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Everyone's talking about Mobilinea

Mina W. Hugerth

Updated: Apr 27, 2023



It's hard to believe that I first started researching the history of Brazilian modern design company Mobilinea ten years ago! But it was in 2010 that I first met the awe-inspiring Georgia Hauner, and that led to a research project that became a thesis and finally a book. While it was a joy to dive into the world of Mobilinea, it was the need to tell this story to a broader audience that kept me going, and it seems that now people are really taking an interest in learning more about the company, which is incredibly rewarding.

Earlier this year, I spoke with Cadu Silva and Gabriel Freitas on their podcast Mais Uma Cadeira, which is available on various platforms (including here).

And just last month, I was invited by the AMDMB (Association of Modern Brazilian Furniture and Design) to give a lecture on their Live Instagram series (available here + here).

 

As both recordings are in Portuguese, here is a quick overview of the company to pique the interest of non-speakers:

Mobilinea was a company founded in São Paulo in 1959 by Ernesto Hauner and John de Souza that produced modern furniture in industrial scale to be sold for middle-class consumers in the largest cities of Brazil. Ernesto was responsible for the design sector, while de Souza focused on managing. Also in the business was Georgia Hauner, Ernesto's wife, who was in charge of designing all their stores and advertisements. From the beginning up to 1975, when the Hauner couple quit the company, they enjoyed commercial success, even starting to expand the business to other countries in Latin America.


Mobilinea's furnishings during these years can be praised by their design and production processes. Still, it is in advertisements and retail spaces that the full expression of the company can genuinely be seen: in them, furniture was understood as a component of the modern home, which was conceived as a lively and enjoyable place, humanized by art and craft to balance out industrialized items. Unexpected and humorous objects were also often included in spaces, making them at once aspirational and unusual. With this strategy, it seems as they unraveled a new pathway for Brazilian design, far from eclectic pieces, but also diverse from a more austere and naturalistic approach to modern design that searched for colonial roots.

 

Image caption: Mobilinea store at the Iguatemi shopping center in São Paulo, Brazil, c. 1970. Digitized slide from the personal collection of Georgia Hauner.

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