Armchair in Brown Leather & Iron, Carlo Hauner, 1950s, Lot 177
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Description
Carlo Hauner, Brazil, c. 1950s. This armchair exemplifies Hauner’s engagement with structural economy and an elegantly minimal domestic vocabulary. The model follows the period’s interest in shell-like seating—related in principle to Hauner’s Concha variants—while translating the idea into a more linear, skeletal armature that reads as both drawing and structure.
The chair is distilled to a single, decisive proposition: a soft, generously curved seating shell is held within an intricate tubular-iron framework whose sketched profile traces the arm and base as one continuous gesture. The base’s multiple bends and triangulated bracing produce a taut, articulated geometry; the slender uprights and flared feet yield a poised lightness that counterpoints the seat’s generous curvature. The overall silhouette privileges line, proportion, and negative space so that the metalwork reads as an expressive, structural device rather than applied hardware.
Materials and craftsmanship are foregrounded. The iron frame is neatly formed and finished, its precise bends and discreet fixings demonstrating technical clarity; the seat has been professionally reupholstered in a sober brown leather, a period-appropriate choice that reads as a desaturated, tactile field against the dark metal. Execution favors material integrity: the continuity of the arm-to-base line, the economy of fixing, and the careful shaping of the shell remain the piece’s primary expressive devices.
Function is integral to the design. The enveloping seat and measured recline produce a composed, lounge-forward posture—comfort described as considered support and repose rather than plushness—while the engineered base provides assured stability and a subtle visual spring.
Condition: in excellent vintage condition. The metal has been sympathetically refinished where required and the seat renewed in quality leather; restoration has been conservative and transparent, preserving original proportions and construction.