Jean Gillon For Italma Wood Art Brown Leather Two Seater Sofa Brazilian Mid Century Vintage Retro MCM

New Stock ✅

Jean Gillon For Italma Wood Art Brown Leather Two Seater Sofa Brazilian Mid Century Vintage Retro MCM

This mid century two seater brown leather sofa with a jacaranda frame is by Jean Gillon for Italma Wood Art and manufactured in Brazil.

Crafted in the 1970s, this sofa epitomises the luxurious yet functional approach that defines Brazilian modernist design, for which Jean Gillon is renowned for.

Complete with makers Italma label.

Dimensions
Height - 78cm
Width - 149cm
Depth - 77cm

Although he was Romanian by birth, architect and designer Jean Gillon’s heart and soul belonged to his adopted country of Brazil. The country’s culture and revered architecture served as a muse for his mid century furniture designs.

Today Gillon ranks among the most interesting figures in Brazilian modernism, which is characterized by sensual forms and beautifully handcrafted chairs, tables and cabinets built from exotic hardwoods.

Gillon was born in Iasi and graduated from the city’s George Enescu National University of the Arts. He then moved to Paris, where he studied tapestry, worked at the newspaper Le Monde as a cartoonist and moonlighted as a set designer for the Paris Opera Ballet. He eventually left Paris for Vienna, where he studied architecture at the School of Industrial Arts, known today as the University of Applied Arts. In the early 1950s, Gillon was a visiting lecturer at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts.

In 1956, Gillon moved with his wife and two daughters to São Paulo, where he developed a passion for Brazilian architecture, namely the work of modernists such as celebrated architect Lina Bo Bardi and designer José Zanine Caldas. Gillon took on interior decorating projects and formed the Fábrica de Móveis Cidam, which later became Italma Wood Art, in order to design furniture for his clients. Gillon’s furnishings, produced at Italma and also in collaboration with manufacturers such as Probel, were immensely popular and could be found in the planned capital city of Brasilia, a project launched in 1956 by Oscar Niemeyer.

Gillon designed everything from bowls and baskets to centerpieces, tables and other objects and furniture. However, he was best known for his lounge chairs and sofas, including his iconic Jangada chair. Named for the Portuguese word for traditional Brazilian fishing boats, the award-winning Jangada was framed in jacaranda in the late 1960s. The welcoming seat of Gillon’s visually striking trapezoidal lounge chair features plush leather cushions that are supported by nylon fishing rope.

Gillon continued to produce furniture for Italma Wood Art until he retired in 2003. He died in 2007, and today Gillon’s pieces remain highly covetable among interior designers and collectors of modern furniture.

For any questions please message us on WhatsApp +447590146893 or please call us and follow us on Instagram @relicsofretro

Local delivery can be free depending on distance. National and international delivery is available at an extra cost which we can organise on your behalf.

Collection in person is welcome. We are West of Cambridge in Bourn CB23.

Please message before purchasing to confirm delivery costs.

Please note that vintage furniture may have some slight imperfections, which is to be expected in keeping with its age, as we do not offer returns on items sold.