Renata Gamelo (left), Cecília Pessoa (right) and Flávia Lira (who unfortunately left before we came down to São Pedro Square for the photo) are the tireless women who run the Recife Design Centre.

The first thing they point out in conversation is that their work is not tying local designers with manufacturers, or promote design next to entrepreneurs and the local economy. For that there’s the Pernambuco Design Center, which is part of Sebrae (Brazil’s Federal Agency for the support of small and medium companies) and does just that on a state-wide level.

Their centre belongs to Recife’s municipal culture department and promotes design as a cultural activity. It may seem at first that in a place with almost no industry, the industry of culture is all it’s left for design.

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