Carlo Hauner, Martin Eisler and the modernization of furniture in Brazil

INTRO

Brazil underwent profound social and economic changes in the middle of the twentieth century, resulting in the growth and verticalization of its urban centers. Contingents of immigrants, many of whom came to the country after World War II to start a new life, went to these cities, and there was a general sense of optimism. In the architecture and design fields, the development of a modern vocabulary and an industry capable of producing new materials provided the tools to respond to the challenges of furnishing a new type of dwelling and catering to a cosmopolitan lifestyle.

In 1948, Italian immigrant Carlo Hauner (1927-1996) arrived in São Paulo and immersed himself in this culture. He founded the company Móveis Artesanal in 1950 to produce modern furniture and was its principal designer until the arrival of Martin Eisler (1913-1977), an Austrian immigrant who came to Brazil through Argentina, in 1953. The two would be responsible for creating pieces that became classics of modern Brazilian design, running a store that was known as a reference of sophistication at the time. Artesanal was also an incubator for design in Brazil, having Ernesto and Georgia Hauner and Sergio Rodrigues amongst its employees.

Although successful, however, the company was short-lived: it was restructured as Forma in 1955 while Carlo Hauner left the business. This is the largest exhibition ever held in Brazil documenting the work of these two prominent designers during their time at Móveis Artesanal and Forma. Essential pieces are gathered in the same space for the first time since the 1950s, portraying what this moment was like and paths that derived from the encounters facilitated by the company.

MARTIN EISLER

Martin Eisler was born in Vienna in 1913, graduated as an architect in 1936 having contact with modernist teachers, and then moved to Prague. In 1938, Eisler decided to immigrate to Argentina due to the rise of fascist regimes in Europe, acquired citizenship and began working as an architect and interior and set designer. He met his wife in 1940 when he renovated the home of her father, Alfredo Wolf. In 1953, Eisler came to São Paulo to develop the interior design for his brother-in-law’s apartment, Ernesto Wolf, and the furniture he created was manufactured at Móveis Artesanal. Following that, Eisler eventually moved to São Paulo, became a partner in the company and one of its principal designers. After the business was restructured as Forma, Eisler took over as artistic director and continued to work there for decades to come, albeit away from the drawing board. Martin Eisler passed away in 1977.

FORMA GROWS

After Móveis Artesanal was restructured as Forma and the designers involved with the company in those early years left, the enterprise underwent a deep restructuring process. Following the expansion of stores and modifications in the designs offered, Artesanal partnered with Knoll International in 1959 to produce licensed products from the American company.

Knoll was founded in New York in 1938 by German immigrant Hans Knoll as a modern furniture factory and store. From 1946 onwards, he and his wife Florence sought out prominent designers to create their products. Names such as Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Mies van der Rohe consequently had their furniture designs made by Knoll, and because of Forma, their pieces became available in Brazil as well.

INTERIEUR FORMA

While living in Argentina, Martin Eisler helped in founding furniture company Interieur, which remained active after he moved to Brazil. At the turn of the 1960s, shortly after Forma began to manufacture Knoll pieces, the Argentine company likewise began selling them, underwent a reorganization, and was renamed Interieur Forma.

Fellow Austrians Susi Aczel and Arnold Hakel were responsible for running the company and created pieces that were produced there. Like Móveis Artesanal and Forma in Brazil, Interieur Forma played a decisive role in the modernization of domestic environments in Argentina and helped taking Latin American design to the world.

THE MODERNIZATION OF FURNITURE IN BRAZIL

The furniture designed by Ernesto Hauner and Martin Eisler, manufactured by Artesanal and Forma, was affiliated to international modernism and made under a high-quality rationalized production system. These two designers, evidently immigrants, did not seek to create authentically Brazilian furniture, as Sergio Rodrigues’s pieces would become known. Nor did they plunge into critical-regionalist experiments, as Lina Bo Bardi would in subsequent years.

Hauner and Eisler did not perceive wood as their primary material or traditional woodwork as reference for design solutions, unlike Joaquim Tenreiro or Branco e Preto, despite the latter’s eye on foreign creations. Notwithstanding, Eisler and Hauner’s design was not unique nor their market share exclusive: their pieces had common traits with many endeavors that, each in their own way, sought to answer the question of how new elite urban interiors should be furnished.