Carlo Hauner

Born in Brescia, Italy, Hauner studied art and design in Milan and immigrated to Brazil after World War II. He began his career as a painter, but decided to start a furniture production company, purchasing a manufactory owned by Lina Bo Bardi and P. M. Bardi, and naming the new business Móveis Artesanal (Artisanal Furniture). Carlo Hauner was also a partner in another company, H. Cerâmica, and along with his brother Ernesto, inaugurated a showroom with the intention to sell decorative accessories in ceramics and glass. They called this store Forma. Móveis Artesanal and Forma eventually came to coexist, and the companies were soon unified as Forma S/A Móveis e Objetos de Arte. (Forma: Furniture and Objects of Art).