Jose Zanine Caldas (1918 — 2001)
Born in Bahia, in the North of Brazil, the self-taught designer, artist and architect moved to Rio and started an architectural scale model workshop where he worked with modernist pioneers such as Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer.
Working with plywood for his models, he realised how the innovative material lent itself to furniture that he started designing in the 1940s.
A pioneer in the respect of his environment, he later experimented with more organic designs and vigorously protected Brazilian forests.
Zanine’s work has been exhibited in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and throughout the US and Europe.