Jose Zanine Caldas

Jose Zanine Caldas was a Brazilian architect and furniture designer who was born in 1919 and passed away in 2001. He was known for his use of sustainable materials and his designs that integrated architecture, furniture, and landscape.

Zanine, along with two business partners, founded the company Móveis Artisticos Z in 1948. Their designs featured elegantly simple, organically-shaped pieces made from plywood at a reasonable price point, which made them popular among collectors seeking a modern style.

In the early 1950s, Zanine left the company and returned to his home state of Bahia, where he began experimenting with chiseling and carving sculptural works inspired by local craftsmen. He also created pavilion-style architectural constructions using richly-colored hewn logs and emphasized environmental protection by using already felled trees or planting a tree for each one he used.

Zanine's work has been displayed in several locations, including the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and throughout Brazil, and was included in Moderno: Design for Living in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela 1940-1978, a traveling exhibition organized by the Americas Society in 2015. Today, he is widely regarded as one of Brazil's most important modernist designers and architects.