Joaquim Tenreiro Bloch writing desk Brazil 1965

Joaquim Tenreiro

Brazil, 1906 – 1992
Designer, artist

Beautiful Bloch writing desk designed by Joaquim Tenreiro and manufactured in Brazil 1965. This desk was once used in the BLOCH EDITORES S.A. BUILDING, a well-known Brazilian publisher that operated from 1952 to 2000. Tenreiro himself furnished the building’s interior. A metal tag with an identification number from BLOCH adds a special touch, showcasing its connection to the renowned publishing house. The desk has two drawers that go fully to the back making them perfect for storage of your precious items. A beautiful feature is the lowered part in the top. The desk has a very minimalistic appearance but in combination with the wood, which has a stunning grain, has also a luxurious feel. This desk is refinished some time ago but still in excellent condition.

The Portugese-born furniture designer Joaquim Tenreiro was a pioneer among the leading furniture designers and visual artists in mid-20th century modernist Brazil. Tenreiro was born in Melo, Gouveia Minicipality, Portugal, into a family of woodworkers and carpenters. In the late 1920s, he emigrated to Rio de Janeiro. He had artistic leanings and in the late 1920s enrolled as a university student at the School of Arts and Crafts in Rio de Janeiro, where he joined a group of upstart modernists protesting the staid, retrograde curriculum at the college. At the time, Brazil was culturally mired in a 19th-century mindset that was reflected in an upper-class preference for academic painting and reproduction furnishings in antique European styles. But the progressive spirit that Tenreiro and his colleagues fostered slowly gained force. With the terms “lightness” and “functionality” as it’s most important features. After graduating, he began working for the firm of Laubisch Hirth.

In the early 1940s, Tenreiro was among the first designers in the Brazilian furniture industry to adopt a European modernist vernacular. His initial efforts, including the 1942 “Poltrona Leve,” met with considerable success, and in 1943 he established his own firm with factories in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. One of his main clients was Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, for whose houses a number of pieces were originally commissioned.