Artigo:

This ongoing doctoral research seeks to understand the work of José Zanine Caldas (1919-2001) and his projectual and didactic activity, involving the various areas in which he worked: design, architecture, scenography, landscaping, and urbanism. Based on the reading of several newspapers in the Hemeroteca Nacional, covering the years 1921 to 2010, in addition to books and academic papers on the work of José Zanine Caldas (MELO, 2001; SANTOS, 1993), we found two important actions of the designer in São José dos Campos: a) Zanine's contribution as one of the founders of the Fábrica Móveis Artísticos Z, in 1949. According to a survey conducted by Alexandre Penedo Barbosa de Melo (2001), the factory had one hundred and twenty-three different pieces of furniture, of which he identified eighty-nine as designed by Zanine. This furniture gained visibility and was sold in large quantities. The company's target public was the Brazilian middle class, the structure of the furniture was mainly made of naval plywood and the labour was not specialized. b) In the 1950s, Zanine worked for 18 city halls in the interior of the State of São Paulo, making their gardens. He made the project, marked the garden, brought plant from one city to another, designed benches and lighting fixtures (CALDAS, 1990). A great example of these squares designed by him is in São José dos Campos and is called Afonso Pena. According to an interview with his son, José Zanine Caldas Filho (2022), the current square has undergone several modifications and renovations, including the one in 1970, which removed the carp pond. Despite this, the trees planted by Zanine were maintained. He organized gardens in the cities of Bauru, Lins, São José dos Campos, Jaboticabal and São Caetano (FLEURY, 1969).