In the heart of Brazil’s city of wine–and the country’s largest furniture production center–, Bento Gonçalves held its biannual B2B home exhibition Movelsul March 14-18, 2016.
The central highlight: 26 prize-winning products from the most important Latin American competition Prêmio Salão Design 2016 exhibited at Movelsul. The selection was made from over 750 entrants whose objects represent the cutting edge of contemporary furniture design.
Organized by Sindmóveis since 1988, in 2016 it held its 20th edition; Salão Design connects creativity and technological innovation through design and promotes the capacity and talent of professionals, students and the industry.
Our Favorite Elected Talent
One award-winning and two Prêmio Salão Design finalist pieces by 29-year-old designer Bruno Faucz were on display. Designed for furniture brand Saccaro and inspired by the habitat and culture of the Argentine region, Patagonia armchair combines wood and leather with strong characteristic details like seams and cufflinks.
His award-winning Solo chair also portrays leather with visible seams, but includes metal legs to add a more industrial and cold material balance: and his Cora chair contains the cufflink aspect in a very different way to the Patagonia chair. These three products link the designer’s style like thread passed through fabric.
Simply Delightful
Scandinavian simple, the wooden Poltrona Sky chair by Uruguayan designer Claudio Sibille comes across as very basic. The Sky chair also made it as a Prêmio Salão Design finalist.
“This project was initiated without any particular order from a customer,” Sibille explains in a project submission on Mocoloco.com. “Only the will to design the best easy chair I could muster with the excellent manufacturing artisan means in my native Uruguay.”
He proposes an upholstered version “like in the Shell chair from Wegner,” although the prototype shows the chair without upholstery.
Varnished Pine
Another finalist: Uruguayan designers Agustín Menini and Carlo Nicola designed the Portunhol range for furniture brand Oppa. The products feature varnished pine and lacquered MDF. Portunhol references the “made up” language used between the Portuguese-speaking Brazilians and the Spanish-speaking South Americans in order to communicate.
In 2008 the duo launched their studio Menini Nicola and have been working on very elegant designs, but also very fun projects like their Chato bed on wheels.
Brazil’s largest furniture fair revealed excellent talents to know. In addition to those listed above, here are others to look into: Tiago Curioni, Gustavo Bittencourt, Victor Paixão / Paula Sertório, Luia Mantelli, to mention a few.
