Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1978, Brazilian designer Zanini de Zanine grew up in a household in which names like Oscar Niemeyer, Lúcio Costa and Sergio Rodrigues were frequent guests. These childhood encounters, combined with the influences of his father, José Zanine Caldas—a world-famous landscape designer, model maker, sculptor, furniture maker and self-taught architect—showed him his life and career path. With a master’s degree in industrial design behind him, Zanini de Zanine has already received 21 national and international awards and was chosen as designer of the year 2015 by Maison & Objet Americas. He outlines his plans in conversation with ArchiExpo e-Magazine.
ArchiExpo e-Magazine: Which of your current projects would you highlight as being particularly innovative?
Zanini de Zanine: One of my two most innovative projects at the moment is a large scale collection of glass furniture: a chair and side and center table. It will be produced in a partnership with São Paulo’s glass specialist company Primo Vidros. I’ll be using straight and curved glass components glued together. It’s the first time I’ve [worked] with this material and the result [was] exhibited at São Paulo’s Design Weekend in August. Also at this event, my studio [showcased] the relaunched pieces originally conceived by my father, José Zanine Caldas.
ArchiExpo e-Magazine: And what would the second project be?
Zanini de Zanine: The second project is a collection of stainless steel furniture made in partnership with Mekal, another São Paulo company. Unlike the glass collection, these pieces will be individually custom made. I’m designing a bench, a chair, a dinner table, a wall mirror and a hat stand. The pieces will be displayed at the international art exhibition ArtRio in late September.
New brand Glass 11 presented its first contemporary furniture collection during Design Weekend São Paulo with the exhibition “TRANS appearances – manifestation of reality.” Among the designers Glass 11 selected to sign the first collection, Zanini of Zanine designed the above-mentioned products. See below his chair for Glass 11.
Hum chair by Zanine for Glass 11
