I met Pedro Ariel and Lucia Gurovitz – respectively editor-in-chief and design editor for Casa Cláudia – at the Idea Brasil award ceremony. Pedro later emailed me and mentioned they’d like talk to a bit more about my research, so on my return we met for lunch at the executive dining room on the top of the Abril headquarters, where we were joined by Regina Galvão (right), senior editor of the magazine – after lunch we checked out the terrace’s impressive view.

Casa Cláudia is Brazil’s oldest shelter magazine, and one of the most recognised titles from the mammoth media and publishing group Abril. Despite a growing number of competitors, it also a household name in Brazil (and also in Portugal) when it comes to decoration and, to some extent, the tricky notion of taste. I was really interested in finding out how design has been featured in the magazine and perceived by its wide audience, and also here things are changing. The growing “C class” (or lower-middle class) is altering its patterns of consumption, but also its access to information. Being a popular title, Casa Cláudia is noticing those social changes, but also a more widespread interest in all things Brazilian. Differently than the past – when foreign decorative elements, trends and taste were seen as superior by the so-called laughter class – or AAA, the super rich. This appreciation of “Made in Brazil” products and aesthetics (whatever that means)  has been coming from larger, increasingly more populous social groups that are more in touch with their (popular) culture than the traditional Brazilian elites. And that is no small shift.

The editors of Casa Cláudia have been answering that appreciation with the “Design Brasil” volume series, where since 2003 – but on an irregular basis – they have been collating profiles of Brazilian product and furniture designers. In true Casa Cláudia tradition, these inexpensive, highly accessible publications are a great way to introduce a large audience to some of their most important design practitioners. I left the Abril building with all 4 of them, including the latest 2009 issue.