Branco e Preto

In the provincial of São Paulo of the 1950s, a group of architects consisting of Roberta Aflalo, Jacob Ruchti, Miguel Forte, Plínio Croce, Carlos Millan and Chen Y Hwa, got together to create a furniture shop that could cater to their modern and sophisticated view of architecture and house their designs.

The environment of São Paulo in the 1940s and 1950s brought renovations not only to the city, but to the fields of art and architecture as well. In 1951, the first São Paulo Biennial was inaugurated and later, MASP established the Contemporary Art Institute (IAC). These transformations made room for modern architecture and the idea of ​​Brazilian modernism.

As a result, the young vanguards embraced Aflalo’s idea: In 1952, they founded Branco & Preto to address their need to furnish the houses commissioned to them with an innovative style. In their joint design shop, they sold modern furniture made of Brazilian materials with quality finishing: something completely new at the time. The company quickly became famous for its high-quality furnishings and impeccable finishes that broke with tradition by proposing a refined and modern design.

They decided upon the name ‘Branco e Preto’ (White and Black), colours that would often be featured in their fabrics made especially for the store by the Lanfício Fileppo factory. Its founders, Jacob Ruchti, Miguel Forte, Plínio Croce, Roberta Aflalo, Carlos Millan and Chen Y Hwa. Except for the latter, are all alumni of the Mackenzie Engineering School. For its opening the group not only created furniture, but also curtains, lamps, carpets and the likes. Following the idea of Frank Lloyd Wright, who created houses from the inside out, that furniture is a "complement of architecture”.

The São Paulo-based shop rapidly became a reference for architects, who would visit to become familiar with the trends and discuss the pieces that broke with the traditional, stout lines that were used until then. With its high prices and focus on the elite of São Paulo, the store often catered to customers who had their homes specifically created by one of the group's architects and the furniture was often designed or adapted with a specific residence in mind. Brazilian woods were combined with glass, iron, Formica and calacatta marble. Like many Brazilian furniture brands, it never had industrial production and as a result everything was made by hand.

Branco e Preto remained open until 1970, and during its existence, the collective created pieces of furniture that inspire Brazilian designers to this day. The shop was without a doubt, one of the precursors of interior architecture and modernism-inspired furniture in Brazil. When remembering Branco e Preto, the architect Roberto Carvalho Franco stated that the store had “a great impact” and allowed “a portion of society to understand the meaning of furniture design”. The relaunch of the collective’s designs in the 21st century proves that Franco’s words were far from exaggeration. ~H.