Andrea Fasanello (for Ricardo Fasanello)
Ricardo Fasanello (1930–1993) was a Brazilian designer celebrated for his innovative approach to furniture and industrial design. Born in São Paulo and later based in Rio de Janeiro, he combined a passion for engineering, craftsmanship, and experimentation to create a distinctive body of work defined by bold forms and technical ingenuity.
Blending artisanal methods with industrial processes, Fasanello developed furniture that balanced functionality with sculptural expression. Best known for his iconic fiberglass seating and conversation-oriented swivel chairs, his designs embody a uniquely Brazilian modernism characterized by fluid forms, material innovation, and timeless appeal.
Today, Fasanello remains one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century Brazilian design, admired for work that continues to feel remarkably contemporary.
Interview
Our father was born in São Paulo in 1930, from an Italian father and a Spanish Basque Mother.
He dropped out of school at the age of 10, but despite it, he learned 5 languages and read all the books he was able to get hold of. He knew everything that had to be known about cars and designed them since his 15 years old. He designed houses at the age of 16.
Our father had always designed everything he needed. He was the son of a very wealthy immigrant and used to manufacture race cars that he designed for fun. He raced cars, played Polo, and enjoyed the nightlife in Rio de Janeiro. He had a Publishing House for a while, and in 1968, he started designing furniture for our home …what later became his work.
Need… to begin with. As I mentioned before, he always designed what he needed…cars, boats, knives, tools, bikes, etc, etc, etc. Furniture came because he didn’t have the money to buy furniture for our house in the artistic area of Santa Teresa in RJ.
Our father designed nonstop, between a coffee and a cigarette. He was curious about everything. Influences—as far as I am aware—it all came from inside!!!
Our father was a night owl person. He designed all night long. He trained one of his artisans to rule the atelier during the day. Odair is still with us, 50 years later.
The choice of materials for his furniture had two reasons:
– His know-how with fiberglass and resin from the racing cars he designed and manufactured;
– His profound dislike of copies…most other designers worked with wood. Although our father loved wood—he had a carpentry and made everything for himself in wood—he never used it in his commercial furniture collection.
Our father was above all an artisan. He would draw three lines of a new chair, but would finalize the design only when he manufactured it at his atelier with his own hands.
I will quote our father: “The material demands a shape or the shape indicates the material – The designer is a prisoner of this relationship.”
I have never heard him mention one!
I know he liked the Thonet’s chairs and Marcel Breuer’s chairs.
Unfortunately, he isn’t here to tell us.
I heard him talking about painters but never designers…all the Impressionists.
He would say: Functional.
I would say: Elegant.
WE MISS HIM.
There isn’t one day that goes by in which we don’t think about something new that would blow our father’s mind and that he would certainly take the most profit possible with his creativity and his knowledge of mechanics, physics, chemistry, ergonomics, etc.
“The material demands a shape or the shape indicates the material – The designer is a prisoner of this relationship.”
The Questions
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)
Family, Beauty, Harmony.
Mediocracy, Cowardice, Lack of Freedom.
Laziness.
Arrogance.
While he was alive…Ayrton Senna rsrsrsr.
He would go to London to have his shirts made at his British tailor.
Curious.
Intelligence.
Spirituality.
Being funny.
He cursed a lot !! rsrsrs.
Patience.
The teeth.
His furniture.
A dog.
In the mountains.
Cars.
Comunisme.
Designing.
Intelligency.
Conversation.
Omar Aki Shah e Idrish Shah.
Batman.
Churchill.
Simple people.
Sean e Josefina.
Cowardice.
He didn’t have time to find out…
I guess…he would like not to have died.
Make it happen.
“He would draw three lines of a new chair but would finalize the design only when he manufactured it at his atelier with his own hands.”
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