Live Edge Pequi Coffee Table by Hugo Franca and Paolo Alves

Hugo Franca and Paolo Alves coffee table with live edge slab of pequi wood atop three sets of architectural wood bases, Brazil, circa 2016. This impressive and unique coffee table came from Hugo Franca's own private collection.
Impressed signature to edge 'Hugo Franca and Paulo Alves'.

Provenance:
Collection of Hugo Franca, Rio de Janeiro.

Hugo França (Brazilian, b. 1954) has researched and developed materials and techniques to transform trees into objects, sculptures, and furniture. He creates sensuous, finely polished pieces of furniture from the scraps of massive paqui trees, which were destroyed during the rampant destruction of Brazil’s rainforests in the 1960s and 1970s. Before crafting furniture, França worked as an industrial engineer in São Paulo. He abandoned this career in 1981 to live with the indigenous Pataxó people in Bahia, where he connected with the rainforests and learned to sculpt wood. He does not approach his pieces with set goals in mind; instead, he responds intuitively to the character of individual scraps of wood. França has said. “The main inspiration is each tree—not only because of its beautiful natural form but also because it has a history.”