This is the working title of our project…I know it’s a bit awkward so if anyone has any better suggestions send ‘em along!

Let me start from the beginning…before I left for Brazil I spent hours and hours at the Toronto Reference Library (you know, turning into one of those freaks who rushes to their favorite table as soon as the doors open and makes friends with all the librarians at the periodicals desk!) researching Brazilian history, craft traditions, folk traditions, art, and design.  Unfortunately, the TRL doesn’t have much in the way of books on Brazilian art and most of the articles I could find that related to craft and/or design were either from the ‘80s or about, you guessed it, the Campana brothers.  Still, I was able to come up with a few concepts so that I wasn’t starting from zero when I got here…I knew that six weeks would go by in a flash.  But, I also knew that once I got here I would be totally inspired by the people, the place, and most of all Zeca’s work.

That first week that we spent racing around to all the different craftspeople and providers I was still thinking about those concepts and how I was going to make it all come together.  That is, until I saw Zeca cleaning his wood and all previous ideas flew out the window!  I loved that he had made a machine to make the arduous task of cleaning this waste wood a little easier, and I loved seeing the wood go from looking like useless dirty old boards to beautifully aged wood.  I was fascinated watching each board reveal its true character…some boards show their history through layers of brightly coloured paint, some paint is too strong to be washed off and becomes a more vivid version of itself, and some boards get this crazy veiny sort of grain where the softer fibers get washed away and the harder fibres remain.  As soon as I saw the machine and what it could do I knew we were onto something and I knew that we were going to keep the wood as raw as we possibly could…no jointing, no planing, just washed. 

Then, Zeca showed me his stool…which, as I said before, threw me for a bit of a loop.  I had to remind myself that the whole point of me being here is to try and find a way for Zeca’s work to sell and for Zeca to be able to make some products that we can introduce to a high end market.  I didn’t just want to step in and have Zeca make things that he didn’t have any interest in making, had no hand in designing, and couldn’t relate to.  So, I focused on how he made the curved elements of his stool because I thought the angled cuts could be an interesting idea if they were more uniform and repeated more often.  What I wasn’t sure of is how strong his stool was…it seemed to me that simply laminated curves could be a bad idea.  But…there’s more than meets the eye!  Inside the stool there is wire…clever, clever, clever, because not only does it add strength, it provides a way for the pieces to be clamped together.

Zeca was skeptical at first…he liked the forms I had come up with but didn’t understand the appeal of the washed wood.  He was worried that it might look too much like cheesy faux finished country furniture (which is popular here too by the way).  So, I said fine…let’s make two mirrors…one your way and one mine…we did…and I won him over!  Once he saw the form come together with the material he was enthusiastic.  And I mean come on, I even got the alternating woods in there for him (I guess I must secretly like that or something!).

Below you can see some first prototypes…I think the collection is going to be a stool, bench, coffee table, 3 sizes of mirrors, and maybe a shelf…not exactly sure yet.  Still haven’t resolved the feet either so if anyone has any bright ideas let me know…

Okay, best be off…going into SP to pick up my parents…can it really be that close to Christmas already?!