Your cart is empty
Seating
MOLECA ARMCHAIR, SERGIO RODRIGUES, BRAZIL 1963
The Moleca armchair, designed by Sérgio Rodrigues, was first produced in 1963 as the export version of the iconic Mole Armchair (1957). The designer himself named it “Moleca,” replacing the initial designations “Mole Ex” and “Mole Export,” in a gesture that reinforces the lighter and more international character of this interpretation.
The piece features a solid jacaranda wood frame, whose warm and expressive presence supports the entire structure. The generous cushion, upholstered in natural leather, rests on leather straps, creating the characteristic balance between structural robustness and relaxed comfort that defines Rodrigues’ work.
This example is an original period piece. The wooden structure remains in its original condition, with no restoration work, preserving the authenticity and historical integrity of the piece. The cushions and leather straps were replaced around 20 years ago and are currently in good condition, showing light signs of use that add character and a sense of history.
Coming from a private collection in Brazil, this piece carries not only the emblematic design of one of the great masters of Brazilian design, but also the subtle patina of a lived-in piece that has gracefully endured through decades while maintaining its aesthetic and cultural strength.
Dimensions: L83/104cm x W76 x AA40cm x H74cm
Weight: 27kg
Sérgio Rodrigues (1927–2014), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sérgio Rodrigues is one of the most significant figures in Brazilian design and architecture, responsible for developing a personal language that helped define the identity of modernist furniture in Brazil.
As Maria Cecília Loschiavo dos Santos (design historian and professor at the University of São Paulo) writes, “of all Brazilian designers, Sérgio Rodrigues is perhaps the most deeply committed to the values and materials of the land, having rooted himself in forms and patterns of Brazilian culture.” This reading helps reveal the essence of his work: a modernity that does not detach itself from its roots, but emerges from them.
Rather than following an international style, he sought to translate Brazil into form, material, and function. His work stems from a profound relationship with local materials and ways of living, naturally integrating architecture, design, and drawing into a single continuous practice.
His work emerges at a pivotal moment in Brazilian culture — the construction of Brasília, the rise of Bossa Nova, and Cinema Novo — when the country was experiencing a collective drive toward invention and modernity. Sérgio understood that modernist architecture needed furniture capable of matching this new sensibility: freer, more comfortable, and more attuned to Brazil’s climate and body. Wood, leather, and generous forms became his language.
In 1955, he founded Oca, a space that functioned simultaneously as factory, studio, and gallery. More than a company, Oca expressed a vision: to bring tradition and modernity closer together through an idea of essential simplicity, almost archetypal, inspired by the indigenous house.
Throughout his career, he developed around 1,200 furniture pieces, mostly chairs, as well as works created for landmark interior projects such as the University of Brasília, the Brazilian Embassy in Rome, Palácio dos Arcos, the National Theatre of Brasília, and the Bloch publishing house.
His design pieces broke away from the rigidity of formal seating, introducing a new relationship with the body — more relaxed, informal, and sensorial. The most iconic among them, the Mole Armchair (1957), embodies this vision: a structure in turned wood, leather straps, and generous cushions that invite deep relaxation, evoking the informality of the traditional Brazilian hammock.
The Mocho stool (1954) also reflects this pursuit of formal synthesis and constructive intelligence, reducing the object to its essence without losing character.
Sérgio Rodrigues’ work remains one of the most consistent expressions of rooted Brazilian modernism — not as an imitation of international movements, but as a personal interpretation of a way of living.