Carlo Hauner & Martin Eisler

Carlo Hauner was born in Brescia, Italy. After studying design in Milan, he arrived in Brazil (São Paulo) in 1948, just over 20 years old. Alongside his brother, Ernesto Hauner, he bought the Pau-Brasil factory in 1950, owned by Lina Bo Bardi and Pietro Maria Bardi, which was renamed Móveis Artesanal and began producing modern furniture. Hauner was the company's main designer until the arrival of fellow immigrant Martin Eisler.

Móveis Artesanal was "a pioneer in the country in successfully combining a design office with a modern language, a manufacturing system with serial production, and innovative commercial spaces, playing an important role in the history of design in Brazil," - Mina Warchavchik Hugerth.

Martin Eisler was born in Vienna, Austria. He left Europe because of the fascist regimes and in August 1938, he arrived in Argentina with an architecture degree from the Vienna Polytechnic School of Fine Arts.

He became a naturalized Argentinian citizen and began working as an architect, set designer, and interior designer.

Starting in 1952, Eisler began coming to São Paulo every 15 days to do an interior design project for his brother-in-law. It was there that he met the Hauner brothers and became their partner in Móveis Artesanal (Artisanal Furniture).

Together with Hauner, Eisler became responsible for the furniture design area. The partnership between the two earned the pair the Compasso d'Oro award at the Milan Triennale in the 1950s.

The two would be responsible for designing pieces that became classics of modern Brazilian design and for managing a store that established itself as a benchmark of sophistication at the time.

Among Eisler's best-known pieces is the Costela Armchair (1954), with a metal frame, multi-layered imbuia wood slats, and cushions with capitonné detailing.