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Friday, June 3, 2011

Local Color: Brightly-Painted, Scrap-Wood Furniture Series


Inspired by (and named after) shanty towns of, these bold seating and storage objects are designed
to reflect the culture and?colors of Brazil. They respond, in particular, to the urban migration of rural dwellers seeking (though not always finding) a better life in the country’s cities.

Paint forms a core design element of each of these objects in the ‘neorustica’ set?by Bruno Jahara. In some cases (such as the one pictured above), every recycled slat is given its own bright hue before being assembled into the final furniture piece.

In other instances, white is used to highlight chipped and worn surfaces, which show up stark and dark against the glossy, light-reflecting coating.

Selective scraping forms artistic patterns that could be mistaken for natural wear but are beautiful (even being abstract) to the point of being evidently crafted – particularly when placed atop naturally-finished legs.

Modern joinery connects the parts of each bench, chair or cabinet, creating a curious interplay between old chipped boards and new metal fixtures. Again, there is something of Brazil in this choice – modernized developments sitting next to impromptu forms of spontaneous and low-tech urban developments.