Carlo Hauner (1927-1996) designer, furniture maker, ceramicist, jewelry designer, painter
Carlo Hauner was born into a family of artists in Brescia, Italy in 1927. He studied art, painting, and technical design at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and was strongly influenced by the rationalist and modernist movements. In 1948, shortly after successfully exhibiting various furnishings and design objects in the Venice Biennale, Hauner emigrated to Brazil with his family. Taking up residence in Sao Paulo, he connected with the circles of European artists and intellectuals who had arrived there since the war. With his brother’s financial help, Hauner set himself up as a designer, creating furniture as well as textiles and ceramics for use in his designs.
In 1951 Hauner and his brother bought a factory from Lina Bo Bardi, the designer of the Sao Paolo Museum of Art. Here they formed their company Moveis Artesanal with Carlo as head designer, producing custom furnishings for architectural commissions. In 1953 Hauner met architect and furniture designer Martin Eisler, founder of the Buenos Aires design company Interieur. Eisler was in Sao Paulo working on a house he designed for his brother-in-law Ernesto Wolf, and sought Hauner’s help in creating the furniture. Their meeting marked the beginning of a design partnership, and with Ernesto Wolf’s financial support they opened Galeria Artsenal in downtown Sao Paulo as a store for Moveis Artesanal. Hauner and Eisler began marketing their joint furniture designs–notably seating–with Ernesto Wolf as their first official collector. In 1955 Galeria Artsenal became Forma, and the Brazilian architect Sergio Rodrigues was appointed director of interior design. Forma defined a precise modern style that combined the rigor of industrial design together with the appeal of organic materials. Hauner and Eisler were meticulous in creating their pieces, even personally working the metal in their own factory. Brazilian woods, tubular metal, custom textiles and ceramic details distinguished the furniture, as did streamlined form, tapered feet, and a sculptural sense of volume. Two famous examples are the Reversível and the Costela chairs, both of which were awarded the Milan Compasso d'Oro. Their designs were also exhibited in the Sao Paolo Museum of Art.
In 1956 Hauner went to Italy to open an extension of Forma in his native Brescia. Although Forma Brescia catered to high-profile clients such as the Brazilian embassies in Rome and the Vatican, the enterprise was not as successful as hoped, and Hauner sold his part of the company. Hauner’s brother and sister-in-law took it over, changing the name to Mobilinea and offering residential as well as office furnishings. Forma Sao Paulo continued growing into a large furniture company with distribution by Knoll International. Meanwhile Hauner, who always maintained a multidisciplinary creative life, opened his own design studio in Milan, at first focusing on creating jewelry and ceramics, but over the years expanding to include furniture, lighting, textiles, and fashion accessories. Throughout he maintained an emphasis on using natural local materials, including native woods and lava stone, creating pieces in organic shapes and utilizing rich colors. Hauner’s designs were exhibited at the Galleria Montenapoleone in Milan. In 1962 Hauner moved to the island of Pantelleria, off the Sicilian coast, and founded a second company, Pantelleria Design, also producing furniture, textiles fabrics, and lava stone objects. His pieces continued to be exhibited in galleries and museums in Italy and internationally, and have come to be viewed as emblematic of midcentury Italian design.
Ever restless, Hauner eventually returned to his painting roots, experimenting with a range of styles from expressionist to abstract to pop. In 1965 his paintings were exhibited at the reputable Vismara Gallery in Milan. In the 1970s he moved to Salina in the Aeolian Islands, where, aside from devoting himself to painting, he started an agricultural wine company, producing one of the most esteemed wines of the region, Malvasia delle Lipari. Having lived a rich and diverse life as artist, designer, and entrepreneur, Carlo Hauner died in 1997. His history and work are those of an artistic innovator whose creativity encompassed a spectrum of disciplines, leaving a significant mark in each, notably in Italy and Brazil, and perhaps most widely in the continuing legacy of Forma, whose modernist vision he and Martin Eisler forged.
Exhibitions
Carlo Hauner, Martin Eisler e a Modernizacao do Movel no Brasil, Sao Paulo Museum of Fine Arts, 2019
Martin Eisler & Carlo Hauner, Side Gallery, Barcelona, 2017
Museum Collections
São Paulo Art Museum, Brazil,
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Musuem of Modern Art, New York
Publication
Design: Grandi Designer e Industria Bresciana, Liberedizioni, 2021
Móvel Moderno Brasileiro, Diseño Moderno Brasileño, Olhares, Brazil, 2017
