When admiring a piece of wood furniture, do not only use your eyes …. touch the wood, feel it. As if by magic, the wood may feel soft, warm, cozy, and even sensual. Observe the joints, the solidity, the grain of the wood.
When you analyze a woodworking product carefully, you will see not only the object, but how it was made. It is possible, touching a piece of furniture with your hands, to recognize whether its maker was an apprentice or a master, and to recognize whether he loved his work. You can feel, in special objects, the commitment, devotion and attention of someone doing their best work. Such pieces are admired by those who understand the seriousness and depth of this millenary art. Objects of fine-woodworking make our daily life richer, and, in a time focusing on fast speeds and excess of information, they remind us that there remain in our world traditions of dedication and honesty.
Those who respect nature should use it consciously. At Mendes-Hirth we believe that good, well-designed furniture, capable of lasting a century or more, is the best way to honor the tree from which the furniture was made. The tree gets a second life through the hands of the cabinetmaker, and good furniture will be used for many generations in a family.
We do not think human beings should ever give up the comforting and warming contact with wood. However, we are committed to using the wood in a responsible way. How do we do this?
We unite good design with the best woodworking techniques. We are mindful of innovation and tradition when we create our own designs. It is part of our mission to work with wood in a respectful way, valuing its unique characteristics. We are proud of making joints without nails or screws – a traditional technique that few craftsmen know how to make today. But what is our goal? It is to create, for our clients, a well-designed piece that will last indefinitely, a piece we would keep in our own homes and give to our own families.
Each product is numbered and identified with the Mendes-Hirth stamp. The name Mendes-Hirth comes from the partners of the firm, Fernando Mendes de Almeida and Roberto Hirth. Fernando studied Industrial Design and Architecture, and worked for seven years with renowned designer-architect Sergio Rodrigues. With Sergio he worked on the production of furniture and the constructions and decorations of numerous houses. The love of wood is also in the veins of Roberto Hirth, an industrial designer. His grandfather was one of the owners of Laubisch-Hirth, one of the most important furniture makers in Brazil from 1920 until the mid-twentieth century.
