In São Paulo, a Celebration of Contemporary Design Inspired by the Country’s Female Artists

Launched in 2022, ABERTO is one of the many arts-focused initiatives developing in São Paulo. The Bela Vista neighborhood recently welcomed the Rosewood São Paulo in 2022, an architectural masterpiece built from the bones of a former hospital with a new addition: a vertical garden tower designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel. Like a museum itself, the hotel hosts 450 works created by over 50 Brazilian artists, including leading female creatives, from a suspended, gold-finished botanical sculpture by the artist Laura Vinciand to a tapestry installation by Regina Silvera that showcases the country’s endemic flora. As part of the greater Cidade Matarazzo—a series of buildings first opened in 1904 by Italian-born Count Matarazzo—the hotel is connected to the Soho House São Paulo, which opened in July and offers over 30 bedrooms with interior design inspired by the Brazilian Modernist movement.

While development in the city shows no sign of slowing, platforms like ABERTO are more important than ever to protect the city’s architectural heritage. Due to São Paulo’s expanding urban landscape, many iconic Modernist and Brutalist homes are being demolished in favor of commercial and residential towers. “I couldn’t stand by and witness the demolition of architectural gems in São Paulo,” says Assis. “That’s why we are working to preserve and celebrate our architectural heritage. If people can see and tour these homes, they will intrinsically understand their value.”

Advising Assis on ABERTO is Lissa Carmona, the founder and CEO of ETEL. As part of her work at the atelier first opened by her mother in the 1980s, Carmona leads the re-edition of iconic furniture pieces by acclaimed designers such as Oscar Niemeyer, Jorge Zalszupin, Joaquim Tenreiro, Zanine Caldas, and Lina Bo Bardi. Carmona’s work extends to honoring the legacy of Bo Bardi—a multidisciplinary artist who moved to Brazil from Italy in 1946 with her husband, the Brazilian art critic Pietro Maria Bardi—with the opening of her Casa de Vidro in the Morumbi neighborhood. The glass house, completed in 1951, showcases some of the first edition pieces of furniture Bo Bardi designed, including a six-piece set of her iconic brass ball armchairs. Now, part of Carmona’s work is ensuring her designs land in the homes of aesthetes who appreciate the late artist’s work.