A Passion For Jorge Zalszupin

Exhibition at Galerie Gokelaere & Robinson, Paris, 2 December 2022 - 31 March 2023

Jorge Zalszupin (1922-2020) is one of the most important Brazilian designers. His furniture is characterised by geometric lines and organic forms, combined with well-defined proportions, graceful lines and classical details.

Born Jerry Zalszupin in Polonia, he fled with his family to Bucharest in 1939, where he studied architecture. After a few years in northern France after the Second World War, he moved to Brazil, the only country that granted his family an entry visa, in 1949. At the end of the 1950s, Zalszupin acquired Brazilian nationality and adopted the name "Jorge".

As the Brazilian modernist movement in art and architecture consolidated during the 1950s, Zalszupin created L'Atelier in 1959, a design collective made up of architects, engineers and craftsmen, as well as a complete team of professionals, who handled all the projects, from the search for materials to the finalization of the product. Zalszupin's creations were very successful throughout Brazil, and L'Atelier's showrooms became a reference for modernity. At the invitation of Oscar Niemeyr, the designer was part of the team that collaborated in the design and production of the furniture for the city of Brasilia.

This catalogue of the exhibition organised on the occasion of the designer's 100th birthday lists an important body of work by Jorge Zalszupin, revealing in particular a large number of works made in wood, his favourite material throughout his career.