymore, made him decide to retire from furniture making in 1968 and focus solely on painting and sculpture making from there on.

Forgotten and some say somewhat bitter, Tenreiro retreated and lived a reclusive life during the 1970s and 80s. He finally received some well-deserved recognition shortly before his death in 1992, when a retrospective exhibition was organised at Rio de Janeiro’s design centre. Joaquim Tenreiro left behind an unparalleled legacy and is now considered by many as the father of modern Brazilian furniture design. ~H.

Available literature:

Tenreiro, Soraia Cals, Bolsa de Arte, Brazil, 1998