MAGICAL BRAZIL IN THE DESIGNS OF MARCIO KOGAN

Architect Marcio Kogan was born in Brazil in 1952. In that same decade, as he tells us today, “a sort of magic seemed to rest on the country, turning it into a land of dreams. In 1958, Pelé scored some spectacular goals in Sweden and we became world champions almost overnight. At the same time, a new musical style of an unprecedented elegance had begun spreading from the voice and guitar of João Gilberto, while an impeccable city was being hatched from the pencil of Oscar Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa".

Kogan is the founder of the award-winning studio mk27, which aims to develop the aesthetic continuity between architectural designs and product design. He began collaborating with Minotti in 2017, and for the 2021 Collection he has designed pieces that range from the living area to the night area, in residential and hospitality contexts, including the Brasilia family of seats and beds and the Superquadra collection of storage units, tables, coffee tables, benches and consoles.

Both of these, starting from their names, are openly inspired by a historical moment of absolute utopia, that magical Brazil of the 1950s that Kogan wants to celebrate. Modernism in its original state, the movement in which the artist developed, reshaping it into his own contemporary version.

And it was in this area that his affinity with Minotti came to light, the brand also beginning in those same years and, like Kogan, taking tradition and classicism, and bringing them up to date. As Roberto Minotti says: “With his skills and his vision, Marcio Kogan has interpreted the Contemporary American style of the 1950s in a brand new way, with an absolutely modern spirit, launching it into the future”.

The city of Brasilia was built between 1956 and 1960, with Costa responsible for urban planning, Niemeyer tasked with designing the buildings and Burle the landscape. The Brasilia collection of upholstered designs has inherited the apparent simplicity of its namesake city: its real beauty, enhanced by exquisite touches such as the palisander Santos enveloping the padded seat.

The Brazilian wood also characterises the headboard structure of the Brasilia Bed, which frames the padded part, ending with two nightstands at the sides, both suspended and featuring either shelves or drawers.

Superquadra was the name of some of the residential areas of the Brazilian capital, composed of blocks of multi-storey flats supported by stilts. Today its name has been inherited by a family of furniture for different uses, living and dining room storage units, tables and furnishing accessories, all distinctively combining different materials, such as wood, marble and upholstered elements.

Marcio Kogan has succeeded in translating his style, which focuses on simple shapes, but at the same time on the richness of the details, in the Brasilia and Superquadra designs: both feature minimal, geometric lines combined to create a luxurious overall effect. A balance with roots planted deep in history, but an eye on the future.