I wouldn’t have bothered with all of this if I was just traveling around, but, lucky for me, I’m actually down here working on a project.  About a year ago a women named Zoe Melo got in touch with me and asked if I would like to go to Brazil to work on a social design project…naturally I said “YES, when do I pack my bags!”  It wasn’t quite that easy…so, I applied for an Ontario Arts Council grant and was fortunate enough to receive funding which made this whole dream possible.  Thanks OAC!

I’ll be spending the next six weeks living in a small town near Sao Paulo called Botucatu.  Here, I’ll be working with Zeca, a local woodworker who has fine woodworking capabilities but needs help designing and thinking about ways to use his skills for more commercial products.  I’ll be living with Zeca and his family, but I’ll also be working with a bamboo weaver and possibly some waste materials.  To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how it will all pan out…I just hope that we can all work together to make viable products that sell locally and abroad…we’ll see.

Right now I’m in Sao Paulo and loving every minute.  Silvia, the contact I have here is wasting no time in introducing me to all the different resources and people that will help me in completing the project.  Today I walked all over town with Takeshi, a student from the school of architecture and design.  He took me to an area of the city that specializes in building supplies.  So, we went into all kinds of shops that sell finishes, hardware, veneer and solid wood.  First of all let me say that the selection of hardware here far exceeds what’s available in Canada.  Not that this should really come as a surprise.

What struck me most about these suppliers is that getting eco-friendly products is not hard at all.  One of the big chains here, for building supplies, is called Leo…and they have another branch called EcoLeo that only sells green products.  Pretty cool (“legal” in Portuguese which I have had to learn quickly because everyone thinks I’m saying “cu”…Portuguese for ass…lots of snickering!!!).  Here it seems you can get FSC approved lumber easily and you don’t have to buy a whole skid.  There are all kinds of reconstituted boards and veneers and water-based finishes are easy to find.

I’m going to be checking out some local furniture studios tomorrow, as well as the Artesanato Solidario, which, if I’m understanding correctly, is an NGO focused on helping Brazilian craft communities become economically sustainable.  Then it will be off to Botucatu…can’t wait for that because I’m so curious about where I’ll be living, what I’ll be doing, and what will be the end result of all of this…