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Geraldo de Barros (1923–1998)

Geraldo de Barros was one of the most important figures in Brazilian modernist design, working as a painter, photographer, and furniture designer. His work is a reference in Concrete Art, modernist design, and abstract photography, and he is recognized as one of the pioneers of experimental visual language in Brazil.

Trained in drawing and painting at the Associação Paulista de Belas Artes in São Paulo during the 1940s, he quickly moved away from figurative representation to explore geometric abstraction and modern design. This shift brought him closer to the avant-garde of Brazilian Concrete Art, consolidating his relevance within the modernist movement in Brazil.

At the same time, he developed an innovative approach to photography, exploring abstract compositions that place him among the pioneers of Brazilian abstract photography and visual experimentation.

From the 1950s onward, Geraldo de Barros expanded his practice into furniture design, creating pieces defined by functionality, modularity, and structural rigor. In 1954, he took part in the founding of Unilabor, a social and cooperative design project that combined furniture production with a collective work organization model, becoming a landmark of Brazilian modern design.

After Unilabor was dissolved in 1964, he founded Hobjeto, where he continued developing modular furniture and industrial design, further advancing his research into functional design and serial production of modernist design pieces.

Geraldo de Barros’s furniture design work from the second half of the 20th century represents the union of art, function, and social thinking, and is today a key reference in collectible design, Brazilian modernist design, and signed designer furniture.