Tatiana Sperhacke and her husband Raul Krebs picked me up at the Porto Alegre airport this morning, and we went straight to the Fundação Iberê Camargo for lunch. Álvaro Siza‘s only second (thanks Paulo Moreira for the correction!) building in South America is a true architectural gem – despite the silly toilet symbols his clients still let him get away with. Walking along its narrow corridors and spacious halls on a sunny, crisp day like today made the experience even grander.

Tatiana (found the photo above, with me and Raul are reflected on the museum’s glass front) is a graphic and product designer, SVA – MFA Designer as author – alumna an a true “gaúcha”. Over lunch and later in her studio we talked about her work in New York and in Porto Alegre, teaching, her own 2D and 3D designs, collective workspaces, references…

In between we came to Heloísa Crocco‘s “wooden box” studio on the outskirts of Porto Alegre by the Guaíba river, where I left my suitcase and we had Guaraná with Heloísa. I’m now back here, it’s about 10ºc/50ºF and I can see the lights on the other side of the river from the balcony windows – this i a truly special place run by a very special person. Tomorrow morning the three of us are leaving for Bento Gonçalves for the first day of Casa Brasil Design.

Thank you Zoë Melo for introducing me to Tatiana (and also to Rodrigo Almeida, and to other people I will meet along the way…) and to Adélia Borges for calling Heloísa right on time.