Jorge Zalszupin

The architect and designer Georges Zalzupin was born in Warsaw in 1922. At the age of 15, he noticed a book in a shop window with a jute cover bearing the golden initials of the architect Le Corbusier, which determined his choice of profession. Later, the future designer studied architecture in Romania, and in 1945 he left a port in France for Brazil, where rapid economic growth and cultural change had begun. In order to persuade his clients to embrace new ideas, Zalzupin built his own house, for which he also designed interiors using local woods, new materials and innovative processing techniques. A systematic approach to environmental design was at the heart of the philosophy of his company, L'Atelier, which collaborated with Oscar Niemeyer and whose work filled the leading public spaces of the new capital. Georges Salzupin's work can be found in the collections of the Carpenters Wood Gallery in New York and London, the Design Museum in London, the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, and in exhibitions at the MOMA in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

«I can't live well with too much rigidity. The 90-degree angle, for example, is something I love, but I can't do it. The things I do end up being a little lyrical, a little sensual, in short, there is always an element that does not come from purity or cleanliness.»