Havaianas

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Solitário necklace, Oiti for Ronaldo Fraga

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Arapuca Shelf, Rodrigo Almeida

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Pindorama vinyl tablecloths, Marcelo Rosenbaum

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Consul Washing Machine, Consul

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Bananaplac, Fibradesign

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flyers for Fernando Gabeira's campaign for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Tátil Design

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ZigZag Hanger, Nódesign

Quará hangers, Nódesign

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Gadget Shelf, Bernardo Senna for Tok&Stok

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"Jalapa" Project, Piracema Design Lab

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Condiment Jars, O Imaginário for CIV

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Limited edition Lacoste polo shirt, Fernando and Humberto Campana

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Rendeira Lounge Chair, Flávia Pagotti Silva

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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.

Saturday was a lazy, overcast day spent mostly with the Finotti family. Leonardo, Michelle, Gu, Mariana and I went for breakfast at Galeria dos Pães, a 24-hour, busy bakery, café and restaurant in Jardins. I then walked with Michelle along Rua Óscar Freire, the shopping street of choice for the well-to-do Paulistanos. Michelle had worked in the studio that redesigned the street a few years ago, and told me how they buried electrical cables and tried to format things like manholes and sidewalk heights and widths. Flagship stores for Brazilian brands such as Richards, Forum, Melissa and Havaianas share the street and with other international big fashion names.

This area could also be called Isay Weinfeld neighbourhood, for many of the stores, galleries and restaurants were designed by his architectural practise – and many of them were later shot by Leonardo. My favourite is Livraria da Vila, in Alameda Lorena, pictured above, where I ordered (following Rodrigo Almeida’s suggestion) Lina Bo Bardi’s Tempos de Grossura. The bookshop is a few metres away from the Passado Composto gallery, where Michelle and I saw some of the pieces of the “Sempre Modernos” show that finished this week.

We later went to the neighbourhood of Higienópolis, dodging the traditional long lines at Jardim de Napoli, the famous “home of the Polpettone”, by starting to eat lunch at 3h30pm. Then we drove around the neighbourhood and the centre of São Paulo, looking at architecture – from Niemeyer’s Copan building to old mansions and Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s Patriarca Square.

Last night I called Daniel Trench to check where we could meet up for a drink, and he happened to be in Bar Balcão, just 2 blocks from the Finottis – with whom I’m staying. Talk about small world. As the name says, this corner bar has one long and winding counter, and you drink your choppe (in the case of Daniel’s group of friends, a total of 88 chopps) and eat sandwiches sitting on high stools. One of Daniel’s friends is Sara Goldschmit, also a graphic designer and a writer and blogger; Sara actually visited the D-Crit department late last year for one of our lectures, but we never actually met. The three of us had a great talk on graphic design in Brazil, criticism,writing, teaching, practise, travel…

After meeting the Campanas at MAM we had a walk around the Ibirapuera Complex, went inside the Oca and Auditorium buildings and then got a cab to Unique, the fancy hotel designed by Ruy Ohtake. Paul stayed to talk to Ohtake, but I got picked up by Leo and we went back to Jardins. I needed to change my flight to Porto Alegre and Curitiba (yes) and get a Brazilian cellphone SIM card (no).

After walking down Óscar Freire street and catching the bus to Itaim Bibi (talk about three different São Paulos), I only managed to meet Rodrigo Almeida at his place well after 6h30pm. Rodrigo walked and talked me through some of his furniture work found in his living room, and then we sat down in two of his chairs and talked. For a really long time. I’m looking forward to seeing him again in Lisbon next month. Marca as passagens Rodrigo!