On August 13th I met both Renato Imbroisi over breakfast and Paula Dib over lunch a few Vila Madalena blocks apart. Representing two generations and experiences in Brazilian community-based design and craft, they share many of the same goals, achievements and concerns, but have quite different experiences.

Renato (I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of him) is by and large the pioneer in the field. A weaver by trade, he started his first “product interference” projects in the early 1990s. First in his own state of Minas Gerais, but later from his studio/school in São Paulo, Renato began to work with craftsmen and women from different regions, incorporating their work into a larger distribution chain, making connections with textile, fashion and later home decoration stores and wholesalers.

In the late 1990s he was invited to the federal capital, Brasília, to head a nation-wide, pilot project with communities from all over the country – from indigenous reserves to bilro lace makers to capim dourado harvesters.

Based on his wide experience and insight, Renato was later invited by the FDC and Aga Khan Foundations to start long-term projects in two regions of Mozambique. Lately he is also coordinating a new project in the also former Portuguese colony of São Tomé.

I was introduced to Renato by Heloísa Crocco (Renato was also one of the founders of the Piracema project) during the opening of the “Brasil em África” exhibition at the Casa Brasil fair. This exhibition featured the work he’s been co-ordinating there and, through its sophisticated presentation and inventive range of products was one of my personal highlights of the whole event.

Our two-hour chat went from how villagers make the several thousand kilometers from the northern Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique to Maputo wearing their own work with pride, to his utmost concern in any of the projects he’s been heading: continuity. He explained how he has been trying, with different level of success, to engage all the different agents in the process – craftsmen, distributors/sellers, state institutions, NGOs, the media and also other designers – in making sure this continuity is kept.

This is also a concern for Paula Dib, who began her first explorations in 2002-2003, fresh out of FAAP’s product design programme. Her short, yet productive career (in Brazil, but also in Europe) has already gained much attention and recognition – she was the recipient of the British Council award for entrepreneurship in 2007. I actually heard about Paula from Heath Nash, runner-up of the award and a common friend. With her company, transforma.design, Paula organises workshops and teaches design students, but also craftspeople, to elevate their creative potential by looking around what lies around them. In the process, she challenges people’s preconceptions of resources, manufacturing and value. We then talked about what makes people want the stuff they don’t have – from brands to the influence of production design in Brazilian telenovelas – and about what they manufacture – things they need and can make a living from – with the resources around them.

Paula also has an interesting take on how this kind of projects explore – or even explode – the notion of authorship; she says there is no more a place for authorship, as it becomes shared between designer and craftsmen, individual and community, thinker and maker. She adds this notion should actually be an inspiration for the future of design, as it becomes and increasingly collaborative discipline – on this and many other fronts. Her view may be seen as debatable, almost quixotic, but it’s part of a larger, global debate on the future of the design profession.