Schuster Móveis & Design

Bernardo Figueiredo

Bernardo Figueiredo (1934?2012) graduated as an architect in 1957 from the Faculdade Nacional de Arquitetura at the Universidade do Brasil1 , in Rio de Janeiro. He started working professionally in a definitive and auspicious time, known as Brazilian golden years, when the policy to develop "50 years in 5" encouraged the growth of Brazilian industries.

Bernardo worked as an interior designer at Oca, Sergio Rodrigues' design store. Between the years 1963 and 1967, he designed about seventy pieces of furniture for residential use in rosewood and straw. These were called Desenho Brasileiro, or "Brazilian Design," which were sold in the Chica da Silva store, owned by costume designer Kalma Murtinho. Between the years 1966 and 1967, he designed a line of office furniture for Hermax Móveis. During the 1960s, he created Amak Monobloco, a line of popular furniture produced by Silécia, and presented it at the Berlin International Fair in 1966.

At the invitation of the then ambassador Wladimir Murtinho (1919-2003), Bernardo Figueiredo designed furniture for the Itamaraty Palace, pulling together a team with Jorge Hue (1923-), Joa quim Tenreiro (1906-1992), Sérgio Rodrigues (1927-2014), and Karl Heinz Bergmiller (1928-). Beyond furniture, Bernardo worked with graphic design, international fair design, interior design, architecture, and urbanism.

The desire for modernization gradually reconfigured homes, cities, and streets. In private homes, the furniture introduced new standards of ambience, comfort, and spatial arrangement. The Brazilian way of life was transformed. Part of the production was still hand-crafted, relying on the labor of Portuguese immigrant furniture makers, but, little-by-little, mechanization took place, opening up more options for the professional work of architects, designers and interior designers. The city of Rio de Janeiro played a central role in the installation and consolidation of the design field in Brazil. There was a carioca2 style of furniture design being created there. Understanding the cultural dynamics of Ipanema in the sixties helps situate Bernardo's work.