Carlo Hauner (1927–1996) arrived in Brazil in 1948 and encountered the Brazilian modernist context of the mid-20th century, in a climate filled with optimism driven by the economic and social progress linked to the end of World War II. Of Italian origin, he settled in the cosmopolitan city of São Paulo and immediately founded the company “Móveis Artesanal” in 1950 with the aim of producing modern furniture. The new techniques and materials brought by modernization, and the new modern architecture created within the spirit of innovation of modernist ideology, led to the creation of new furniture to integrate this new atmosphere.

Hauner, who had studied technical and artistic design at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, was the lead designer at Móveis Artesanal until 1953, when the Austrian architect Martins Eisler (1913–1977), who was living in Argentina, arrived in Brazil and the two became partners. Hauner and Eisler’s meeting and partnership began when Eisler, who had come to Brazil to develop an interior design project, commissioned furniture from Móveis Artesanal. Although it was a success and a reference for several other Brazilian designers, in 1955 Móveis Artesanal was restructured and became Forma, and Carlo Hauner parted ways with the company.

Hauner returned to Italy in 1958, where he continued developing some furniture designs, took the opportunity to devote himself to his career as a painter, but above all worked as a winemaker—an activity that continues to this day through his heirs.

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