ABOUT

As an architect, designer, scenographer, editor, writer and illustrator, Lina Bo Bardi was a woman of almost unlimited talent whose vision of design was in equal measures generous and uncompromising.

After graduating in architecture in Italy during WWII, Lina joined the resistance, an experience that profoundly shaped her understanding of architecture as a political and social endeavour.
Later on, in Brazil, this sensibility matured and became the inspiration for sharp texts, open environments and extraordinary buildings.

Integrating architecture with the design of furniture, interiors, and often curating the programme of her public buildings, Lina aimed at producing common meanings and creating a bond between people and space. She pursued such ambition by mastering craft and fabrication processes in order to make apparent the natural and local qualities of the materials and cultures she worked with.
Collaborations with people from diverse fields of interest were crucial to construct an extensive and shared body of knowledge. This is the case of Italian architect Giancarlo Palanti, with whom she founded the Estúdio de Arte e Arquitetura Palma, which designed and produced several furniture pieces.

Focusing especially on the work realised within the Estúdio Palma, the exhibition by Nilufar Gallery presents the largest collection of Lina’s furniture ever brought together. Many of the pieces displayed, mostly chairs and armchairs, are rare objects originating in Brazil. The unique combination of iconic and everyday in her furniture, each piece built for a specific purpose, is a powerful expression of Lina Bo Bardi’s generous and all-encompassing philosophy of design.