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Sergio Rodrigues (1927-2014), Rio de Janeiro, is one of the biggest names in Brazilian design and architecture.

"Of all Brazilian designers, Sergio Rodrigues is perhaps the most deeply committed to the values and materials of the land, having rooted himself in the forms and patterns of Brazilian culture."

Maria Cecília Loschiavo dos Santos- Modern Furniture in Brazil

Sergio broke paradigms by inventing his own language in search of a Brazilian identity and harmoniously integrated the three areas in which he worked: architecture, design and drawing. His creations emerged at a time when Brazil was investing in a new federal capital and Brazilians were breathing an atmosphere of invention and Brazilianness into the visual arts, music (with Bossa Nova) and architecture (with the construction of Brasilia). Sergio sensed that modern Brazilian architecture lacked furniture that could keep up with this contemporaneity. His creations, which were modern, comfortable and suited to Brazil's tropical climate, using wood and leather, soon led him to the new capital: his furniture was ordered on a large scale and taken to Brasilia.

In just over half a century on the road, Sergio has created around 1,200 different furniture projects, most of them chairs.

This number includes projects that were part of interior architecture projects that were not reproduced later, such as those designed for the Brazilian Embassy in Rome, the University of Brasilia, the Palácio dos Arcos, the National Theatre in Brasilia and the headquarters of the Bloch publishing house. His important work in architecture included the design of prefabricated wooden houses. He was also a remarkable draughtsman, certainly a legacy from his father, the artist Roberto Rodrigues.

In 1955 he founded Oca, a furniture factory whose name defines an intention: to recapture the spirit of simplicity of the indigenous house, integrating past and present in Brazilian material culture.

In Rio de Janeiro, he began to cater for the middle classes who were eager for objects that reflected the effervescent spirit of a time when everything was "new", from Bossa Nova to Cinema Novo. As well as being a factory, Oca included an interior architecture studio, interior design, set design and decoration components, together with an art gallery and an exhibition of his furniture.

From the outset, Sergio Rodrigues' chairs broke with elegant, well-behaved seating, anticipating the demand for informality that would come to dominate the interiors of the homes of young middle-class intellectuals in the 60s.

The most famous creation, the Poltrona Mole, from 1957, reflects this radicalism. Robust, it is made up of a turned solid wood frame, leather straps and upholstered cushions. The armchair invites you to relax and get cozy, offering comfort reminiscent of a hammock, the most traditional piece of equipment in the Brazilian home.

Other key works in his career are the Mocho stool, from 1954 (in its first version, with a more hollowed-out seat), which is inspired by the cow-milking stool; the Kilin armchair, from 1973, which is also reminiscent of a hammock; and the Diz armchair, from 2001, a project from his full maturity, only in wood, which allows the user extreme comfort.

Sergio Rodrigues left Oca in 1968 and from then on worked in his office developing furniture lines, architectural and interior design projects for hotels, homes and offices, and prefabricated house systems.