If there were such a thing as an appointed heir in Brazilian furniture design, Zanini de Zanine Caldas would be it. His father was José Zanine Caldas, and he also studied when he was young with the great Sergio Rodrigues. Though he completely absorbed the formal intelligence of these great modernist masters, he launched himself in a very different direction when setting out on his own, in 2003. Initially working with salvaged architectural elements, he developed a brutalist gestural style, in which raw natural and mechanical elements played a leading role. Often, his works derive their energy from one or two decisive moves: a single dramatic joint, or an angled cross-cut into the material.