A few days before I arrived in Rio, Zoë Melo, who since we met in New York in 2009 became a good friend and one of my project’s “godmothers”, suggested I should meet the guys from Fibra Design Sustentável. I did, if only had a chance to talk with one of them, Bruno Temer. I immediately knew they were something else; we had lunch on one of the very last days of my 1-month research trip – by then I had met and interviewed a ton of people and was starting to get an idea of what I was interested in finding out more about Brazilian product and furniture design, but nothing prepared me for the frankness, fairness and ambition both Bruno and his other partners have shared with me over transatlantic email and skype conversations.

When the organisers of Design Indaba asked me for a Brazilian designer suggestion for the 2011 edition of the event, they were on the top of my mind. And I was very happy they both left a great impression and had a blast. Writing “A Material World”, their profile for Design Indaba, now out in print and online, was also just as fun.

I only saw the sun for three hours during the six days I spent in Rio de Janeiro last August. My one and only stroll down Copacabana beach took place under a rain storm, while three-meter waves pounded the shore. I was lucky to even get a view of the city (above) from the top of the Corcovado. The last week of my one-month research trip in Brazil may have been anything but sun-kissed, but I didn’t need to get a tan to think Rio de Janeiro is today in a great place to become South America’s main design destination.

(more…)

After 31 days, seven cities and over 25 interviews and many, many hours of observations, conversations and reflections on Brazilian design, I left Rio at dusk on August 26th.

I will keep updating alvorada.org from Lisbon and – as of September 14th – from New York, with more mini-profiles, stories and other findings.

I intend on returning to São Paulo for a week (October 19th to 25th) for some more interviews – if I can work out the necessary funding.

When asked about why he writes, Portuguese writer Antonio Lobo Antunes once answered: “Ask an apple tree why it bears apples”. During our conversation at his studio/showroom in Humaitá, Sérgio Rodrigues used this very quote to describe his own work, an analogy he uses to answer the people who question him about “not following trends” or designing today things that seem to have been designed 40 years ago.

At 85 years of age, Rodrigues is not particularly concerned with critics, not even with the esprit du temps. His designs – over 1,500 of them – are reflections of how he draws and thinks, processes that have remained largely untouched over his long career. He is one of Brazil’s pioneers in furniture design and remains an inspiration for designers all over the country – but particularly abroad, as his work has gained increased recognition and value over the last years.

Rodrigues is a pleasure to talk to, and our hour and a half was surely not enough to learn more about his achievements, friendships, failures and curious stories (like Kim Novak’s goat standing on a Poltrona Mole in her house in California) he talks about with great wit and generousity.

We’ll be meeting again on September 15th, when Sérgio will come to New York for the launch of his collection of lamps and “Chifruda” chair at Espasso.