help plz with a set of Brazilian dining chairs.... moveis miclan ltd?  

hhmmmm... surely someone here knows of Brazilian furniture, not just craft associates and lane, i hope....

I know a little bit about both Craft and Lane, and your chair appears to be a notch or two below those guys. My guess is that it is a generic design of little note that was made cheaply in Brazil for the local market.

gotcha.. everyday thrift store finds cheaply made and mass produced for the local market compared to chairs of solid Pau Marfim handcrafted in Brazil....

I said it was only a guess. After a closer look, here are some additional comments:

1. frame profiles look to be very basic; members cut from boards without any change to thickness or edge treatment to soften the appearance. My experience with this type of construction is that it is not "handcrafted" by a artisan woodworker, but that is it inexpensively cut from machines with minimal handcrafting afterwards.

2. the interface of rear leg posts to the backrests looks clunky to me. The backrest profile does not fit cleanly to the straight framing member and is affixed with round head screws which stick out of framing profile. Perhaps some find this to be a hallmark of high end craftsman construction. I do not.

3. Perhaps the upholstery is a green leather, but from the provided photos, it looks like vinyl to me. The seam of the backrest with the nail heads looks, once again, fairly clunky to me. I should clarify that upholstery is not one of my strengths, so I could very well be off-base with my assessment and that this is in fact an exquisite high-end detail.

4. Based on the time I've spent in Rio, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City (the last one monthly for the last three years), I've seen plenty of mid century furniture which was inspired by other countries and made locally for mostly local use. Since your chair has customs stamps on them, it appears it was made for export. Use of tropical hardwoods for these chairs is fairly common, since tropical hardwoods are quite common in these tropical regions.

Who knows, your chair could well have been designed by Sergio Rodrigues, Jean Gillon, or Percival Lafer. If so, I can see why they would have gone to extremes to distance themselves from this design, so that no one could track it to them in the future.

Good luck on your search.

I'm a little confused, too. Is pau marfim considered a somehow *special* specie in Brazil?

Sergio Rodrigues and Percival Lafer worked with specific companies, so there is good reason to believe neither ever had anything to do with his chair.

And I believe the manufacturing qualities pointed out by cdsilva tell the entire story.

This thread reminded me of a sofa I saw earlier this year in Mexico City at the cocktail lounge of Maximo Bistrot; a Finn Juhl inspired, recently made local design. When I first started travelling there, I was doing double takes all the time for various modern furniture items that looked like they might be something special. Upon closer looks, they almost always ended up being European-inspired and locally made with local woods. They seem to fit in quite nicely in their environment.

P.S. If anyone is ever in Mexico City, I highly recommend paying a visit to Maximo Bistrot in Roma Norte.

found them! ha! designed by Juan Valdez (1929-2016) for the Barista Embassy and Donkey Coffee chains throughout south America circa late 1950s. Rare green Guano variant to upholstery with coffee bean nail heads and obvious weight limit. ugh... give the people what they want, walnut and particle board....

When asking for help this thread reminds me that I must remain positive, respectful, and patient on the internet and in real life.

On a more positive note, I just scored these awesome side tables for only $350! They have an amazingly pristine original finish, and look at that expertly executed American joinery (no screws used anywhere on the pieces). Made of American Ash and Walnut (everyone knows America makes the best woods, ..... the *best* woods), Assembled in the geographical center of American furniture making, California, these tables typify why furniture made in a America is so much more superior to that foreign made stuff, using 3rd world firewood (e.g. teak, rosewood, afromosia, wenge, pao santo, etc.). These tables were no doubt sold at a store, rather than flat packed and hauled out of the jungle on a donkey.

Now, if I know this forum, I am going to get a lot of comments driven by jealousy and covetousness. Don't hate the the player, hate the game. This find is only the result of my diligent perseverance; I woke up at 11AM yesterday, and hit my local Goodwill far earlier than the throngs of typical patrons. I passed up the cheap European furniture in my pursuit of these beauties. They had some cheap crap made out of the 3rd world firewoood, supposedly designed by some hack named Arne Vader for $75. I mean really?!? I wouldn't pay 5 bucks for that, stick to the death star construction, you poser!

Anyways, the pieces are marked with a serial number and had the address of some guy named Lane in Alta Vista, CA on them. Assuming this is the original consigning owner. Has anyone on here seen these custom pieces before, I would be interested in any input ..... and again, I know there is going to be envy-driven comments, but just picture me relaxing on my sweet Kroehler sectional, with a cup of steaming joe sitting on my dope Heywood Wakefield coffee table, enjoying the high jinks Mr. Don Draper . Too much? Well, eat your heart out forum dwellers.

Sorry, that was a bit too much face rubbing, but when someone takes a backhanded swipe at the american walnut and particleboard furniture that everyone on this forum loves, I feel the compulsion to respond, I mean, brazil furniture? Everyone knows the only quality exports from Brazil in the last century were nuts, wax, and Shakira.

Now, now. My brother's long-time partner is from Brazil. She and her family are super nice ...and they know how to party.

I just want a chair handcrafted from solid pau marfim.

I amend my list: nuts, wax, Shakira, and tktoo's brother's partner's family.

I'd settle for a cutting board.

Tom Brady says hi.