Hugo Franca: The Story of the Tree

Reviewing this volume for American Craft magazine, Beverly Sanders wrote, "During a time when the scarcity of natural resources and the reuse of materials are ever-more-pertinent concerns in the worlds of art and design, the work of the Brazilian designer-maker Hugo Franca reminds us that magnificent sculptural and utilitarian objects can be fashioned from cast-offs." Trained as an industrial engineer, Franca repurposes hardwood from fallen Pequi trees in Bahia, Brazil, and fashions them into stunning monumental furniture and sculptural works that call to mind George Nakashima, Constantin Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi and Henry Moore in equal parts. This stunning clothbound volume presents 20 finished tables, benches and objects alongside documentary photographs of Franca and his work team as they locate, cut and transport the wood to his studio. Published to accompany Franca's 2008 exhibition at R 20th Century Gallery in New York, this volume also contains a short essay by Brazilian scholar Evelise Grunow.