Lina Bo Bardi SESC stools Pompeia Brazil 1980

Lina Bo Bardi

Italy 1914 – Brazil 1992
Architect, designer

Striking pair of ‘SESC’ stools designed by Lina Bo Bardi, Marcelo Ferraz and Marcelo Suzuki and created for the center SESC Pompeia in Sao Paulo, Brazil 1980. This stunning brutalist shaped stool fits logically to the architecture of the building where it was designed for. However some of these stools were made for private buyers as well. None the less it was not a mass produced piece which makes this stool super rare, only a hand full of these are available on the market. Fantastic brutalist designed stool, made of different colored and layered pine wood, solid stool with stunning patina from age and usage. Striking pair in as found condition, carry a lot of character being intensely used over the past years and have its own story of patina. We have 2 stools available, but they are priced and sold individually.

The SESC Pompeia in Sao Paolo had initially housed a drum factory and Bo Bardi was tasked with turning it into a community center. SESC Pompéia was built after a 20-year military dictatorship in Brazil that created architecture that did not mirror the Brazilian culture. SESC Pompéia sent a shockwave through Sao Paulo. In 1982 the first stage of the complex was revealed. Bo Bardi had stripped away the plaster and then sandblasted the walls in order to find the essence of the large building. Her design combined red brick and unconventional concrete towers which were combined by aerial walkways. The building currently houses many activities rooms, including: theatres, gymnasiums, a swimming pool, snack bars, leisure areas, restaurants, galleries, and workshops. These stools come from the library in that building which was only a small part of the building. Not many of these stools were made and it is unclear how some of the stools got out as the interior is protected.