DESIGN PROCESSES FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION critical analysis of worldwide approaches, from digital fabrication to artisans’ communities
POLITECNICO DI TORINO Department of Architecture and Design (DAD) MSc thesis in Ecodesign a.y. 2012/2013 Student: Francesco Mazzarella Supervisor: Pier Paolo Peruccio (Politecnico di Torino) Co-supervisor: Rita de Castro Engler (UEMG)
DESIGN PROCESSES FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION critical analysis of worldwide approaches, from digital fabrication to artisans’ communities
Politecnico di Torino Department of Architecture and Design (DAD) MSc thesis in Ecodesign a.y. 2012/2013 Student: Francesco Mazzarella Supervisor: Pier Paolo Peruccio (Poliecnico di Torino) Co-supervisor: Rita de Castro Engler (UEMG)
design processes for social innovation
There is a whole world outside to be discovered, with passion, curiosity and fresh eyes, as a foreign grazie ! dank u ! obrigado
In the cover, craft fabric produced in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The nodes between the cotton threads represent the relationships between the members of a community, built with devotion and effort, as a handmade product. Source: Borges, A. “Design + Crafts�, p.1 NOTE: For this thesis, photography is chosen as a realistic vehicle to show the research field conducted by the author.
INDEX
1. 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 4. 4.1 4.2 5. 5.1 6. 6.1 6.1.1 6.1.2 6.2 6.2.1 6.2.2 6.3 6.3.1 6.3.2 6.3.3 6.3.4
Introduction What, Why and How to study? The research framework Community: the subject of social innovation The concept of social innovation The concept of sustainability What is self-production? The difficult definition: “produção pessoal” Around produção pessoal From crafts to mass, to flexible production The historical path toward produção pessoal Worldwide approaches to produção pessoal Italy: diffuse microenterprise From post-war self-construction to digital open design Some protagonists of Italian produção pessoal The Netherlands: experimental digital fabrication DIY, from the designer-bricoleur to the digital amateur Some protagonists of Dutch produção pessoal Brazil: artisans’ communities The roots of Brazilian New Design The meaning of craftsmanship Craftsmanship in the Brazilian context Classification of Brazilian craft
001 005 013 013 016 020 025 028 030 049 054 065 067 076 083 103 116 119 135 140 146 153 162
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6.3.5 6.3.6 6.3.7 6.3.8 6.3.9 6.3.10 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
Pros & Contros of Brazilian crafts Brazilian arts and crafts in the work by the Campana brothers Social design by Paula Dib Urban iconograpgy in comic design by Celton Design & Craft Enterprise: Comunidades Criativas das Geraes Design & the Community of biscuit producers in São Tiago Strengths & weaknesses Toward sustainable produção pessoal Guidelines for future developments Conclusion Follow-up Appendix Sources
169 177 207 227 243 271 291 295 301 311 315 323 335
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In the next page, ideas for social innovation. Source: www.bloglive.it
1. INTRODUCTION
The research intends to analyse some design processes which can contribute to social innovation. Among these, selfproduced design (hereafter defined with the Brazilian expression “produção pessoal”, in English “personal production”) is recognized as a human-centred design process held by designer-maker who, working within a community of artisans or a platform of digital fabrication, manages the entire process, from design, to production, distribution and communication. This research tries to draw the heterogeneity and complexity of “produção pessoal”, mapping the diverse approaches developed in the contemporary design scene. Diverse experiences of produção pessoal are defined, from artisanal design to its opposite of digital fabrication, passing
through vernacular design, co-design, Do-It-Yourself, small entrepreneurdesigner, self-promoted design, artdesign, with various facets between one approach and the other. Fil rouge which links these diverse approaches is the concept of the contemporary designer, which acts as catalyst of social innovation, actively involving the prosumers (hereafter called “aware subjects”) in his design process. Bringing produção pessoal back to its social value, it emerges as a sustainable design process, able to develop local, flexible, customized productions on demand, addressing specific personal or local needs. Produção pessoal is analysed from an historical perspective, as evolution of craftsmanship (rescue of manual know-how), reaction to industrial mass
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production (against standardization) and catalyst for customization in order to locally develop limited productions on demand. This historical analysis intends to highlight the social value of self-production. Worldwide approaches of produção pessoal (marked with social and sustainable values) are analysed. In reality, the research focuses on three reference countries: Italy, the Netherlands and Brazil (where the Author has carried out field research). These are three very different realities, but at the same time equally exemplary in the global scene of produção pessoal. The term “worldwide” approaches is justified by the fact that the analyzed countries are always placed in relation to the global context, and international sources (both literary and personal contacts) have been consulted to get a broader view of the phenomenon. In Italy produção pessoal appears to be a practice of renewed interest among young designers, who experience selfproduction as a kind of affirmation of autonomy, a first step towards forms of production handled on their own, between craft and small series. Produção pessoal is often seen as a kind of defeat, a fallback for those who fail the comparison with industries. In reality, the research aims to demonstrate produção pessoal as a human-centred process: whether the liabilities of a company are often divided between
various professions and almost always for the sale, in the process of produção pessoal everything revolves around the ‘’humanity” of designer, as well as its strict link with local communities. In Italy produção pessoal arises in the middle between analogical and digital models, due to its territory with long craft tradition, but already opened to welcome influences from digital fabrication. In this context, produção pessoal seems to be an effective way to restart from the bottom and develop micro-enterprises diffused on the territory, which are likely sustainable because local, flexible and on demand, overcoming the limits of scale economy. The Netherlands (where the author has spent a period of studies within the mobility program Erasmus), confirms to be a country in which, starting from experiences of Arts & Crafts, the designer has developed a strongly manual and practical design approach. The Netherlands has grown an advanced model of independent design, based on the culture of Do-It-Yourself, enabled by digital fabrication platforms. On an opposite, but equally exemplary front, in Brazil (where the author has developed field research), produção pessoal is strictly linked to craftsmanship and to the figure of the designer who fosters local communities to find creative solution to their daily problems, highlighting the value of territory and its traditions. Field research has allowed
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to deepen the Brazilian material culture and design scene, in order to better understand the context within which contemporary produção pessoal acts. The analysed case studies define a map, heterogeneous and complex, of produção pessoal, highlighting its peculiarities, weaknesses and strengths. The aim is to prove how design can contribute to strengthen local innovative initiatives that seek sustainable development of produção pessoal. The final aim of the research will be to assess the concept of sustainability applied to produção pessoal. Guidelines for the future of produção pessoal will be defined, in order to make it contribute to the sustainable development (from an environmental, economic and social perspective) of a territory.
keyworkds: self-produced design social innovation micro-entrepreneurship digital fabrication artisans’ communities 003
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In the next page, self-production of an armchair made by Fendi’s crfaftsmen and designers for the exhibition “Fatto a Mano 004for the Future”, Rome. Source: www.vogue.it
2. WHAT WHY HOW TO STUDY? Before getting into the heart of the research, it is worth to clarify which are the premises and the reasons that led the author to address a research of this kind. Object of this study is the concept of self-production (hereafter defined as “produção pessoal”). Such a figure embodies both the designer’s knowledge and the maker’s knowhow, implementing either artisan productions or digital fabrications, shared within a close relationship with craft communities or virtual platforms for do-it-yourself. The practice of self-production acquires sense in the contemporary design scene as an attempt to bring design back to the traditional manuality of the
craftsman, nowadays translated into the know-how of the “maker”, analogical as well as digital. In the last decades, design has moved its focus from the physical product to immaterial areas such as strategy, service and systems. In this context, young designers act as self-producers willing to rescue the satisfaction of making things with their hands against the excessive virtualization of our lives. Against mass production, produção pessoal allows to develop projects with an added value, story-teller, fostering the link with territory. Prerequisite for all this is the new role of designer, who embraces wider areas, exceeding industrial production to become a maker, a producer in strict contact with the craftsman. Starting from the premise of the
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current period of crisis, the research aims at proving produção pessoal as a viable opportunity for the future of young designers, who can actively face unemployment and start microenterprises from the bottom. This hypothesis is assessed by means of a series of case studies showing how design can contribute to social innovation and sustainability of a territory.
general objective: how design can contribute to social innovation and sustainability of a territory As a consequence of the research, subobjectives will be addressed: - Mapping the complexity of approaches around self-production; - Understanding the historical path that led to the development of current produção pessoal; - Critically analysing case studies to provide design recommendations for improvements; - Defining guidelines for sustainable produção pessoal.
After defining the scope of study, it is worth to retrace the path taken by the studies to develop his research. This monograph is the fruit of a long research on the topic of self-production the author is conducting since his BSc in Industrial Design at Politecnico di Torino. During his studies, the author grew his interest in rescuing material culture and local identities, having the opportunity to develop project together with local artisans. Hence, he wrote his BSc thesis “Young Design Today, between self-production and craftsmanship. Focus on Torino Design Week”. In that occasion, he analysed the young designers’ scene, a context in which self-producer and artisans work synergically to develop project with social, cultural and environmental added value. Starting from the definition of the contemporary designer’s role, the author analysed the historical development of this phenomenon, the interrelations between arts, crafts and design and mapped some of the most interesting experiences all over the world. Finally, among the systems which support, safeguard and promote young self-producers, Torino Design Week was chosen as design focus, collaborating with the local design Association in order to organize event for the promotion of self-production in the territory. This inner collaboration has opened to the student the doors of the labour
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market. He was hired by the design studio Torino lab as assistant project manager to select self-produced products to be sold in the company showroom. This way, it started a collaboration which has accompanied the author throughout his academic career, getting a deep and empirical knowledge of the Italian selfproduction scene. Since 2010, the author have collaborated with the Association Torino Design Week, organizing yearly conferences to debate, promote and support local design. In 2012 he has presented his research at the conference “Torino Design Domani”, showing the need to create a design centre to connect young designers with industries and proposing worldwide models to inspire a project for Turin. During his MSc studies in Ecodesign at Politecnico di Torino, the author has deepen his interest in Systemic Design as a methodology to bring ecodesigners to collaborate with local craft communities in order to contribute to the sustainable development of a territory. Working on territory-driven projects, the author got awareness of how a Systemic Approach can be applied to self-production in order to create virtuous collaborations among local subjects, creating new relations in the territory. In parallel of this MSc in Ecodesign, the student has also for one year the
Alta
Scuola
Politecnica
program1,
developing courses on innovation and joining a multidisciplinary project regarding collaborative services to foster sustainable lifestyles in smart cities. It was this way that arose in the student the interest for participatory design and user-driven innovation, developing a multidisciplinary mindset, putting into system diverse areas of knowledge. Moreover, the author has attended a semester of the MSc in Industrial Design Engineering at the University of Twente, Enschede (the Netherlands), where he had the possibility to deepen his contact in the sphere of “independent designer” and digital fabrication. Studying at UTwente within the Mobility Program Erasmus, the student had the pleasure to meet, among others, professor Jan Willem Hoftijzer, researcher on the topic of User-driven Innovation and Do-It-Yourself platforms, as well as professor Michael Braungart, international reference for the Cradle to Cradle paradigm. With time passing, the student has acquired more and more knowledge 1 Alta Scuola Politecnica is a formative project in cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and Politecnico di Milano, to be attended by selected (based on criteria of excellence) international MSc students of the faculties of Engineering, Architecture and Design. It provides courses on innovation and involve students in multidisciplinary projects, developed with external sponsors.
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on the topic of self-production. Hence, together with his thesis supervisor Pier Paolo Peruccio, has published for the 4th International Forum of Design as a Process (Belo Horizonte, 2012), the paper “Self-production: a humancentred design process”, analysing the role of humanities in personal production processes. This event has aroused in the author the interest for the Brazilian design scene. In the last semester, the student has spent four months developing his MSc thesis at the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais (UEMG), in Belo Horizonte, under the supervision of professor Rita de Castro Engler. He had the possibility to deeply analyze Brazilian artisanal communities, developing a series of case studies of produção pessoal: the
Campana Brothers, Paula Dib, Celton, the Comunidades Criativas das Gerais Program and the Community of São Tiago, a terra do café com biscoito. All these successful experiences became the opportunity to develop an applied research, intended as a tool able to explore solutions for problems of artisanal production in specific contexts. Applying all the knowledge developed during his last years of studies, the author has showed how produção pessoal can address sustainable, flexible and customized productions, coming back to a “slow design”. The idea is to analyse design processes which promote local identity, maybe even highly automated, but still with the favour of manual skills.
The research path, from Italy, to the Netherlands, to Brazi. 008
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Regarding the methodology applied to this research, literature analysis has been conducted mainly for getting an overall view on the digital fabrication and New Craft scene. On the other hand, sometimes written sources offer a chaotic and superficial reading, making the practice of contemporary selfproduction undefined and confused. Due to the scarcity of literature on the topic of produção pessoal, personal semi-structured interviews to theorists and professional designers have been conducted. It has been an enriching experience, providing the research with scientific character and updating it until the latest trends, sometimes neither documented in writing. The theorists chosen for the interviews are: For Italy, Luigi Bistagnino is architect and designer, professor in Design at Politecnico di Torino, dealing with sustainability of products and components. He is founder
of “Approccio Sistemico”, no-profit foundation, aiming at development of Systemic Design. Stefano Maffei is architect and designer, professor of Product, Service Design, Project Methods and Techniques at Politecnico di Milano. He is involved in academic research activities within the Design Research Agency SDI (Sistema Design Italia). He is curator of Subalterno1 (self-produced design gallery). Ugo La Pietra is artist, designer, architect and researcher in the field of visual arts. He has held intense didactic, editorial and expositive activities. He is committed in craftsmanship and material culture, collaborating with several ecomuseums, such as in Lecce. He founded the first Osservatorio Nazionale dell’Artigianato Artistico (Monza).
The Italian theorists interviewed. From the left: L. Bistagnino, U. la Pietra, S. Maffei. 009
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For the Netherlands, Jan Willem Hoftijzer, industrial designer and professor at the University of Twente and the University of Technology in Delft. He is conducting his PhD on the topic of “user-led design”, the “new Do-It-Yourself”. David Heldt, BSc in Arts, Enschede (the Netherlands) and MSc in Design Futures in London, is co-founder of the organization “Tuttobene” and owner and editor of “Connecting the Dots”. It is a magazine publishing and presenting Dutch designers and design culture internationally during design events and fairs. Gijs Bakker, trained as jewellery and industrial designer, is co-founder of Droog Design. He is professor in several Dutch universities and he is researcher on the relation between craft and design, both in the Netherlands and abroad (i.e. in Taiwan).
For Brazil, Dijon Moraes, PhD in Design at Politecnico di Milano, and Universidade de Brasilia UnB. Designer and theorist of design, got awards in both areas. He is professor and rector of the UEMG, author of several books, among which “Análise do design brasileiro: entre mimese e mestiçagem”. He is specialist in strategic design for local clusters (“arranjos produtivos locais”). Adélia Borges, journalist, started to specialize in design when she was the editorial director of “Design & Interiores” magazine. She is professor of History of Design and editor of texts (press and books), talks, exhibitions and cultural projects in many parts of Brazil. She is author of more than ten books, among them “Design + Craft: the Brazilian path”. - Eduardo Barroso Neto, BSc in Industrial Design (FUMA, Belo Horizonte), MSc
The Dutch theorists interviewed. From the left: J.W. Hoftijzer, D. Heldt, G. Bakker. 010
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in Urban Design (ECAL, Lausanne). He is currently consultor of SEBRAE (Serviço Brasileiro De Apoio Às Micro E Pequenas Empresas) and director of the enterprise Ser Criativo Empreendimentos Culturais do Brasil in Florianópolis. Finally, questionnaires and online surveys have been conducted in order to get quantitative data to feed the case studies. Moreover, user observation and interviews have constituted the tools used for continuous contact with the case studies analysed. Interviews and questionnaires used for this research can be found in the Appendix. The qualitative results of the questionnaires have been used as background information for the research.
The interviews to artisans.
The Brazilian theorists interviewed. From the left: D. Moraes, A. Borges, E. Barroso. 011
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In the next page, craftsmen’s manual ability. Photo by: Paula Dib.
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3. THE RESEARCH FRAMEWORK This chapter provides a theoretical framework to support the reader regarding definitions and concepts of design and its cross relationships with social innovation, sustainability, digital fabrication and craft production. It will be done through literature analysis of internationally recognized authors, such as John Thackara, Ezio Manzini, Luigi Bistagnino, Dijon Moraes, Adélia Borges and Eduardo Barroso Neto among others.
3.1 COMMUNITY: THE SUBJECT OF SOCIAL INNOVATION Before getting into the heart of the concept of social innovation, it is worth to define its main subject, that is the
community. From the definition of the Houaiss dictionary (2009), community is a group of people living together establishing or not common interests. For the German sociologist Max Weber (1973), community is a broad concept based on personal – emotional and traditional – relationships. Ferdinand Tönnies defines community as the historical result of personal relationships, a common feeling and mutual relations of neighbourhood, kinship and blood. To this premodern “Gemeinschaft” he opposes the impersonal, individualistic and rational society of the modern age. According to Arnaldo Bagnasco2 (1999), a 2 Arnaldo Bagnasco was professor of Sociology at the University of Florence,
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community is grounded on the concepts of identity, reciprocity, trust and a network of social relationships. On the basis of the concepts of community and creativity (i.e. the functional capacity to generate new solutions by addressing problems, lacks, difficulties from a different perspective), The term “Creative Communities” defines a group of people who collaboratively invent, enhance and manage innovative solutions to new lifestyles. In an attempt to develop sustainable lifestyles, Creative Communities are local initiatives that make good use of sources, territorially promoting a new form of social interaction, in order to solve the problems of contemporary daily life. Socio-economists have identified the re-emergence of small enterprises and industrial districts in recent years in relation to the concept of community as economic form. In recent centuries, we have witnessed the phenomena of “disembedding”, of eradication of social relations against local contexts of interactions. The city itself, becoming global, has contributed to the creation of networks of communication and interactions freed from any spatial and temporal context. This phenomenon is Neaples and Turin. Especially in the book “Tracce di Comunità” he has analysed social dynamics in action in the market, community as a kind of traditional society in opposition to industrial society.
more evident in the countries of the First and Third World. Especially in the First, resident population decreases, but the traffic of people, goods, information increases. New telematic ways allow to build networks all over the world, creating contacts in real time within a virtual space, which makes the physical location and the city itself inconsistent. In reality, Bagnano (1999, p. 154) notes that the social networks have wires and nodes, and cities continue to be large and complex terminals of flows even in the age of telecommunication highways. From this perspective, cities continue to be meeting points of complex networks, both real and virtual. Within this context is placed the new figure of designer. Against the massdesign who works for large industries in metropolis poor of traditions, the contemporary designer collaborates in close contact with local communities. In order to face financial needs and unemployment, it is common for young producers to join a community in order to get more strength.3 The new role of designer is to reaggregate communities, enhance new forms of social ties in the postmodern 3 As David Heldt notes, the idea of community it is much more realistic in developing countries (like Brazil) than in rich contexts (like the Netherlands) where the pride of authorship of the designer is very strong and hinders possible collaborations.
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era, characterized in the latest years by fragmentation, virtualization of interpersonal relationships. According to Bagnasco, it is necessary to reacquire a good common sense and foster public awareness of the public subject (that is both institutions and producers and consumers). According to Bistagnino, it is necessary to foster the sense of belonging to a community, which is a flux of activities managed by people, in relation to biological life. The designer has to change the focus of his/her activity (no longer product-centred), placing the man at the centre of the project, thus at the centre of life. By restructuring
the community around different human interrelations, it will change the ethics of design. Bistagnino wishes a return of the project to the human scale, which is possible by respecting the slow rhythms of the countryside and not the anonymous dynamism of large cities, reacquiring a strong connection to the territory. Successful bottom-up communitarian initiatives should encourage us to rethink social ties, both virtual and real. It is not necessary to propose ultra-advanced solutions as it was a New Illuminism, but rather to find local solutions in the simplest local resources which are abundant close to us, in our daily lives.
Schematization of the concept of community: people who share their ideas and beliefs. Source: www.systemicdesign.org 015
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3.2 THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL INNOVATION The development of produção pessoal is closely interwoven not only with technological aspects, but also with social ones. As explicitly expressed by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), design is the central factor of innovative humanization of technologies and crucial factor of cultural and economic change (ICSID, 2012). Nowadays, the practice of design is related to social innovation and sustainable development. Design can be the key tool to transform human needs and desires into creative and effective products and systems, sustainable not only from an economic standpoint, but also social cultural and environmental (MANZINI, 2008). According to David Heldt4, “innovation is defined social when it is not market or technologydriven by it is led by the people, placed at the centre of the project”. According to Luigi Bistagnino (2013)5: “Social innovation is a cultural change; it implies the transition from a linear culture to a systemic one. In 4 David Heldt answered a semistructured questionnaire made by the Author on 28/06/2013. 5 Considerations by Luigi Bistagnino, emerged during the semi-structured interview the Author made on 27/06/2013.
order to make it happen, the fluxes (of resources, people, knowledge) have to be redefined in order to make output of an activity become input of another one” (Author’s translation). The processes of produção pessoal analysed in this monograph are mainly cases of designers who has a different way of thinking and acting. Designer is required to mobilize local communities around productive activities that enable social innovation, bringing improvements at economic, social, cultural and environmental level. These communities are chosen as a source of inspiration for social innovation processes, as defined by Manzini (2008, p. 61): “The term social innovation refers to changes in the way individuals or communities act to solve their problems or create new opportunities. Such innovations are driven more by changes in behaviour than by technological changes or market, usually emerging through “bottomup” organizational processes rather than “top-down ones.” (Author’s translation). Within this context of change and innovation, the designer plays a role of enhancer, understanding communities’ creative ways of organizing or a role of producer, enabling improvements
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in knowledge, tools and techniques. According to Manzini (2008), in many cases, creativity is expressed by developing activities that are called “collaborative”, such as some production activities based on skills and resources of a specific place. Such design processes have to be strongly rooted in a territory, in order to use and/or reuse available local sources. Social enterprises cannot be planned in a traditional way, but demand a favourable environment in order to develop product and services. In this regard, John Thackara (2008, p. 124) states:
“It seems that among the factors of successful projects for specific territories, the most important is a real-world context, a service orientation; a requirement to connect participants in new combinations and explore the effects of the network of relationships; and above all, an insistence in order to make teamwork include local people and guarantee, where possible, that expertise would be locally available after the project finishes” (author’s translation). In order to make designer’s work effective and useful for such social enterprises, it is necessary a systemic approach, in order to make social
Community’s life. Photo by: Paula Dib. 017
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organization increasingly valued within a social demand that aims at sustainable development of life. A self-producer designer, due to its craft background, draws on humanities (such as anthropology, sociology, history) in order to read the cultural, social, aesthetic and material background of a territory. Human and social sciences can provide critical instruments to read and map a territory through trans-disciplinary techniques, such as ethnographical research or “persona analysis”, with the purpose of identifying the cultural specificities to be enhanced in a process of local produção pessoal. Humanities can support produção pessoal not only upstream, as a source of inspiration for mindful projects, but also throughout the process to manage the user involvement in practices of participatory design, as well as downstream, for designing the distribution and the communication of a product in an anthropocentric way. Adopting a humanistic approach it is useful to add value and quality to artefacts, places, services and relations. In fact, humanities may support designers to understand diversities, which should be interpreted as a cultural value to be protected in order to enhance and strengthen the social and cultural identity of a territory.
Systemic design, for instance, can trigger relations among diverse territorial resources, mediate among diversities (in terms of material and human resources) and enhance the local identities of a territory. Such a process based on the interrelations between humanities and design would lead to an approach with a high cultural and social content, fostering social, beyond technological, innovation. The result can be, from time to time, either anonymous design (the collective self-production process led by creative communities), or authorial design (in which the designer/author interprets and marks with his unique manual act the social and cultural specificities discovered). The humanist designer becomes, therefore, a valid reaction to the expressive homogeneity of design in the current era of globalization. By rediscovering and interpreting the territorial resources, the self-producer designer will probably provide the opportunity to enhance some local identities, and afterwards connect them with global markets. Such an approach, will address sustainability to improve social and economic conditions of a territory, efficiently using local resources and designing in a participative way with creative communities. As in many cases of hand-crafted design
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developed in Brazil (i.e. the work by Paula Dib, Comunidades Criativas das Geraes, etc.), craftsmanship, is properly supported by design, is able to meet the needs of everyday life of its users. The synergy of design and handicraft can create great commercial opportunities. As a matter of fact, the designer owns methodologies and tools that improve craft production with competitive traits, aggregating local and cultural identity to the product. Focusing the design practice towards the rescue and recovery of culture in craft production is one of the possible
ways to develop self-production in a social context. Barroso (1999) states that the designer should contact sociocultural and iconographic research and thus identify regional features for the development of products with its own identity and high quality standards. This high level handcraft design can be sold in new glocal markets without, however, interfering on the traditional aspects of the craft process. Within this partnership between design and craft, the craftsman should be encouraged to think and solve his local problems from a new perspective. The designer collaborates in this process through
service design
improve quality of life
design
create relations
enhance local identity Possible areas of intervention for produção pessoal aiming at social innovation. 019
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his competence, his values and design tools, acting as a facilitator of craft production.
3.3 THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY The Systemic Approach (BISTAGNINO, 2011) can be applied to social enterprises in order to create a local network, where outputs of a system become inputs for another, creating synergies between productive processes, territorial context and community. On the basis of the concept of link, it arises the need to enhance the growth of a community, embracing all the people related to the design process, from project, to production, distribution, communication, consumption and disposal, aiming at optimizing resources
(and wastes) management. Fundamental requirement in order to make it happens is the openness of the community, in terms of exchange of resources among productive processes. This way, it is possible to exploit all the resources involved, reducing the amount of wastes and creating more efficient working and territorial relationships. It is a balanced and autopoietic system, in which every single part draws from its interconnections its resources of life. In such a systemic context, the design focus goes beyond the physical product and embraces productive processes and the awareness to operate in a network of relationships among people and resources, aiming at economic, social and environmental sustainability. Aiming at sustainability, a systemic
Systemic design designs relations, enhance identity, produce development. Source: www.systemicdesign.org. 020
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Schema of autopoietic system, where the output of an activity become input for another one, aiming at zero emission. Source: www.systemicdesign.org. design approach should be applied into produção pessoal processes, making the output (wastes) of a production system become input (resources) of another. This way wastes are reduced: they become lifeblood for the creation of new processes or for the improvement of existing ones. This increases economic fluxes and generates new employment opportunities. It is necessary to create a balanced system based on equal (internal as well as external) relationships between strategic elements which positively interact each with the other, without affecting them. It is not a simplistic system based on the culture of degrowth, but it is a complex system
made of numerous weak bonds between essential parts. Such open and interdependent systems replace the paradigm of competition between productive realities in favour of peer relationships, where each part has its own essential role in the overall system. Like in the human body, none prevails over the other, but each exists thanks to all the others. By being part of the system, the various productive realities have a stronger sense of belonging and a clear perception of their role and responsibility. Moreover, the design community has to be autopoietic, self-sustaining and self-reproducing, defining its action field and co-evolving in conjunction
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with other existing systems. Systemic design intends also to make processes of produção pessoal into a local network which enhances human, cultural and material resources of the territory, cutting down logistics costs and environmental impacts. All of this stimulates socialization and enhance human relationships. Such a produção pessoal is a humancentred design process, related to its social, cultural and environmental context. Everything revolves around the humanity of designer, who follows his own design passions, freed from mere commercial issues. Finally, in terms of economical sustainability, it is important to note that self-financing own activities implies, in most cases, an extreme attention to the economy of products. Thus, self-producers aim at efficiency, i.e. achieving the maximum result with the minimum use of means, both material and productive.
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Some of the benefits produção pessoal can give in terms of sustainability. 023
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In the next page, the designer Enzo Mari selfproducing wooden furniture for Artek.
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4. WHAT IS SELF-PRODUCED DESIGN? For a good comprehension of this research, it is important to define its major focus, which is the meaning of self-production. In reality, due to the amount of sources looked up and interviews conducted, not one but several definitions of self-production will be given. This consists of: - The work of designers who manage the entire design process, from design to production, distribution and communication. In a produção pessoal, the “know-how”, the technological testing and the direct control over the overall product system are the key factors. - An activity aimed at affirming the autonomy of designers, the first step towards self-managed production, between craftsmanship and small
series. The figures of artisan-designer or small entrepreneur-designer arise within these boundaries (PASCA, 2001). According to Loredana Benincasa (in her essay “Le fanzine”, 2001), self-production is an activity born from the enthusiasm, the will to avoid intermediaries and ensure a direct contact between the author of a product/service and its user. From this perspective, produção pessoal becomes a small enterprise where creativity is applied to all the four phases of the design process: project, production, distribution, promotion (LA PIETRA, 2010). Produção pessoal represents a parallel system, a more or less critic against current marketing and industrial production. It proposes new
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Self-production influences the entire process, from design to production, to distribution and communication. consumption models and awareness, creating a mindful relation between local and global sphere (MAFFEI, 2010). - Sometimes, this approach is considered as a failure, an expedient for those who have lost the possibility of cooperating with firms. It coincides with a selfpromotion strategy: designers expose their projects (prototypes or working one-offs) at international fairs with the aim to come into contact with factories, hoping to start collaborating with them (LA PIETRA, 2010). - Produção pessoal represents the act of “mediation between areas of knowledge” (CELASCHI, 2008), a bridge between craftsmanship
and industry, carried out by designers able to interact with diverse figures throughout the design process. In a process of produção pessoal, designer may become art director leading craft production process to develop mindful projects. By using local technologies, human and material resources, selfproducers can add value to their projects. This way, it is possible to develop, for instance, products whose production process implies a good deal of manual intervention or that integrate handmade components whining industrial production (BUCCHERI, 2008). - It is a human centred design
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process. In a company, responsibilities are divided among several professionals whose aim is usually selling their products. On the other hand, in a selfproduction process everything revolves around the designer’s humanity, and for this reason it is more likely that self-producers follow their own design passions rather than commercial issues (ULIAN, 2010).
Produção pessoal is a human centred design process. The traditional figure of designer has become the one of a facilitator who provides prosumers with tools, toolkits and information to selfproduce their own objects. Prosumers provide designers with useful feedback for the development of the project.
- Self-production can also be defined as “authorial design” (MACCARRONE, 2011), since it results from a process strongly characterized by simplicity and near to ready-made, reuse and recycle,
hand-made by the author.
- Self-producer can be considered as an advanced craftsman (MICELLI, 2012), a designer who shows a renewed interest in the lost manual skills, thus also in the intelligence and innovation capability of those who make things by their hands. The rediscovery of the practice of makers springs from the pleasure of managing an own business, freely from industrial constraints. The future success of produção pessoal may result also from the satisfaction that young designers draw from managing the entire process until production and distribution of their products. This is a more challenging, but demanding practice that, focusing on manual skills and direct testing on materials, can become a valuable way to address the need of creativity of young designers and advanced craftsmen (MICELLI, 2011). According to Vanni Pasca (2001), young designers have a very pragmatic approach, renting technologically advanced machines in a local craftsman’s workshop. Sometimes, they selfproduce in their own workshop objects based on reuse, recycle, bricolage, using either poor or natural or industrial materials, as in the case of the Campana brothers.
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In summary, the intent of produção pessoal is not to propose a nostalgic return to a regressive craftsmanship, but rather to explore and experiment with hand craft methods to be applied at larger scale, in diverse fields.
- The practice of produção pessoal shows that the designer’s focus has moved from product design to process design, aiming at ethics and shared sustainability. Relevant to clarify this phenomenon is the work of Mischer’Traxler, two young Austrian designers who developed the project “The Idea of a Tree”. This is a selfsufficient production process which combines a natural energy (the sun) with a mechanical process. The result of the process is an infinite variety of unique items which, exactly like a tree, reflect the diverse sunlight intensities registered in the precise moment in which the object was produced. According to the environmental conditions in which the process takes place, the objects (bench, lamp, cupboard and some containers) can vary in their height, colour and thickness. This is an industrial production process, although strongly influenced by the climatic features of the production environment.
4.1 THE DIFFICULT DEFINITION: “PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL” While interacting with professionals in the design field, from the Netherlands as well from Brazil, it appeared to be difficult to find a universally accepted definition of the topic of this study. In fact, whereas in Italy the term “selfproduction” is very much in vogue and understood by all, it loses its meaning in foreign contexts. Just to give some examples, the Dutch professor Jan Willem Hoftijzer speaks about “independent designer” and “independent user” to define the figure of designer freed by industry in a userinnovation scene. In Brazil, the author has experienced that the most common and understood term is “produção pessoal”, whose boundary with artisan production is rather weak and undefined. Other theorists (such as Maccarrone in the Conference “Design Autoprodotto o Authorial Design?” in 2011) refer to “authorial design”. However, for this research, this definition has proved not to be very consistent, considering the fact that most cases of social innovation here analyzed are expression of popular, either vernacular, design, though evidently produced by an author, but with no claim of author’s trademark. Furthermore, “self-produced design” is
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for definition the practice of designer who manages the entire process, from design to production, distribution and communication of the project. This definition appears to be too much restrictive because it excludes from its scope those design experience which not face any of the four phases of the self-production process. All in all, due to the difficulty to find a universally recognized definition, it has been decided to avoid any label, unless the Brazilian expression “produção
pessoal” which, since now, appears to be the most effective way to refer the scope of this research. Hence, the author – consciously and defiantly, has decided to free his monograph from abused and inconsistent labels (thus unnecessary), digging the authentic and hidden meanings of topics related to produção pessoal.
The diverse competences required to a self-producer. 029
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4.2 AROUND PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL… The practice of produção pessoal appears to be a phenomenon as complex as it is impossible to define it in a unified manner. In this regard, this chapter intends to map the diverse approaches around produção pessoal and propose a possible classification in order to clarify this phenomenon.
ARTISANAL DESIGN The artisanal designer is a new professional profile delineate by Lucius Burckhardt6 (1994). It emerges as a response to the current crisis in the work world, marked by the limits of the Fordist mass production model, the outsourcing of production processes and the lack of development in the service sector. Such an “intelligent artisan” combines technical expertise and artistic ability to develop innovative craft. According to Lipovetsky (2004, p. 26), the 80s have ushered the era of hyper-modern, marked by hyperconsumerism, hyper-narcissism, “a liberal society characterized by movement, fluidity, flexibility”.
6 Lucius Burckhardt is design theorist and historian, director of the new faculty of the Weimar Gestaltung.
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Phenomenological map of self-production. Source: www.newitalianlandscape.it
INNOVATION
USER/MARKET
OSOPHY/CULTURE
SELF-PRODUCTION
SIGN/TECHNOLOGY
ENTERPRISE/PRODUCTION
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produced. Designers of nowadays accept the possibility of pairing industrial production with the logic of unique pieces made in a personal workshop with extreme pragmatism, without any ideological constrain. In this regard Justin McGuirk (2011) in his article “The art of craft: the rise of the designer-maker” affirms that the Fordist separation between the designer who makes the projects and
Craft fabric by Renato Imbroisi, artisandesigner from Rio de Janeiro. Such hypermodern age has began a process of revitalization of the past, a commemorative interest in the historical asset, fed by national and regional, ethnic and religious identities. In this context, it emerges the rediscovery of anonymous objects of tradition, collective memory, religious cults, etc. It is important to highlight that young designers do not strictly identify themselves with the Arts & Crafts movement as a reaction to industrialization. Self-producers move from a Post-Fordist perspective (PASCA, 2001): their objects have all the characteristics to be industrially
the manufacturer who replied them does not make sense anymore. In fact, the designer acknowledges the importance of doing things by hand because it is by making, trying, mistaking and repeating that one learns. In this regard, already Immanuel Kant said: “hand is the window of the mind”. Hence, the current post-industrial era with his excess of brands and industrial products, is looking back at the preindustrial culture, revaluing handmade objects because they crave quality, not quantity. In this context, an increasing number of designers are developing an artisanal approach to project, reinterpreting material culture and traditions of a territory, in terms of materials, technologies and habits. Such an approach has been exemplarily adopted by Ugo La Pietra (with his project “Recupero e reinvenzione”). In the global sphere, artisanal design
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has been experienced also by the Campana brothers, with their local design, typically Brazilian. As theorized by Manzini in “Small, Local, Open and connected” (2009), social innovation has to start from local experiences diffused and interconnected in the territory. According to Paolo Ulian, such a model arises as reaction to the current globalization, which is leading to a general flattening of cultural differences, a homogenization of expressive language.
design experiences – diffused more in Northern Europe than in Italy – which propose, against industrial mass production, one-offs or limited editions of hand-made objects. This approach is based on a mutual crossing between art and design and was born from the collaboration with art galleries, fairs and exhibitions (from Design Miami Basel fair to International Fair of Contemporary Art – FIAC in Paris, from London to Shanghai Art Fair) (FERRARA, 2011).
It is therefore desirable the birth of a diffused microenterprise, which makes more and more sense in Italy, a country that can boast of a great richness and diversity of the territories, as well as strong roots in craftsmanship. This is the most suitable soil for the development of traditional products, from the synergy of typical crafts and design, strongly anchored in the territory. In this sense, it is noteworthy the action taken by the Province of Turin for the enhancement of eco-museums. These are expositive spaces with the aim to bring products and materials back to their original context, as a lever for socio-economic development of the territory.
From one side, many design companies are commissioning contemporary design stars (e.g. Marc Newson,
ART DESIGN Art design consists of experimental
Nendo, Diamond production, 2008.
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Jasper Morrison, Fabio Novembre) to reissue reissuing limited editions of historical projects, disappeared from their catalogues. On the other side, artists such as Marc Quinn, Mariko Mori, charge architects and designers to produce, on the basis of the artist’s sketches, mega-installations of works of art. It is important to highlight that the design art approach is likely to remain just an artistic expression, which is useful for research purposes, but is far from the design sphere, which has to be grounded in functionality and daily life. Hence, it risks to become a misleading approach, unless it assumes aesthetic
characters as high as it deserves the definition of work of art. However, in such cases, it enters a field completely different from design, that is art, feeding art galleries, collecting, etc.
SELF-PROMOTION Self-promotion is something different from self-production in strict sense: due to the lack of the support of a design system, designers have to find themselves producers for their objects, buyers, sellers, etc. Hence, more and more young designers approach produção pessoal as a real self-promotion strategy. Instead of presenting common
Raul Lauri, Spanish designer, winner of the first prize at Salone Satellite 2012 with his collection “Decafe”. 034
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Maximo Soalheiro has established in Belo Horizonte his design studio, following the design process, from the raw material untill the packaging and communication of his ceramic products, as a small enterprise. curricula and portfolios, they selfproduce functional prototypes of their projects to be exhibited at international fairs, looking for contacts with the press and industries, aiming at establishing collaborative relationships (FERRARA, 2001). This is what happens at the Salone Satellite in Milan, Operae, Open Design Italia and at many international fairs, such as 100% Design – London, DMY Berlin, Designboom Marts, etc. Such occasions allow young designers to optimize their capital investment, take advantage of facilities and create a critical mass able to attract the attention
of the press.
SMALL ENTREPRENEURSHIP The perspective of the designer small entrepreneur is particularly realistic in the current scene. As a matter of fact, nowadays the overall trend is that companies already own the know-how necessary to deal with production. Thus, the designer has not to be specialist in a specific kind of production, but rather becomes a sort of art director, who manages all the aspects of an enterprise, from design to production, distribution and communication. According to
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Elena Sommariva (2010): “It happens that designers develop the technical aspects and the engineering of the product up to a detail that was previously unthinkable, or even find suppliers for the company, linking different stakeholders to ensure the birth of a new object. There is also another common trend: the designer has to think of photographing and communicating the product and give the idea of a possible advertising campaign”. The designer-small entrepreneur conducts a careful research in the field of trade and communication, giving to these areas comparable importance to the design phase. By handling diverse aspects of the design process, the designer can develop a more mindful and integrated approach to the project. As a consequence, it increases the value of the designer, at least in terms of reliability and professionalism.
VERNACULAR DESIGN According to Ibarra (2013), in recent years we are witnessing a renewed interest in manifestations of vernacular design. It means objects that are conceived in the street, used as a means of subsistence, produced by street vendors, beggars, spontaneous creations made for personal use and
without commercial aims. Such objects are born from a mere necessity and they cannot generally be attributed to a unique author, as they arise from a process of experimentation held by various individuals, in different times. This interest in objects made by nondesigners sometimes is expressed in the development of pre-industrial artefacts made by hand; sometimes in objects already designed that gain new functions and forms to meet specific needs of everyday life. Darron Dean (1194) states that the term “vernacular” is derived from the Latin “vernaculas” which means “native” or “indigenous”. The term was associated for the first time in the field of design by George Gilbert Scott in 1857 and since then a considerable literature on the subject has been developed (DEAN, 1994, p. 153). According to Priscila Farias (2011), early studies on vernacular design - or design made by non-designers - were made in the field of architecture. Vernacular architecture is characterized by common, everyday forms, purely functional, which are familiar to a certain population and are made with materials available in the area. The vernacular is produced for personal use by an individual or by anonymous builders, recovering local techniques.
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In recent years there has been a renewed interest for the vernacular which grounded its roots on the Nerthern European movement Arts & Crafts. With its exponents William Morris, John Ruskin, Violet-le-Duc, the Arts & Crafts movement has paved the way for the construction of buildings inspired by local traditions, against standardization. These ideas influenced famous architects such as the Spanish Antonio Gaudì, the Belgian Victor Horta, the Dutch Hendrik Petrus Berlage, the Finnish Alvar Aalto, who have promoted national architecture, also known as “new regionalism” by adopting the spirit of vernacular.
(SANTOS, 2003; PELLEGRINI FILHO, 2009), “Design for the other 90%” (BORGES, 2011), “Alternative design” (BOUFLEUR, 2006), “Nonprofessional design” (PACEY, 1992), “Low Cost Design” (PARIO PERRA, 2010), “Periphery Design” (BORGES, 2013), “Non Intencional Design” (BRANDES & ERLHOFF, 2006). The discipline of design has started to be interested in artefacts made by nondesigners for a relatively short time. In 1992, Philip Pacey wrote the article “Anyone designing Anything? NonProfessional Designers and the History of Design”. In this article he illustrated several cases studies supporting his thesis that everyone can be designer and design is not an activity exclusive of industrialized countries. According to Ken Garland (2004), are the simplest things (such as stickers of fruits and vegetables in a local market) that express the spirit of a place.
Vernacular architecture in bamboo, Minas Gerais. Source: Rapoport, 2010.
In the design field, various researcher referred to this topic as “Vernacular Design” (DONES, 2004; CARDOSO, 2005; VALESE, 2007; FUKUSHIMA, 2009; ALMEIDA, 2010; FINIZOLA, 2010), “Spontaneous Design”
In 2006, Uta Brandes and Michael Erlhoff, coined the term “nonintentional design” to define re-design practices, emergency solutions, economic alternatives, based on ecological reasons, the effort to reduce efforts, optimize the function. It is the case of different functions assigned to existing objects by the user: a chair used also as a wardrobe, a fridge that turns bulletin board, stairs used to sit, jelly jars
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that hold pens, etc. Also in 2006, the book “Home-Made Contemporary Russian Folk Artefacts” by the Russian Vladimir Arkhipov was released. It contains hundreds of pictures of unique objects self-produced (during the collapse of the Soviet Union) by ordinary people, inspired by the lack of access to goods. Each photograph is accompanied by an image of the creator and a text that tells the story of the object (i.e. why it was born, what its function is and the materials used for its creation).
Home-Made Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts. Source: Arkhipov, 2012.
Daniele Pario Perra, Low Cost Design, Milan Design Week, 2012. Photos by the author.
In 2010, the Italian designer Daniele Pario Perra presented the first part of
the book “Low Cost Design”, which is the result of a survey conducted
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between northern Europe and the Southern Mediterranean. This is a visual dictionary of spontaneous creations made by anonymous authors, (classified into categories), stimulating reflections on the recovery and reuse of materials.
In Brazil, design began to appreciate vernacular artefacts in 1958 thanks to the Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi who researched native material culture of North-Eastern Brazil. In 1963 she organized an exhibition called “Nordeste” at the Museum of Popular Art, in Salvador, showing a large inventory of popular objects. Since
then, several Brazilian designers have studied the vernacular from different points of view. In more recent time, Adélia Borges organized the exhibition “Design da Periferia”, in São Paulo, featuring artefacts made by street people to be used in their everyday life.
According to Pereira (2004) such objects solve a quite punctual necessity. They are designed to satisfy a specific demand, employing available resources. Moreover, they are made by hand, have a strong practical function and are created from reuse and re-contextualization of existing objects, changing their initial functions
Self-made cart for selling coffee in the street, by Paulo Cezar de Jesus, Salvador, Brazil. Source: A. Borges, “Design da Periferia” exhibition, São Paulo, 2013. 039
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(FUKUSHIMA, 2009). Such objects are part of the landscape of the everyday city, express the material culture and the identity of the people who made them. This is not a practice typical of a specific country (as similar examples can be found elsewhere in the world), but they fulfil functions associated with needs, habits, practices and beliefs of specific people, who belong to a specific territory (IBARRA, 2013). All in all, such vernacular repertoire can serve as a source of inspiration for the creation of a “design for critical consumption”, in opposition to the current star system, crowded by large
design brands. Vernacular design, halfway between craftsmanship and produção pessoal, is a successful attempt to individual free expression. These are simple, humble products that functionally respond to the needs of everyday life, inspired by the material culture of a territory, in one word: “fair” objects.
SELF-CONSTRUCTION While talking about self-production, it is worth to mention also the phenomenon of self-construction, which perhaps was
Self-made cart for selling in the street. Source: A. Borges, “Design da Periferia” exhibition, São Paulo, 2013. 040
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the starting point of produção pessoal and embodies the same instances of user participation in designing and producing, albeit in a different context, i.e. buildings. A good reference for the theme of self-construction is the research and experimentation conducted by Giorgio Ceragioli and his research team at Politecnico di Torino. According to Ceragioli and Comoglio (1985), self-construction can be defined as: “a building process where the user, partly or fully, is the subject in different parts of the construction project itself, from design until the management phase, passing through stages that can be: construction of components, assembly (…), ordinary and extraordinary maintenance” (Author’s translation). Based on the centrality of the user, selfconstruction has a strong social and educational value. It allows to reduce construction costs and preserve antique local building techniques. Furthermore, self-construction ensures greater cohesion to the group of people who work together, giving them the feeling to be able to self-sustain and make them more responsible for the environment in which they live. In the last decades of XX century, self-construction has been strongly developed both in the developed
countries and in the developing world.
Self-construction. Photo by: Alessandra Battistelli.
DESIGN COLLECTIVE Among young designers it is more and more diffused the tendency to aggregate in a collective in order to overcome the lurking risk of physical and cultural isolation. It is evident the need for individual self-producers to join, becoming a “critical mass” able to diffuse the culture of produção pessoal and attract the attention of the press, manufacturers, retailers and the society
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Dennis Design Center, Danish design collective. in general. The ideal would be to create a well structured design community, with appropriate upstream structure of protection and adequate financial support from the public and private sector. Such a community would work in a cooperative manner, as a network of professionals who support each other because part of the “design system” within the same territory. If it is true that the current Italian design is primarily expressed through individual and isolated realities, it is equally true that this idea of collective design is not pure utopia, as proved by successful experiences of North Europe (such as the Dutch Droog Design) where the
concepts of design system and design community are long-established. Furthermore, little known but definitely worthy of being analyzed in this monograph are student collectives created around the themes of selfconstruction and self-education. For instance, within the Politecnico di Torino in 2008 the Collettivo Politecnico was born. It stands in contrast to traditional education, which is considered too notional, little linked to professional practice. Instead, the Collettivo Politecnico assumes a social value, as it is based on the idea of cooperation, multidisciplinary
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networking, developing projects of mutualism. The Eigenlab is a laboratory of selfproduction, a collective student arisen within the Faculty of Science of the University of Pisa. It was created in response to the university reform of 2008 and is inspired by the idea of self-education, conceived as a desire to resume education from below, beyond mere commercial interests. The Eigenlab developed some selfproduction projects: the creation of a mesh net (an autopoietic internet network, shared with all, difficult to be locked), an urban garden, a parabolic mirror and a micro wind turbine (both of these latest projects realized with reused materials). Another activity is the Trash Laboratory, an activity of retrieval of computers thrown away by the university. They conducts retrieval of used university computers which once rejected by the university, are put into operation again and used for teaching computed sciences in primary schools. It has to be noted that all activities of the Eigenlab of Pisa in part receive funding from the University, part of the activities are self-financed with the income of social dinners realized through the yield of the urban garden self-produced.
CO-DESIGN The designer, who already in a selfproduction process has assumed the responsibility to manage the production phase, now shares it with the user. Thus, self-production becomes rather co-production and the consumer act as co-designer. Based on the involvement of the user during the entire process of research, design and evaluation, the various models of co-design (CD), usercentred design (UCD), participatory design (PD) have been developed. Sanches and Frankel define co-design as the interdisciplinary process in which designer and no-designer share their knowledge, experience and creativity with a common aim: develop design solutions. This means “design with the user”, which is quite different than “design for the user”.
DO-IT-YOURSELF In recent times, the need to personalize products has led to the development of a series of practices called mass customization. Thanks to the increasing use of computer network, mass customization allows the user (thereafter called “prosumer”) to configure, at his liking, many of the product characteristics. This approach, also defined as DoIt-You can assume different facets. Sometimes it is the designer who
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Professor Ana Luiza C. Freitas in a co-design workshop. Source: R. Engler, “Design participativo: uma experiencia no Vale do Jequitinhonha”, 2010, p. 36. provides the prosumers with design tools, toolkits and information in order to enable self-production of diverse products. Otherwise, the user accesses some digital platform to customize the product and then send it to the local FabLab where the custom object is produced through rapid manufacturing techniques.
DIGITAL FABRICATION Digital fabrication combines the flexibility of produção pessoal with the use of computer numerical control (CNC) tools. It adopts quick and highly automated processes, named rapid
manufacturing, realizing diversified series of products more and more sophisticated. Nowadays, these techniques, similar to a common 2D printer, are not used only to produce simple prototypes, but also medical and dental prosthesis, up to finished products. Digital fabrication offers evident advantages in terms of starting a production, product customization, production time. For this reason, part of contemporary industry is chasing such digital craftsmanship, which addresses the increasing needs of personalization, flexibility and speed of production processes. Such a process is highly automated, but still maintains the
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Quirky platform. Source: J.W. Hoftijzer’s presentation at Operae, Turin, 2012. flavour of artisan’s manuality and direct control. As an example, Openstructure is a model of modular construction, based on a geometric grid shared on internet. Through this open platform everyone (from craftsmen to industries) can design a flexible, scalable environment. Another noteworthy experience is Kickstarter7, an online platform for crowdfunding to collect funds to finance the projects of its members. An interesting project which hybridizes digital fabrication with manual modelling is “L’Artisan Electronique” by
7
Look up: www.kickstarter.com.
Studio Unfold and Tim Knapen, produced by the Belgian contemporary art gallery Z33. It is a smart system that uses a customized RepRap 3D printer to shape objects layer by layer from a clay paste, using the inputs coming from a connected computer. The user’s hand gestures are optically read by a 3D scanner and converted into digital information, then transferred to the system and projected on a virtual model to be altered or shaped into a 3D physical object. On the other hand, as Luigi Bistagnino highlights, the new “makers” revolution is becoming just a fashionable label, which is being trivialized a lot. The
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makers of today are often the amateurs, without the knowledge of design. This scenario has been well drawn by Bruce Sterling (2005) in his book “Shaping things” where he has forecasted that in the future society everyone will be able to buy projects on a virtual platform on internet and then produce them through a small prototyping machine which everyone
will own at his home. This third industrial revolution is about to happen, as shown by the increasing accessibility and cheapness of digital fabrication techniques. As evident, this is an ongoing process of democratization of design, well expressed by Giulio Carlo Argan (1974): “Everyone must design: at bottom, it is the best way to not be designed”.
L’ “Artisan Electronique”, by Studio Unfold and Tim Knapen. 046
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Map of the complexity of possible approaches of produção pessoal, from artisanal design to digital fabrication. 047
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In the next page,Charlie Chaplin in “Modern Times�.
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5. FROM CRAFTS TO MASS, TO FLEXIBLE PRODUCTION Understanding the historical path that has led to the current configuration of production systems can certainly aid to historically frame the practice of produção pessoal.
pessoal establishes itself almost like a return to craftsmanship which allows you to intervene with more direct control on production, giving rise to customization instances.
It is possible to summarize that produção pessoal is configured as a consequence, more or less direct, of a historical path that has led from craft to industrial mass production until mass customization in recent times.
It summarizes the last two centuries of history of technology: from the Industrial Revolution until nowadays, diverse social, political, economic and cultural features have laid the foundation for the current establishment of produção pessoal.
Produção pessoal seems to have sprung as an evolution of crafts (know-how), a reaction to mass production (to create limited edition objects) and as a catalyst for instances of mass customization (diversified series) (Boradkar, 2010). Produção
After having clarified the premises for which it is worthwhile to outline the historical framework of produção pessoal, in this chapter a brief history of production systems is traced, starting from crafts up to the flexible
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manufacturing adopted by contemporary companies.
some
Fordism and Taylorism, both systems of mass production of the last century, have transformed the work practice in all industrial sectors. These production forms have led to a world full of standardized products, which over time have begun to lose their appeal. This and other economic features had led to a slow deterioration of Fordist principles. Some other Post-Fordist principles, such as Flexible Manufacturing, Toyota Production System and Agile Manufacturing, have begun to emerge in recent times. In order to create one-off products for each consumer,
companies are now trying to adopt the mass customization principles. Today’s challenge in the design scene seems to be the development of unique solutions to make consumers active subjects, participating in the design process (BORADKAR, 2010, pp. 103125).
As mentioned, it is possible to place produção pessoal within this context as the fourth phase of industrial development in the Western World. As identified by historians and economists, the first phase is craftsmanship, which was fully
Artisan engraving wood. 050
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developed between the mid-1700 and the mid-1800. In the craft production era, production was committed to freelance artisans, who realized small productions performed in small factories or decentralized proto-industries.
Slowly, industrialization became to set in, textile industry arose and factories equipped with steam engines began to become the norm. Between 1850 and 1950 Industrial Revolution brought profound changes in England: the creation of a national market, exports, the development of a significant urban class, and so on. Production began its transition from traditional crafts made by single individuals to labour division and simple cooperation between
workers. Automated machines, capable of performing repetitive work began to replace artisan’s simple tools, leading to a new production form defined by Marx “machinofacture� (i.e. machine manufacturing). Progressively, mechanical instruments acquired greater precision, new materials were introduced and product components could be easily transported within productive plants. Craftsmanship began to be gradually replaced by a new production model developed by Frederick Taylor around scientific management principles (i.e. scientific organization of labour). Only then workflows began to be organized on the basis of assembly line. In most industries machineries were arranged and grouped by type, handled by qualified operators
Ford assembly line, 1920s. 051
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who produced components which were then assembled properly. Taylorism (as this production model was called), has been defined the second phase of industrialization in the Western World; it lasted until the First World War. The third phase, which lasted from the early 1900 up to the early 70s, is generally defined as Fordism. In the Fordist era, increased mechinization, especially in transportation of materials, led to a labour simplification. Craft items began to disappear as soon as standardization took hold. Clear workflows were established, according to assembly line. In this phase, high volume production of homogeneous
mass goods was perfected. Afterwards, from the ashes of Fordism arose the fourth and last phase, which stretches out from the 70s up to nowadays. This phase has been defined by scholars as Post-Fordism, NeoFordism, Flexible Specialization or Mass Customization. Modern production – hence also produção pessoal – grows from the need of heterogeneous products and flexibility in production; this need began to emerge after the Second World War. Innovations such as CNC machines, CAD/CAM and robotic assembly of products led companies like Toyota, Mercedes-Bens, Volvo to develop new production models.
Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers combined the power of crowd sourced design and professional experience to develop the Rally Fighter. Photo by: Adrian Gaut. 052
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Flexible manufacturing systems of Post-Fordism have allowed companies to quickly change product lines to be adapted to continuous changes in consumer demand and led to better working conditions for operators. In the Post-Fordist era, produção pessoal represents a flexible production model, supported by digital technologies such as CAD (Computer-Assisted Design), CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing), rapid prototyping, etc. Industrial districts make possible the creation of a network of small and medium-sized companies that provide components to each other. It would be desirable the creation of a real network of designers
and manufacturers, to work as a large corporation, but with the advantages of flexibility, speed, innovation and diversity.
Analyzing the historical path traced so far from a socio-cultural standpoint, from craftsmanship to mass production up to mass customization, produção pessoal of current times seems to have the potential to be a less repetitive and monotonous work. Self-producer has greater responsibility, thus larger control on the entire process which goes from design through production and distribution of the product.
Mark Hatch (standing in the center) and Jim Newton (far left, with glasses) of Techn Shop, where members pay for access to sophisticated prototyping tools. 053
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5.1 THE HISTORICAL PATH TOWARD PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL Produção pessoal is a practice diffused not only in the last years, but it grounds its roots in the early XX century, especially in Northern Europe, among designers who realized in their won workshops some prototypes of their own projects. The first produção pessoal attempts can be found in technological experiments in the 20s and 30s of the twentieth century (Pasca, 2001), when architects like Alvar Aalto, Jean Prouvè, Charles and Ray Eames tested new materials and technologies (plywood, electric welding, threedimensional shaping of the wood). Marinella Ferrara8 (2001) affirms: “Since 1931 Alvar Aalto with his wife Aino has conducted in his laboratory experiments on the curvature of plywood and laminated wood; in 1923 Jean Prouvé opened his own workshop where, with the introduction of electric welding (1925) that allows 8 Marinella Ferrara is PhD, researcher and professor in Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano. In her essay “Progetto, autoproduzione, autopromozione. Esperienze dei giovani designer in Europa”, she analyses the practice of self-porduction.
From the top: Aalto bending display of laminated wood at the Finnish Pavillon; Kazam machine in the Eameses’ Los Angeles apartment, 1941; Jean Prouvé’s portrait.
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Village of San Basilio, Rome, reconstructed thanks to the UNRRA-CASAS program.
the first joinings of sheet iron, produced wall panels for his architecture; starting from July 1941, Charles and Ray Eames developed privately, in their apartment in Los Angeles, a technique for three-dimensional shaping of plywood and laminated wood, building on their own the machine Kazam, a rudimentary press a rudimentary made of gypsum with electric heaters” (Author’s translation).
From these attempts, it emerges that with produção pessoal the historical contraposition “crafts vs. industry” (which grounds it roots in the first phase of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain) does not make sense anymore. According to Vanni Pasca (2001), such a contraposition placed, on the one hand, industry as a value capable of
creating series of products at low cost, whose design would guarantee the quality standards. On the other hand, the homologation caused by industry was refused, asserting a return to the human size of handicraft, the one-off or limited edition with a strong aesthetic value. Nowadays, designers show such a flexibility and openness to adapt diverse productive approaches, from craftsmanship to industry, with no ideological constrains. The current scenario is a sort of compromise halfway between these two historical opposites, valuing each other and generating new professional profiles, such as the artisan-designer or the designer small entrepreneur.
After the World War II, governments and residential institutions began to
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actively involve users in domestic reconstruction works (PERUCCIO, 2005). In Italy, projects realized for the UNRRA-CASAS9 by architects like Piero Bottoni, Giuseppe Cattaneo, Giuseppe Ciribini aimed at defining a recognizable collective identity. The projects for building reconstruction were “small houses, modest, unpretentious and with no frippery”, as Sergio Pace states. In reality, they represented the perfect houses for a population torn apart by the war: at the centre of their design was placed the man, the user with the needs of his domestic life. This expressed a common language popular traditions and a poor syntax, developing a “vernacular” architecture, typical of realism. The reconstruction works were undertaken in a democratic way, as a concrete response to an emergency situation. The reconstruction program was based on the use of local material and local manpower, mainly constituted by survivors and disaster victims, who were supported through the provision of free tools, transportation and raw materials. This can be defined a process of produção pessoal to the extent that houses were self-constructed by their 9 UNRRA-CASAS stands for “United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration – Comitato Amministrativo Soccorso ai Senzatetto”, the Institute who, since 1946, has supported the construction of houses for homeless people in the cities affected by the war.
“Indigesti e Wretched”, self-produced punk music, 1982. “Contro il monopolio delle case discografiche contro tutto quello che è commerciale - dischi autoprodotti!”.
Cover of the first number of the Italian fanzine “Pianeta Fresco”, edited by Ettore Sottsass and Fernanda Pivano, Turin, december 1967.
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users themselves (COLONNETTI, 2005, p. 90). As stated by Pierfrancesco Pacoda (2010), “Do-It-Yoursef” seems to be the slogan which has inspired the youngs’ creativity since the late 70s. At that time, in England two punk stylists - Vivienne Westwood and Malcom Mc Laren, created an independent fashion brand (called “Sex”). Besides, several musical bands acknowledged producing discos on their own, without waiting for the decisions of great record labels.
In the 90s in London, especially in the Chelsea neighbourhood, the “Arts & Crafts Council funded many “craft” projects by young British designers
From the top left self-productions by: Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, Inflate. “with a strong inclination towards experimentation, probably derived from the teaching method of Germanic Anglo Saxon style” (FERRARA,
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2011). In this context, the so-called “Brit New Wave” arose, thanks to designers (Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, Sebastian Bergne, the Inflate and others) who established their own studio/workshops, dealing with design, production and selling of their products with a handicraft taste, marked by imperfection, uniqueness, local identity. Such designers approached produção pessoal in the beginning of their design activity, but some of them (i.e. Tom Dixon) still carry out self-production as a free expression. This way they succeeded in finding clients, producers, resellers, contacts with the press, who made them famous. In some cases, self-producers have joined a group to collaborate or even just to meet the initial expenses of a professional activity. This was a real explosion of creativity, long repressed by the inability of the English industrial system (weak and characterized by the lack of industries interested in product design) to find concrete work possibilities for young designers. This proves that it is not a coincidence if the start of produção pessoal in the industrial sector has actually happened in London, where it was almost an obliged step until a few years ago. Since the 90s, the practice of produção pessoal got slowly widespread bottomup throughout Europe and beyond.
This phenomenon is quite consolidated in Northern Europe, and especially in the Netherlands where formal and material experimentations are conducted addressing environmental issues. In a very different context, i.e. in Latin America and notably in Brazil, produção pessoal is strongly interwoven with social values. There, the success of such an approach is due to the strong expressive and symbolic features of the products linked to local identity. However, the boundary between selfproduced design and craftsmanship is pretty thin. Produção pessoal has also reached some countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea which historically were out of the design map. For example, in Morocco produção pessoal is strongly linked to craftsmanship as the latter represents the unique chance for designers who move into the production circuit. In Israel a sort of “post-industrial craftsmanship” is being developing as a parallel activity of young designers who – by working for high-tech companies – come into contact with materials and technologies that use for independent experiments. Finally, in Lebanon, design touches the boundaries of arts and is sold in art galleries (FERRARA, FINOCCHIO, 2008).
As a reaction to the spread of virtualization in the overall design
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From the top left: the Campana brothers (Brazil); Wyssem Nochi (Lebanon); Soumiya Jalal (Morocco); Satyendra Pakhalè (India). processes, and to homogeneity of the industrial products in the era of globalization, designers (such as Satyendra Pakhalè, the Campana brothers) have begun to reaffirm their manual skills, creating small
handmade productive series. In this post-Fordist phase, design became close to the New Handicraft, which laid the foundations of a culture based on diversity and personalization. In parallel, events for the promotion of
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the culture of produção pessoal have been multiplied. The peak of visibility occurs during the 100% Design London, or during worldwide design weeks, from Milan to Brussels, up to Istanbul. Recently, in such a context of proliferation of design showcases, produção pessoal is becoming a real strategy of self-promotion through which young designers choose to enter the International design scene. Produção pessoal is therefore getting more and more diffused worldwide, due to many promotional events (mainly, the Milan Design Week and its Salone Satellite, 100% Design London, DMY Berlin, Designboom Marts, Operae, Open Design Italia). Beyond these physical places, Internet is rich in portals for sale and promotion of self-produced items, such as the Italian websites Young Designer Home, NOmadeDESIGN, Garage Design, etc.
In the current context, also thanks to the wider accessibility of knowledge and technologies, produção pessoal is contributing to the process of “democratization” of design (VON HIPPEL, 2005), placing the man at the centre of the project. This is the case of “digital making”, which is the automated fabrication of products made or customized by users through complex, but accessible technologies
V. Papanek, Design for the real world, 1971; A. Toffler, The third wave, 1981.
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Left: Time’s magazine person of the year 2006 was nominated “You”. Right: Chris Anderson started 3D Robotics in a living room. Now it has over 30 employees and manufacturing operations in San Diego (shown) and Tijuana, Mexico. Photo by: Misha Gravenor. (e.g. Elephant Design, Arduino, FabLab, etc.). Nowadays, through many design platforms (Re-Urban, Vectorealism) produção pessoal addresses demands of personalization which invests the production, the role of design and the real needs of consumers. Designers act as facilitators of the design process, by allowing users to interact with a provided toolkit to self-produce their own objects (cf. Do-It-Yourself). Many companies adopting such an approach, especially in the fashion and automotive sectors, but not all offer the same kind of customization. As
Marinella Ferrara (2011) notes: “Currently, it is possible to choose the colour of a shirt, to engrave a name on a watch, or to make a change in an item of clothing. The Nike ID website allows you to change the colour of a shoe, to choose the materials and put a line of text to be embroidered on it. Freitag’s site lets you choose the fabric and the model of the bag. Such experiments are interesting; however, they do not fully utilize the whole potential of mass customization.”
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Furthermore, espousing the idea of open culture10 (open source, data, open software, open hardware, open design, open company, etc.), the horizons of digital tools become increasingly widespread and overcome the boundaries of subculture activists.
Bruce Sterling, “La Forma del Futuro”, 2005. From this perspective, the design theorist Hughes-Stanton, (1902-1981) defines contemporary design as follows: “Post-modern design is closer to the people and what the people want: is
ready to meet their legitimate needs without moralizing about what these needs should be. It is therefore more deeply rooted in society than the Modern School.”
10 Open source is an established phenomenon based on free circulation of software and web applications, guaranteeing their continuous improvement.
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The historical path that has led to contemporary Personal Production, from craft know-how to Mass production, to Mass customization to Flexible production on demand. 063
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6. WORLDWIDE APPROACHES TO PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL The theoretical analysis drawn up to now lays the foundations of a critical analysis of worldwide case studies in the Netherlands, Brazil and Italy, which are very different, but at the same time equally exemplary approaches to produção pessoal. Through the following case studies, it is developed an applied research intended as a tool able to identify design recommendations to improve produção pessoal in specific contexts.
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In the next page, the Italian design context: from Analogical to Digital. Photo by: Subalterno1. 066
6.1 ITALY: DIFFUSE MICROENTERPRISE The analysis of the Italian design scene cannot prescind from considering its “peculiar productive structure made of a dense network of artisans and small industries scattered throughout the territory” (FERRARA, 2011). Small and Medium enterprises (SME) are historically diffused in the Italian territory. Since the Middle Age, artisans’ workshops have represented micro economic activities which draw the “economic fabric” of the country. According to Eurostat, the European statistics institute Eurostat11, in Italy 99,4% of the total enterprises are micro and small-size, while 0,5% are medium and 0,1% are large enterprises. According to Ugo La Pietra, micro 11 http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/ portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/
and small enterprises have historically entrusted to artisans. This openness to innovation by the Italian “proto-industry” has attracted many designers from Northern Europe with a strong manual approach to design, who established small experimental laboratories for the production of prototypes and small series. Upon such a structure, the activity of design has slowly been shaped with time passing, placing itself as the crossbreed between craft know-how (the “analogical” dimension) and industrial technology (the “digital” sphere). With time, a fracture between craftsmanship and industrial design has emerged in this context. While the design activity moved from a project, from the mind, the artisanal process
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starts from the hands. In order to realize a fruitful synergy between crafts and design, it is necessary that designers free themselves from their status and adapt their work to material culture conveyed by artisans (who, from their side, should not feel harmed by this collaboration). In this way, it is possible to create a multidisciplinary dialogue which enriches the two professions.
0,1%
99,4%
Furthermore, in Italy it is still missing a clear definition and classification of the craft activity. The most recent definition of craftsmanship found in the Italian sources consulted for this research is quite old, as it is given by the Framework Law for craftsmanship n. 443, which goes back to 8th august 1985. According to this definition: “Is defined craft enterprise the firm, exerted by an artisanal entrepreneur (who leads it personally and professionally as owner), which has as its main aim the production of goods, semi-finished products or services (excluding agricultural and commercial activities as well as food and drink selling)” (Author’s translation).
0,5%
12,2 %
68,2% 22% 13 %
Turnover European Sources: EUROSTAT.
enterprises.
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19,6 %
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(mostly manual or rudimentary, as the digital craft approach is not developed yet, unlike Italy).
It is evident the need of a systematization of craft activities, which, up to now include the most varied professions, from truck driver to hair dresser to producer of creative objects.
Italian turnover. Designer=Enterprise. Source: S. Maffei, 2012.
According to Italian literature, craft enterprises are still defined as activities which involve a small number of workers (from eight in transport enterprises to forty for activities working with arts, fashion, etc.). However, these definitions seem to be reductive as they define craftsmanship only according to the number of employees and do not include the new frontiers of advanced craft. It is also important to note that, while in Italy handicraft is defined according to its productive size (i.e. number of employees), in Brazil12 the focus is placed on its productive technologies 12 For the definition of Brazilian craft, look up the 6th chapter.
Instead, in other contexts, such as in Brazil, has been founded an institute for supporting small and medium enterprises (cf. SEBRAE, analyzed in the chapter 6.3.3), which has the merit of having systematized the artisanal activities, promoting and freeing them from the previous negative condition of popular art.
Referring to Marinella Ferrara (2011), it can be said: “The awareness of the integration between industry and handicraft has been an underlying common theme of the Made in Italy products; whereas in Northern Europe this integration has been mostly supported and promoted by the design education model”.
In recent times, Italy is witnessed the difficult integration between young designers and micro-small enterprises.
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On one side, foreign designers stand with their products which are part of an overall project of communication and integration into company logics. On the other side, young Italian craftdesigners appear to be a bit confused, often oppressed by the weight of the heritage of great masters of Made in Italy, and sometimes little interested in working as a group (MAFFEI, ZURLO, 2001).
Within this scenario, Italian produção pessoal represents a solution through which emerging design is trying to remedy years of a structural lack of the design system that places Italy in a situation of delay – if not of disadvantage compared to other European countries.
The main causes of this crisis are due to two different reasons that involve the two protagonists of the Italian design system, companies and designers. - On the one hand, Italian companies are not yet confident enough to bet on young Italian designers and are more likely to create partnerships with emerging foreign designers. Nowadays, the fruitful synergy between designer and company, which has characterized the heyday of Made in Italy in the 50s, has plunged into
crisis. This is due to several factors: surely, companies give considerable weight to the factor “confidence” in the designer, they often require many years of collaboration and experience, at the expense of young designers. Moreover, firms generally require a high quality background in terms of know-how, the sensitivity to understand the company’s taste and style to not be betrayed with new proposals. Furthermore, companies look for a good dose of humility to accept changes to projects; this flexibility is often missing in young designers, who instead show some ambitions of independency. For all these reasons, are often the designers themselves who refuse possible collaborations with industries, seeking a valid refuge in the individualistic dimension of produção pessoal. Moreover, as well analyzed by Beatrice Scudo and Viviana Trapani in their essay “Una mappa possibile” (2001), foreign designers have often had the possibility to be incisively promoted by means of incentives, policies and public support structures which recognize the strategic value of design much more than in Italy. The first country to have the insight to use design as an export product was England, with its renowned designers Tom Dixon, Jasper Morrison, Ron Arad. It is also worth to mention the Netherlands with its conceptual and experimental design.
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- On the other hand, in Italian universities designers receive a theoretical education and do not develop a culture of “doing”. Hence, they self-produce original objects with a high conceptual content, as they cannot count on high technical quality.
In the analysis of the Italian design scene, it is evident that almost all young designers and collective design experiences are close to the furniture and lighting sectors, an area in the middle between design and architecture. According to Ugo La Pietra, a good area of intervention for Italian selfproducers is represented by museum merchandising. In fact, Italy is rich in
museums, which are the privileged place to conceive, produce and sell object with a strong link with the territory, souvenirs of local identity. Mindful museum merchandising could be an effective lever for local tourism, enhancing the economic, social and environmental development of the territory.13
13 In the field of museum merchandising, it is important to remember the intense activity of craft design for ecomuseums conducted by Ugo La Pietra, especially in the region of Lecce. Besides, it is worth to mention the research project “Materialmente” conducted by the professors Marco Bozzola, Claudia De Giorgi and Claudio Germak at the Politecnico di Torino together with Piedmont Region and Confartigianato Torino (cf. BOZZOLA, DE GIORGI, et al. 2012).
Young designer’s matrix. Source: S. Maffei, F. Zurlo, “La contemporaneità difficile: riflessioni sul giovane design italiano”, 2001. 071
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Furthermore, according to Trapani (2001):
become in the 80s the international fashion showcase.
“Nowadays, Italy seems to maintain its centrality, that is primarily based on a very high level of quality achieved by production of furniture and household items and an articulated and sophisticated system of communication and cultural elaboration that act around design. Schools, institutions, meetings and events more and more qualified have been diffused, providing an increasing number of young people to deal with design and make contacts with the production and communication world” (Author’s translation).
Beyond the historical poles of design, the abundance of workshops and small enterprises throughout the national territory has fostered the synergy between design and craftsmanship, supported by public promotion initiative to contrast the economic downtown. In this context, were born the Palermo Design Week, the trade show “Young Designer Home” in Venice, Open Design Italia in Bologna and Modena, the market-fair “Operae” in Turin, among others.
Moreover, an international network of “design places” has been established. While in the 50s Milan was the privileged pole of reference for design, nowadays international showcases of design are quickly increasing. Thus, next to Salone del Mobile and Salone Satellite di Milano, are growing other spectacular events, such as 100% Design - London, International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, the Salon du Meuble in Paris, the Bienal International de Design in Saint-Étienne, among others. Furthermore, in Milan, alongside to product and furniture design, has
On the other hand, the proliferation of such design events has emptied selfproduced design of its original social values and has made the term “selfproduction” just a fashionable label.
In 2012 the Author has supported the Torino Design Week Association to realize two online surveys which have
Enzo Mari speaking at the conference Torino Design Week, 2011.
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confirmed the problem. More than 500 Italian young people (mostly, from 20 to 30 years old), having a design background, have been interviewed. About 70% of the interviewed people are looking for a job adequate to their education, either because they are still studying, or unemployed, or even unsatisfied by their own job. The survey has showed the desire to create a new enterprise (among 77% of the interviewed people) or, at least, a strong inclination to work in or for a start-up (over 90%). Among the reasons which have restrained young designers to start a new enterprise there are: economic difficulties, lack of confrontation and support structures or commercial deficiencies. From the survey has also emerged the need to facilitate access to credit, spaces, consultants, services, contacts and research laboratories. A large percentage also believes it would be very useful to create a structure that
Operae market-fair, Turin, 2012.
may provide laboratories, machinery and equipment as well as dedicated tutors (in the areas of business plan, technological feasibility, marketing, sales and logistics). A research conducted by the Department of Design and Architecture of the Politecnico di Torino for the local Chamber of Commerce (DE GIORGI, 2012) has showed that in Italy 850 companies are design-oriented. They produce 13 billion of revenue (increased by 7% in comparison to 2007) and employ 47.000 workers. From one side, many young designers could be selected and guided, through tutoring activities, towards start-up paths, from the other side the national fabric of Micro and Small enterprises represent a rich ground for seeding innovation by means of design. As Paolo Maccarrone14 notes, many enterprises have no connection with the design sphere; for others design is the core business; other companies are design-oriented, using design more or less continuously. Moreover, there is a large majority of enterprises which 14 Paolo Maccarrone is an architect based in Turin, professor of Design at Politecnico di Torino and president of the Torino Design Week Association. At the conference “Torino Design Domani”, held in Turin in November 2010, he introduced the debate on the need of a design platform for the city of Turin.
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have not rapport with design yet. It can happen either because they ignore the potential of design, or because they do not know how to approach the subject, or even because they think design is a resource out of their scope. Hence, by bridging the cultural barrier between designers (who convey the culture of design) and entrepreneurs (carriers of the culture of “doing�) it would be possible to realize designdriven innovation. The dialogue between young designers and micro and small enterprises would be easy and direct; it could lead to the return of the synergy between design and industry which has characterized the history of Design Made in Italy design. The challenge is to create a design system which involves university, professionals, institutions and enterprises towards the sustainable development of the territory.
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6.1.1 FROM POSTWAR SELF-CONSTRUCTION TO DIGITAL OPEN DESIGN As stated by Ugo La Pietra15, in Italy produção pessoal grounds its roots in the work of artistic craftsmen, creative people who, since medieval times, selfproduced and sold their creations within their workshops spread throughout the country. Such craftsmen had normally an artistic education (coming from art schools) and non-polytechnic (what would be the current design). In the nineteenth-century, in Italy selfproduction emerges as the activity of who designs (thanks to his inventive capacity), manufactures (in his own workshop, also self-constructing new machinery), sells and communicates his product. Despite the long craft tradition, in Italy a design system (made of institutions, museums of applied arts, etc.) has always been missing, unlike the Arts & Crafts movement coming from Northern Europe. In Italy self-producers have historically lived a hard, poor, autarkic life. Their products, as produced in small scales, were not recognized as industrial design, and therefore despised as vulgar, tacky, 15 Ugo La Pietra was interviewed by the Author on 25/06/2013.
low quality productions.
While tracing the historical development of produção pessoal, it is impossible not to mention self-construction. It is worthwhile to highlight the original social value that produção pessoal had in Italy after the World War II. In that period it was experienced for the first time the user participation in self-construction works. After the World War II, Italy was living a serious emergency situation; reconstruction programs began in Italy in 1943, at the time of allied troops landing in Sicily and the consequent restoration of service and transport facilities destroyed by war events. These are the years of the Marshall Plan (1947-1952) and other American programs of assistance to populations affected by the war. Starting in 1946, the Institute with mixed management (half American and half Italian) UNRRA-CASAS (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration – Comitato Amministrativo Soccorso ai Senzatetto) began the construction of houses for homeless in the cities affected by the war, such as Pontecorvo, Ortona and Cassino. A milestone in the post-war reconstruction process in Italy is
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represented by the First National Conference on building reconstruction held in Milan in 1945, involving architects, engineers, builders and other professionals, debating issues such as standardization, labour organization, technical culture, prefabrication. In the same years, exhibitions on prefabrications show projects created in Italy and in the USA. Among these, it is worth to mention the Expandable Circular House by Pier Luigi Nervi, a project based on prefabricated modules made of concrete, to be assembled in loco to quickly provide homeless with a house (Trivellin, 2006, p. 139). Furthermore, CASAS supported and assisted local furnaces, so that they can easily get coal, fuel and other needed materials. In this context is established a fully sustainable activity of self-construction, as it aims at reducing waste material and cost of structures. Assembling precast elements in the construction site guarantees greater speed and efficiency in managing building works. It is also attempted to optimize structures by modulating sizes of rooms on the basis of the floor tiles used (module of 10 cm). Shapes and sizes of window frames are adapted to the length and width of standard commercial glasses. The arrangement
Fontia (Carrara), truck by UNRRA-CASAS for transportation of building material. Source: Allason, 1950. of installations of kitchen and WC is designed with the aim to allow the use of prefabricated cells and guarantee the minimum path for water adduction and drains (PERUCCIO, 2005, p. 92). Hence, it is developed the model of prefabricated house, which can be realized in two ways (recovering the historical distinction theorized by Marcel Lods): “traditionel évolué”, that is “industrialization of elements manufactured and mounted on site” and “préfabriqué”, namely “industrialization of components manufactured in the workshop and
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then assembled on site” (PERUCCIO, 2005, p. 91). It is started a process of industrialization of construction: prefabrication appears to be the most effective response to housing emergency, and it is seen as symbol of innovation of industrial product and scientific organization of labour. Since the beginning, it emerges the need of synergic collaboration between architecture and industry in the reconstruction works. It aims to minimize the reconstruction costs, optimize quality of project, while regulations guide the process. Postwar self-construction is carried out under Gio Ponti’s slogan: “Exact, id est beautiful”. This means projects which produce lead economic, productive and qualitative benefits, without excluding invention.16 The attempt is to satisfy the human need for individualism, in contrast to the condition of promiscuity and misery in which refugee lived, thus avoiding housing densification which would produce only a sense of moral and physical discomfort, irritating for the users. In addition to housing reconstruction, the UNRRA-CASAS plan provides proper urban planning and an extensive work of social assistance, aiming 16 Nicoloso, “Genealogie del piano Fanfani”. 1939-1950 cit., p. 51.
at rebuilding the social communities. Workshops, agricultural cooperatives, centres for professional training and craft schools are established with the aim to raise economic and social conditions of the most disadvantages areas. All these initiatives receive periodical funding from the state, every six months. (PERUCCIO, 2005, p.88). The new constructive approach is adopted by many architects who, at the end of World War II came back to Italy to contribute to reconstruction works, such as Vico Magistretti with his project of a House for veterans at the Qt8 neighborhood in Milan (IRACE, FERRARI, 2006). The phenomenon of housing reconstruction after World War II is a first clear example of the interest of architects and designers in the needs of inhabitants. The involvement in this case is due to at least two aspects: on one hand for the practical and direct collaboration that is sought to users in the realization of their future homes and the other for the importance given to social welfare of the population. This is a period in which in Italy, and in many other countries affected by war (similar experiments are carried out in France, Britain and the U.S.), are laid the foundations of a design that places man at the centre of the project,
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developing new methodologies that make the reconstruction faster, cheaper and more accessible to everyone.
U. La Pietra, Recupero e reinvenzione. The housing problem is not limited just to the post-war period. It has reappeared nowadays, due to the economic crisis that led to the closure of many companies and therefore to a rampant unemployment. For example, in Turin, a historical industrial city, prosperous thanks to Fiat, in 2011 have occurred 3,500 evictions, 3,300 of which were due to non-payment. Although this large number of evicted people, only 162 tenements were provided. Consequently, more than 3,300 people were still on the street, looking for an accommodation in some dormitory, or asking for hospitality to friends and relatives. In response to this
problem, the “Sportello per il Diritto alla Casa” was created to conduct activities of resistance to eviction. On the other hand, given the presence in Turin of about 60,000 vacant houses (either private or owned by the municipality), the Sportello per il Diritto alla Casa has begun activities of occupation of such houses, thus made available for evicted people. In most cases, since such buildings have been vacant for many years, activities of housing selfrecovery have been conducted, often self-financed through social dinners. Recovery activities have been conducted by occupants of the building themselves, who dealt with reconnecting the power grid and even have self-constructed solar panels by reusing waste materials. It is important to note that such selfconstruction activities allow to trigger a social network of mutual aid among the inhabitants of the building, who give moral strength to each other. Furthermore, it creates a critical mass to pressure on administrative body’s policy.
Self-construction of occupied house, Turin, 2012.
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Beyond this architectural field and closer to design in strict sense, Ugo La Pietra states that in the early 80s produção pessoal was enhanced due to cultural reasons. In fact, at that time, more than 70% of the products were weak repetitions of models of the past. Therefore, self-producers have tried to slowly move toward a more advanced craft dimension. Over the past thirty years, thousands of craft workshops have been closed (for example, in Cantù, a traditional district of wooden furniture). On the other side, industries were not open to collaborate to young designers, whose chance was just to open some small independent activities.
galleries) and industrial design in strict sense (made of mass production, on a global scale).
According to Marinella Ferrara (2001): “Self-production (…) is born as Italian phenomenon with noteworthy names such as Alessandro Mendini who in 1973 produced “Object for spiritual use”, in 1977 produced the renowned Proust armchair, in the following decade he realized the Alchimia collections and nowadays he keep on self-producing the Piccola Produzione within the Atelier Mendini”.
Atelier Mendini.
Ugo La Pietra, “Classico-Contemporaneo” movie, Federlegno-Arredo, 1985.
Recently, produção pessoal has emerged as a design-productive activity, filling the gap between the aggressive market of art (made of unique pieces, extremely expensive, exhibited in art
The figure of Alessandro Mendini is close to self-production to the extent that in 1976, together with the industrial Alessandro Guerriero, he founded Alchimia, defined as “laboratory for expressive research for large industry”. Alchimia realizes not mass products but functional prototypes, yet possible to be mass produced: this production has been defined as New Crafts. The
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aim of Alchimia was to provide young radical designers (Andrea Branzi, Paola Navone, Michele De Lucchi, etc.) with workshops and industrial equipments, allowing them to independently design, without the limits of an industrial client. At the Milan Design Week 2012, Mendini has launched “Milano si autoproduce design”, a collective of self-producers from Milan.
Michele De Lucchi in 1990 founded in Milan “Produzione Privata” as an independent research on design, handicraft, material transformation and technology, to complement his professional activity. Within this experimental activity, De Lucchi deals with objects produced through craft techniques, even reusing parts of mass products (bottles, forks, etc.). For him, such a production is necessary to enhance a more responsible approach to quality and beauty of things.
Michele De Lucchi, electric appliances in lacquered wood, 1979.
Andrea Branzi approaches produção pessoal by doing experimentations in the lighting sector, both with industries and with elements of experimental handicraft. This way he realizes small series of prototypes with elements of technological innovation, like in the case of the wireless movable lamps.
Gaetano Pesce in New York with Fish Design is involved in continuous experimentation with materials, producing diversified series of objects, customized, in the border between arts and design.
Gaetano Pesce doing experimentations with resins. Beyond these cases of well-known designers, who approach produção pessoal only in part, it is worth to mention some young Italian designers 081
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who fully experience self-production, such as Gian Franco Coltella.
In recent years, a good Italian example of produção pessoal comes from the Design Faculty of Bolzano. It has focused most of its curriculum on the “art of doing” and realized a catalogue of objects self-produced by students and then exposed internationally and published on the magazine “Abitare”.
It is interesting to note that nowadays the designer, who has already undertaken Piero Gilardi, Tappeto natura, Turin.
This proliferation of produção pessoal experiences is due to a radical change of mindset which occurred in the late 90s, as highlighted by the designer Paolo Ulian during an interview the author conducted in 2010. In that period, arrived in Italy the fame of the disruptive work by Droog Design for first, and the successful experiences of foreign design schools (i.e. Eindhoven, London, Switzerland, etc.) later, as well as the famous independent activities created by Ingo Maurer, Ron Arad, Tom Dixon and Marcel Wanders with Moooi. Such successful experiences proved that produção pessoal has not to be felt as a failure, as a lack of contact with industry, but as an opportunity to restart bottom-up and react to the crisis of the national design system.
the production process in the selfproduction approach, tends to share it with the user. Hence, we are moving from self-production towards coproduction and the consumer seems to be rather a co-designer. In this scenario, self-production is being developing with diverse approaches. It can be the case of designers who provide the end-user – here evolved as “prosumer” (TOFFLER, 1980) – with tool, toolkit and design guidelines to produce objects by his/her hands: that is “Do-It-Yourself for yourself” (ROSSO, 2011). On the other hand, the designer can adopt rapid prototyping technologies to mass-customize objects according to user’s demands, like in cases of “Do-It-Yourself for someone else” (ROSSO, 2011).
Moreover, it is important to note that digital fabrication applied to
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invested with large responsibilities and designers have to reflect on the sustainability of self-production. The real demand of a product, the selection of best materials for each component, the design of product components and product maintaining and the analysis of the entire product life cycle are fundamental features to be analysed.
6.1.2 SOME PROTAGONISTS OF ITALIAN PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL Top: Recession Design, “Design fai da te”, 2009-2010. Down: Temporary FabLab, Turin, 2011
CREATIVE REUSE ACCORDING TO PAOLO ULIAN
produção pessoal allows to repair old objects, extending their lifetime. This scenario is very realistic in Italy, where the culture of restoration and the affection bond with objects is very strong. On the other hand, such a repair attitude is not common in other younger countries (like Brazil, for instance) where the rapid pace of changes make people more accustomed to discard objects that no longer work.
From this perspective, end-users are
Paolo Ulian.
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Marble production wastes, Massa Carrara. Source: Paolo Ulian, 2010. 084
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Paolo Ulian17, with an art education, is a designer based in Massa Carrara. Since 1994 he has taken part in some exhibitions organized by the space “Opos” in Milan and many others, in Italy and abroad. He won the first international “Design Report Award” participating in the Salone Satellite of Milan in 2000. He collaborates with Droog Design and several Italian companies, such as Fontana Arte, Zani e Zani, Sensi & C., Coop and Skitsch among others.
production of tailor-made products, the designer’s intervention has been limited to the simple addition of a hook of leather. The library “Numerica” is obtained by reusing tiles of marble, discarded due to the presence of imperfections. The vessel “Introverso” is a conceptual reflection on the strength of new digital fabrication technologies that seem to break the strength of craft tradition.
Driven by a personal desire, Ulian carries out a sort of experimental design, independently from company constrains. Ulian shows an incredible ability in finding in the material itself creative solutions to optimize manufacturing, maybe getting the influences of Italian designers Angelo Mangiarotti and Enzo Mari18. He conducts intense research on the reuse of wastes from the production of marble in local industries19. Significant, in this sense, is “Battagliere”, the project of a cutting board made from a scrap of production of marble sinks, which has a milling ideal for hanging the object. Avoiding 17
Cf. www.paoloulian.it
18 Paolo Ulian worked in Enzo Mari’s studio from 1990 to 1992. 19 The city of Massa Carrara, in Tuscany, is the Italian pole of marble production.
P. Ulian, “Bat-tagliere”, limited edition, 1992.
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From the top: “Vaso Vago”, UpGroup, 2009; “Brecciato”, Le Fablier, 2011; “Numerica”, Le Fablier, 2011. 087
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P. Ulian, “Introverso�, 2012. The use and manufacturing processes deliberately leave signs in some objects to mark them with originality. It is the case, for instance of a coffee table/chair for garden made of polished steel which registers the signs of the hammer used to plant it into the ground. He has also
designed a series of vases that, despite the same shape, are made unique by the overlapping of different manufacturing processes which creates layers of different colours. Ulian develops productive inventions which solve some construction problems, as in the case
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From the top: “Una seconda vita”, Attese Edizioni, 2006. “Piatti e pentole in terracotta”, Biennale dell’artigianato sardo, 2009. of cardboards screens produced by overlapping strips of cardboard with different die cuts to create a threedimensional surface. Some of Ulian’s projects are born from the desire – against the tradition of mono-functional objects – of adding a new functionality to common objects, to meet diverse needs. Maffei and Zurlo (2001) have defined Paolo Ulian as ethnographer designer, due to his intense activity of observation of daily behaviours. By exploring how people live, move, behave to accomplish an activity Ulian define new typologies of objects. Exemplary is Finger biscuit, a biscuit to be worn to directly tuck your finger in the Nutella jar.
small-scale series by the designerbricoleur, who deconstructs, cuts, merges, or simply shifts the sense of an object or material, using it in an unexpected way. He revitalizes objects by re-contextualizing them, starting from their production process, their expressive language, their functional value and the way that they will maintain or renew their life.
Always moved from ethic aims, Paolo Ulian refuses to produce useless objects and creates products which are always simple, delicate, not striking, in the crossbreed between provocation and smile. On the other hand, as in the work of the
These objects are often produced in
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Campana brothers20, it is questionable the high price of such products born from reuse of waste materials. It seems that, moved from ethic purposes of environmental sustainability, in the end the designer loses his aims and crosses the boundaries of the art field.
COMMUNITY OF DESIGNER AND CRAFTSMEN NAMED “SEGNO ITALIANO” The project “Segno Italiano”, launched at the market-fair Operae 2012,is guided by Giulio Iacchetti, a remarkable industrial designer since the 90s. “Segno Italiano” is a project conceived from the desire to establish a fertile collaboration with local artisans (in the city of Milan), to self-produce new furniture. The projects are showed online and are craft produced on demand. This is a positive path that Italian designers can take to react to the difficulty of coming into contact with industries and start an independent activity. It also shows the success of the synergy between industrial design and a community of local craftsmen.
Source: P. Ulian, 2012. Craftsmen with their products of the collection “Segno Italiano”. 20
Cf. chapter 6.3.6.
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BRICOLEUR DIY BY RECESSION DESIGN Recession Design is a project of DIY crafts, launched in 2009 at the Milan Design Week with the provocative exhibition “Design – Do It Yourself”. The group of designer which goes under the name Recession Design share the idea that the economic crisis can become an opportunity for stimulating critical reflection on the contemporary design scene. Recession Design is against the current trends and focuses on essential forms and functions. The group has developed a collection of objects produced with materials available in any hardware shop and processed and assembles with common tools (drill, electric saw screwdriver, etc). The work by Recession Design shows how good design can generate high quality design by using materials and tools simple and easy to find.
Recession design, “Bla Bla” exhibition organized by Milano Makers, edited by Alessandro Mendini, april 2013. 091
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PLATFORM OF DESIGNER AND DESIGN-ORIENTABLE INDUSTRIES SUPPORTED BY TORINO LAB Torino Lab is one of the few companies based in Turin, which embraces the entire process, from design to production, distribution and promotion. Torino Lab has created a network of designers, partner manufacturers and a chain of transformers, in which every part can co-work to produce design objects. In this sense, under the coordination of Torino Lab, partner factories provide their materials and semi-finished products; designers propose their creative ideas and transformers assemble components to produce objects. From this point of view, Torino Lab can be defined as an editor of self-produced items. Torino Lab has developed a kind of production on demand. The purchasing process is pretty simple. On the website some of the items of the Torino Lab catalogue are placed. Buyers can buy the objects, knowing in advance that, if others do the same, they will benefit from a reduction of price due to the greater number of items required and thus produced (according to the logic of purchasing groups) and to the elimination of stock costs which would involve in case of overproduction. Moreover, this leads benefits in terms of savings,
time planning, use of resources and logistic flows. Torino Lab aims at enhancing local industry, and the experience, knowhow and experimentation of young Italian designers. Torino Lab is committed in the territory, by choosing as partners ecofriendly producers and adopting, where possible, a short supply chain. Torino Lab contributes to environmental sustainability to the extent that it uses only already existing raw materials and semi-finished products, avoiding new productions ad hoc. Torino lab also manages its own distribution: with this purpose, three points of sale have been opened since 2010 in Turin, selling self-produced furniture as well as personal accessories. Torino Lab is surely a growing reality, strongly committed in promotion through the participation to several design events, such as Operae, Open Design Italia, toBEeco, etc.
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Torino Lab as a self-production platform, managing design, production and distribution.
Torino Lab’s process.
product ideation
local production
distribution & selling
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RE-START
INDUSTRIE DESIGN ORIENTABLE SEMILAVORATI INDUSTRIALI
INCUBAZIONE GIOVANI DESIGNER
®
SVILUPPO SISTEMA PRODOTTO
SELEZIONE DISTRIBUZIONE
FRANCHISING?
Andrea Vecera, “Svitato”, Torino Lab, 201 094
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DO-IT-YOURSELF 2.0 THROUGH ARDUINO Arduino is likely the most famous example of Open Source hardware product. It was created in 2005 at the Interaction Design Institute of Ivrea by the professor Massimo Banzi, with the aim to provide students with an economic device which would allow the realization of interaction design projects (TANGI, 2010). The main peculiarity of Arduino is the decision to not patent the product, but to make it freely available for everyone. On the company website the instructions to independently produce an Arduino motherboard have been published, to let everybody use them. Although one could suppose that such an open strategy would have lead to a failure, Arduino’s selling data prove how Open Design can be profitable.
From 2007 (when Arduino started to be mass produced) to 2008 more than 50.000 items (which cost 25 € each) have been sold, reaching a total income of above 1.200.000 €.21 In the half of 2010 150.000 items were sold, for a total earning of nearly 4 million €. The company decided to produce the hardware in Italy. It would be spontaneous to wonder if, in case someone decides to produce a clone of Arduino in China, at a lower cost, the sales would collapse. In reality, it has already happen: numerous clones have been produced in China and Taiwan (but also in Europe), but the sales of Arduino have surprisingly increased. This is 21 Adafruit Industries. Million dollar baby – businesses designing and selling open source hardware, making millions. O’Reilly’s foo camp 2010. Available at: www.adafruit. com/blog/2010/05/03/million-dollar-babybusinesses-designing-and-selling-opensource-hardware-making-millions/
Motherboard UNO, Arduino. Source: “Arduino for designers”, Turin, 08/11/12. 096
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due to two main reasons, promotion and ethics. In particular, after creating clones, new people came into contact with the product and discovered also Arduino. Furthermore, while someone would choice the clone at lower price, many others have ethically decided to support the forerunner of this innovation, even because the difference in price between the original Arduino and its copies it not much. The strategy adopted by Arduino was very smart: it adopted a license which guarantees large freedom to its users but at the same time forces them to share their creations, quoting the origin and keeping them free. For this reason, the company decided to adopt
the free license “Creative Commons / Attribution, Share Alike” which authorizes everyone to copy the board, redesign or even sell clones, even though quoting the original authors and maintain the same license on the new device. This choice allows to foster continuous innovation of the product, avoiding anyone to become owner. Thanks to the innovative Open Source concept, the idea of Arduino quickly spread through the blogs, making the product more and more famous. Moreover, the product has freely undergone continuous improvements thanks to the redesign activities of the hackers. The open community growth and amateurs bought large amounts
Arduino’s structure (hardware, software, community) and family (from left: Due, Leonardo, Uno, Mini). Source: “Arduino for designers”, Turin, 08/11/12. 097
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Connections and schema http://fritzing.org/. Source: Arduino for designers, 2012. of motherboards to produce robots, prototypes and varied applications. In fact, by using simple tools (such as thermometers, position and movement sensors, magnets, etc.) it is possible to create infinite devices different from each other. Some examples are the smart fabric “Lilypad”, the humidity sensor “Botanicall kit”, the solar battery
charger “B-Squares”, the “DIY Drones” for laser scanning military areas, the toys made of electronic wastes “Thinkertoys”. In 2012, after one year temporary experience, “Officine Arduino Torino” was founded. It is a R&D office of Arduino based in Turin, which hosts “FabLab Torino”. The aim of the first
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Memory reminder www.arduomemory.blogspot.it/ Botanicall (http://www.botanicalls.com/) Italian Fablab (“Fabrication Laboratory”) is to bring Digital Fabrication and the Open Source culture within a phisical space, a small laboratory equipped with CNC machines. It is a hub for sharing skills to realize different productions at small or personal scale.
Arduino has proved to offer a large potential to the designer. However, sometimes, we are witnessing a trivialization of technology which gives rise to improper or unnecessary gadgets, playful experiences that cannot be ascribed to the field of design. Hence, it is necessary to foster the application of design thinking upstream of digital fabrication processes, perhaps involving the community in the early stages of problem setting, to create, downstream, conscious projects.
DIY Drones (http://diydrones.com/).
Tinkertoys http://dhairyadand.com/thinkertoys/
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In the previous page, from top: Lyno’s Type, Luca Barcelona and Massimo Banzi, The Fab Verona; Fabbers Torino and Temporary Furniture at FabLab Torino. Below, Arduino’s face: the members of the community.
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BRICOLEUR DIY BY RECESSION DESIGN Recession Design is a project of DIY crafts, launched in 2009 at the Milan Design Week with the provocative
exhibition “Design – Do It Yourself”. The group of designer which goes under the name Recession Design share the idea that the economic crisis can become an opportunity for stimulating critical reflection the Digital contemporary In the nexton page, space. design scene. Recession Design is against the Photo by: Subalterno1.
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6.2 THE NETHERLANDS: EXPERIMENTAL DIGITAL FABRICATION At this point of the monograph, it is useful to glance beyond the Italian territory and compare the Italian produção pessoal with international approaches, highlighting potential and critical issues of the diverse models. In the last years, the Netherlands have been confirmed as one of the most vibrant countries in the design world, and perhaps the most attentive to young designers’ need and potential. As Ed van Hinte22 states, the Dutch design spirit can be synthesized in the question “Why not?” because of the 22 Ed van Hinte, graduated in Industrial Design and Engineering at the University of Technology in Delft, is professor, researcher and writer for the magazine Items. He is author of the essay “Interrogando il design”, published in Pasca, V., Trapani, V. 2001. Scenari del giovane design. Milano, Lupetti.
extremism and originality of talented Dutch designers. The Netherlands have historically developed a particular public, cultural and ideological structure able to support design at many levels. Dutch design has always received funds and support by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the National Dutch Bank, the local telephone company, the National Railways and the government itself. It has created such a fertile ground for the development of an emerging design, that is original, with international ambitions, focused on research and experimentation. The Dutch environment is one where produção pessoal has risen for first, within the overall Arts & Crafts
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movement coming from Northern Europe. Dutch design has developed an advanced approach to produção pessoal linked to innovative (one-off) ways of making: the designer makes use of complex digital fabrication techniques and is supported – in his produção pessoal experiments – by private and public collective institutions (cf. Droog Design, Moooi, Connecting the Dots, among others). According to JanWillem Hoftijzer23, in the Netherlands self-production is better defined as “Open Design” (VAN 23 The following considerations by professor JanWillem Hoftijzer are the result of a semi-structured interview the Author did on 22/06/2013, beyond continuous exchange of information between the student and his professor.
ABEL, 2011), or “DIY production”, even “Customer Co-creation / Customization”. Such an approach is an entrepreneurial phenomenon: the designer acts independently from his/her traditional clients, becoming on his own designer, maker, reseller and salesperson. New tools and infrastructure make it happen both for designers and for amateurs (lay-men). Within this advanced approach to produção pessoal, it is interesting to mention also the Do-it-yourself experiences which came from the USA and diffused in Northern Europe. Designers act as enablers of selfproduction processes of objects made by amateurs by means of 3D printers (e.g. Ultimaker), rapid manufacturing
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platforms (e.g. Shapeways, whose headquarter is nowadays in New York) or using the numerous local FabLabs emerged in the Netherlands until now.
Mass Production / Mass Customization maps.
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It has been developed the so-called “electronic craft” (FERRARA, 2011), which combines traditional handicraft attitude with the potentials of digital fabrication. Digital technologies have influenced the design process up to the realization of objects, enfranchising it from industrial boundaries and opening design to unconventional sectors. In particular, the largest applications of 3D platforms developed until now are mainly jewellery, toys and personal items, categories that have little product complexity concerning assemblage, precision or size. Among the advantages offered by digital fabrication, it is worth to highlight the formal freedom, the low costs for producing unique items or small series of products, the easy access to production (low investments). Besides, new technologies not only
Example of possible boundaries for DIY. Souce: F. Mazzarella, N. Geurds for the course “Design Management”, UTwente, prof. J. W. Hoftijzer, 2011. help amateurs, but also change the traditional structure of bringing an idea to the market (ANDERSON, 2012). A one-off product is already feasible, no high mould investments are necessary.
DIY factors. Source: J.W. Hoftijzer, Operae, Turin, 2012. 106
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Beyond the mere productive potentialities, it leads also to social impacts, as pointed out by Neil Gershenfeld, professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In fact, nowadays, the access to creative tools is becoming a social prerogative, fostering the creation of – either individual or collective – productive activities. It allows “to make almost anything” (GERSHENFELD, 2012), meeting individual needs, beyond the constrains of mass production. Personal computers will soon be joined
by a “personal fabricator”: this process represents an innovation in terms of democratization of mass creativity and mass customization, opening the doors for a new economy. When a widespread network of DIY facilities and supply will be developed, it will likely become common for people to self-produce spare parts, repair their own objects in a functional manner. As Hoftijzer points, “the network might look like the (2D) copy shop infrastructure of today”.
Make Me platform. Source: J.W. Hoftijzer, Operae, Turin, 2012. 107
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By integrating ICT and rapid prototyping technologies it becomes possible to share projects within the virtual network, download them and print a 3D physical object from a digital model at home by means of a home 3D printer. Furthermore, when objects will not be useful anymore, they will likely be recycled for manufacturing new ones. Such an innovation introduces also to the scenario of “generative design�: by means of digital applications offered by the websites, it is possible to manipulate the parameters of the file in order to adjust the objects to meet individual needs. Such a scenario places the man at the centre of the process of process innovation, both in virtual and material terms. It has traced a possible path towards a radical change of the design process, embracing the phases of design, production, distribution and communication, ensuring diversity, quality and innovation. Such a development strategy has been supported by the worldwide creation of several services, such as 100KGarages24, Ponoko25, 24 100K Garages is a US workshop community equipped with digital fabrication tools for computer-aided cutting, drilling, carving and fabricating components or entire products made of all kinds of material. 25 Ponoko is a New Zealand-based platform for personal manufaturing, a virtual space for a community of designers,
producers, buyers, who use Internet as a place for co-designing, producing and selling products.
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RepRap (Replicating Rapid-prototyper) is the first low cost 3D printer, to be linked (via USB or a software) to a computer to print physical objects. It is an Open project. 109
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Thingiverse26 and Spreadshirt27.
26 Thingiverse is a New York-based platform for sharing digital designs. 27 Spreadshirt is a German platform for custom t-shirts and clothing.
Other related phenomena are the Maker Faire (the exhibition of hardware inventors, mainly based in the U.S.) and the proliferation of FabLabs that allows to produce unique pieces by means of smart systems and open hardware.
Makerbot-replicator. Source: www.wired.com. “Thing-o-matic�, Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, Zach Smith, Makerbot Industries, 2010. 110
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Moreover, in the current open innovation scenario, it has been filled the gap between designers, makers and consumers, as it happens in the worlds of video games, social networks, YouTube, etc. Besides, it has led to more entrepreneurship and more independency of the designer in relation to brands or companies. In order to make it happen in a sustainable way, it is necessary to support a network of information, consulting and facilitation
Shapeways dekstop and poster. 111
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The power of crowd as basic principle for crowdsourcing. for effectively democratizing access to such technologies and enhance humandriven pre-designing. Besides, it is important to foster closer relationships between makers and the society who will consume those products.
All these realities are based on virtual platforms which exploit the potential of Web 2.0 and “desktop manufacturing” to support social creativity. Antonio Dini (2011) has defined the current society as a “permanent beta version”28. 28 Internet as technological platform for content distribution has radically changed the way applications are created and distributed. For instance, Google develops apps typical of the Web 2.0 and it is an example of permanent beta”. The software is available online and is continuously improved, but without giving to users the guarantee of usability as it is freely offered,
Products are by definition incomplete, as they make no sense without the intervention of the user, who refines the product through the use. Such a scenario has overcome the boundaries of the Fordist model towards a “Third Industrial Revolution”, a production model based on a flexible network.
On the other hand, it has led to widespread responsibility of the designer, who has to look carefully at the potential of technology and its implications with human values to meet the demands of the society. In reality, it is not proved the link between Dutch produção pessoal and social innovation. In fact, in the Netherlands it is still at an experimental stage of as innovation model of the company.
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design and not deeply affecting society, unlike in developing countries (such as Brazil) where produção pessoal aims at being beneficial for improving living conditions, in slums, for instances.
In the field of education, it is noteworthy the Design Academy of Eindhoven, one of the design schools currently more renowned. It has adopted an experimental approach – typical of young Dutch design – and recently has removed the adjective “Industrial” from its trademark. This programmatically emphasizes the concept of creative design, beyond the boundaries of industry, but with encroachments in the fields of arts and crafts. According to Ferrara (2011), it is not “a nostalgic return to pre-industrial craft but it is a sort of membership to a post-Fordist era
in which the designers must first develop concepts focusing on their own awareness of design, production and the use of objects.” In general, it is possible to synthesize that Dutch (but also English) schools tend to teach design independently from an industrial brief, stimulating individual research and concept generation. This way, students are encouraged to define their personal design approach and gain self-awareness in relation to productive processes. Designers graduated at the Design Academy often begin to work as freelances, self-producing their objects and brands. It is the case, for instance of Jan Siebers, who has developed a self-production of furniture with a good craft quality.
Internal view of the Design Academy of Eindhoven. 113
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ideas as a source of inspiration for innovation.
The book “House of Concepts”, edited by Design Academy of Eindhoven.
In order to make Dutch produção pessoal less authorial and more linked to society, designers have to place the man at the centre of the project, despite their personal style. As in the last ten years have been developed an astonishing number of independent design experiences, it emerges the need for designers to join a community and co-work, in order to optimize the use of resources and achieve a stronger visibility.
It is likely to conclude that Dutch produção pessoal is marked by the experimentation of the handmade, as a result of the integration of handicraft with the potential of digital technologies. Such a crossbreeding gives birth to several experiences of experimentation of innovative concepts, whose value lays in the idea, beyond the type of manufacturing technique used. On the other hand, David Heldt notes that such self-made products have not really good quality and sometimes are even useless, but their value lays in the innovative concept they convey. In reality, such projects made by artist-designers are often not able to be produced by industry, but they are great market 114
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6.2.1 DIY, from the designer-bricoleur to the digital amateur The Netherlands is historically a rich country, with no unemployment problems. During the so-called “Golden Age”, in XIV century the Netherlands was one of the richest countries in the world. It dealt with trading of any kind of products, from tulips to slaves or transportation of German industrial products. Its economy is also based on the activity of its harbours (mainly in Rotterdam) and agriculture.
Dutch naval fleet during the Golden Age. However, in the second half of XX century Dutch industry suffered a recession. In the Netherlands, design industry (i.e. mainly, the Philips company29, furniture and building 29 Philips & Co. was founded in 1891 in Eindhoven by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik. In short time, Philips became one of the largest producers of bulb lamps in the world, taking advantage of the ongoing Industrial Revolution.
industry as well as trucks producers) just fulfils its own needs and is really limited, especially if compared to Germany (the biggest producer in Europe) and Italy (whose fashion industry produces for the entire world). Consequently, it can be said that nowadays Dutch economy is not at all industrial design-driven, but it is based on transport and financial industry. In such a context, produção pessoal is not experienced as a way to stay alive, but more for the will to experiment new idea and the pleasure to make things. While in Brazil produção pessoal is approached as a reaction to lack of technology, in Italy design has traditionally been characterized by the synergy between designers and industry, in the Netherlands designers cannot rely on a strong local industry. In general, Dutch produção pessoal follows such a process: design, selfproduction of experiments and sale to industries (not to customers) to be produced in large scale. As in the Netherlands the cost of real estate is not that high, young designers are used to open their own studio (mostly, outside the city) to deal with produção pessoal. In recent times, industries (mainly, from Sweden, Germany, Italy) are starting to understand the innovative values of such products, the conceptual value
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of produção pessoal. Consequently, supported by a favourable design system, the Netherlands is witnessing a proliferation of produção pessoal experiences. As David Heldt notes, Dutch design is a multifaceted phenomenon, difficult to be defined as unitary, but in general it is best expressed as product design.
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (18881964), architect and De Stijl artist, can be considered the first Dutch selfproducer for its craft activity as carpenter. Although not much renowned, Rietveld’s do-it-yourself furniture series named “Crate” designed in 1934 is certainly an important point of reference as it is the first attempt of user involvement in a sector – furniture – until then considered as an exclusive domain of designers (GAIDO, TAMAGNONE, 2012). Sold as a kit in a plate packaging, easy to carry and assemble, the series Crate is simple to be assembled by the user by following the instructions provided in the package. Available in various colours, the series includes chairs and tables based on a module which can be assembled in different ways, at the discretion of the user. It is a really simple object, sometimes considered rough, but extremely functional, whose linear
From the top, Gerrit Rietveld with a model; Crate chair, 1934. shapes are derived from carpentry techniques and manual labour. It is made of tables of solid beech
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wood derived from the recovery of packaging used for transportation of furnishings. As stated by the Rietveld himself, he chose to use a material hitherto exclusively intended just to protect “high-level” furniture. “A piece of furniture made of highgrade wood and manufactured completely according to traditional production methods is transported in a crate to avoid damage. No one has ever ascertained that such a chest embodies an improvised, highly purposeful method of carpentry. There must therefore at long last be someone who chooses the crate rather than the piece of furniture.”30
The low value of the material used and the intervention of the user are a direct result of the economic crisis that characterized the period in which the project was developed. User involvement was conceived by Rietveld with the social aim to democratize design. As shown by the successive versions of the Crate chair designed for children, the designer’s intention was to meet the needs of users also very different from each other. Rietveld is a remarkable example of innovator Dutch designer, introducing a new way 30 G. RIETVELD cit. in D. BARONI, I mobili di Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, Electa, Milano 1977
to produce furniture, anticipating in it future designers such as Victor Papanek and Enzo Mari.
In recent years, exemplary is the work by Marcel Wanders who selfproduced in his own studio (helped by a few operators) his Knotted Chair.
Marcel Wanders, Knotted chair, 1996.
Besides, in 1999 Bertjan Pot produced his Random Light starting from material experiment. It took three years for the designer to develop such a resin drained glass-fibre yarn randomly coiled around a big balloon. Afterwards, industry recognized the innovation
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of this lamp and started producing this product, which is nowadays sold through Moooi, giving fame and visibility to Bertjan Pot.
6.2.2 SOME PROTAGONISTS OF DUTCH PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL The analysis of Dutch design cannot prescind from a view on Droog Design, whose debut has marked a fundamental stage in the young designers’ scene. Droog, founded in 1994 in Amsterdam by Gijs Bakker and Renny Remarkers, has the structure of an open and flexible structure, with an uninhibited and practical relation with forms, with materials. Droog is able to rescue daily gestures, using advanced design technologies, as well as with procedures typical of ready-made.
Bertjan Pot, Random Light.
Beyond these experimental attempts, on the boundary between art and design, it is worth to highlight the importance digital fabrication plays in the Dutch context. As already mentioned, the Netherlands has not relevant economic constrains, is historically very adaptive to innovation and equipped with a well structured design system, which is willing to invest in such new technologies. Hence, the process of digital fabrication is occurring at a quicker pace than in other contexts, like Italy.
Renny Remarkers and Gijs Bakker, founders of Droog Design. Even in the meaning of the term Droog (translated in English as Dry, clear, desert) is inherent the deep sense of
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Droog Design, vehicle of essential conceptual design. Droog is poorlooking or however far from the perfect definition of industrial design, but in reality accurate and bearer of innovative and unsettling concepts.
expressiveness of materials. Taking up the cause of ecodesign, Droog has been one of the most authoritative voices of contemporary design culture against the negative effects of the processes of industrialization and globalization. Beyond selecting conceptual products, Droog also commission sustainable projects to be produced and published.
“Rag chair” BY Tejo Remi, Droog Design, 1991. Droog is a network of designers and projects always open and evolving, seeking and selecting young talents through publications in magazines, design fairs and exhibitions and various design schools. Since 1998, the initiative is no longer reserved exclusively to Dutch designers, but it became international, open to anyone is in harmony with the philosophy of the group. Objects selected by Droog are one-off or limited editions which propose a careful view on everyday life and
Tejo Remy, “Chest of drawers”, 1991. Assemblage of used drawers, made of maple wood and jute belt. Moreover, Droog carries out activities of teaching (talks and lectures) and consultancy relationships with large companies all over the world and takes advantage of the DMD (Developed Manufacturing Distribution), a facility for production and distribution of its prototypes and objects.
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For Droog Design communication is an important component inside the design process; this is perhaps the reason for which Droog is able to clearly stand out from all the other collectives and experiences of contemporary design. Finally, to close the self-production cycle, Droog also manages distribution of its products, through its Droog shops.
design. Among its projects, it is worth to mention Shape Shifters (a platform for sharing, customization and download of projects to be self-produced), 10kg Institute (an institute dedicated to recycle and endless reprint of polymer blocks to produce objects) and We Fix (a creative repair shop).
“We Fix” by Droog Lab, 2012.
While Droog Design (but also Moooi) are brands which just gather under the same label diverse designers, cowork is effectively the aim of Dutch Invertuals. It is a small label founded by Wendy Plomp in 2009 from the idea of a multidisciplinary collaboration between different designers who work together to develop research and innovative projects.
Droog shop, Amsterdam.
As an offshoot of Droog Design, Drooglab31 has been developed, i.e. a platform of research and experimental 31
Look up: www.drooglab.com
Waag Society32, institute science and technology, was in 1994 in Amsterdam and is the monument De Waag (in The Fort) in Nieuwmarkt 32
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Look up: www.waag.org
for art, founded based at English, square.
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The foundation develops creative technology for social innovation: practice-based researches, concepts, pilots and prototypes, acting as an intermediate between arts, science and media and cooperating with public and private cultural parties. Waag conducts experimental, interdisciplinary research, following the method of Creative Research. Its activity is structured in six different Labs: Creative Care Lab, Creative Learning Lab, Future Internet Lab and Open Design Lab, Urban Reality Lab, Open Wetlab. Waag develops participatory design projects, by creating a collaboration between artists, creative and end users as co-designers. Together, they develop applications that address the needs of their users.
From the top: Entrance to Fablab Amsterdam, Waag; Fablab Amsterdam; Co-design; e-learning project with tablet, by Waag. 122
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Waag poster. 123
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Freedom of Creation is a Dutch company specialized in 3D printing, based in Amsterdam. Apart from its own designer member, it has created partnerships with international designers (such as Karim Rashid, Ross Lovegrove, Zaha Hadid) involved in diverse design sectors: lighting, furniture, personal accessories and jewellery. Projects are 3D printed by means of the company equipment and sold online as well as in design stores (in Italy, they are distributed by Exnovo). Freedom of Creation also manages the communication phase by participating at international design fairs, such as the Milan Design Week in 2012.
In Eindhoven, Dirk Vander Kooij has founded a micro-industry able to selfproduce 4.000 items per year33. Kooij has developed an innovative fabrication technology inspired by 3D printing. This is called “Endless Robot�, a computerdriven robot which can produce an endless series of unique items (chairs, tables, lamps). By means of a reconverted industrial robot, plastic material (obtained from recycled components of fridges) is deposited in layers to produce unique objects in terms of shapes and colours. By changing some code lines of the software or the master in the compound in granules 33
Look up: www.dirkvanderkooij.nl
3D printed jewelry by FOC. 124
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Endless robot (equipment, production and chairs). 125
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within the extruder it is possible to radically modify the final product, for instance in terms of colour, size or shape. This system is a production process on demand, which allows to produce the right amount of items required and with the specific characteristics defined by consumers. The possibility to deliver digital files all over the world and then produce the object locally makes the process dynamic, sharable, and sustainable (drastically reducing the shipping costs and reusing components from wasted fridges as input material for the extruder).
Roy Gilsing34, after studying MSc in Industrial Design Engineering at the Technical University of Delft, entered the work world as a designer in the marketing department of General Electric Plastics. In 2008 he founded his own firm to pursue his creative freedom. In cooperation with Scoof BV (Jorrit Schoonhoven and Angelo Jansen) Roy designed and developed the innovative Beick35 concept. Beick.nl is a Dutch website where people can customize and purchase city bikes online. Through an online 3D configuration tool (developed by DPI), the customer 34
Look up: www.roygilsing.com
35
Look up: www.beick.nl
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can create his/her personal bicycle with more than 5 million variations. Bikes are designed and delivered on subassemblies, which reduce the stock of entire bikes and provide the customer with more options. Grounded in the strong Dutch tradition for the use of city bikes, Beick aims to develop regular bikes (with more consumer value and no exotic bicycle designs and useless features), try to encourage cycling for non-cyclists (fostering sustainable lifestyles) and use industrial design to improve logistics quality control and quality assurance.
a return to the physical experience of craftsmanship, but matched with current industrial production and new technologies, allowing to valorise each other. In 2001 Marcel Wanders together with Casper Vissers, founded the company “Moooi”36. The Moooi portfolio contains a selection of products designed by Marcel Wanders and other national and international designers. The company, based in Breda (the Netherlands) but also strongly linked to Milan, own worldwide showrooms to sell its emotional products.
The project was funded through the international platform Kickstarter.
The mixture of innovative materials and technologies with ancient local shapes and traditions are the ingredients of the projects by Marcel Wanders. For instance, the Knotted chair is made of a blend of aramidic fibre, composite wire of carbon fibre and copper. Innovative materials are then subjected to the macramé, an ancient craft technique of Moorish origin. This way it is produced a weave similar to traditional lace or crocheted fishing nets, showing that handcrafted creations can also inspire modern technologies. This is therefore a wise expression of what could be called “New Craft”,
Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers, founders of Moooi.
Hella Jongerius is a young Dutch designer who became famous thanks to Droog Design and has also opened his own company, “Invaders”. She therefore follows two parallel paths: 36 “Mooi” is a Dutch word which means “beautiful”. The add of a third “o” in the brand name stands for an extra value in terms of beauty and uniqueness.
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a commercial one with her own company and a cultural one with her experimental work for Droog Design. Her objects retain the memory of handmade, due to their evident character of irregularity. However, in this case, irregularity is obtained through the use of modern technologies, like in the case of vases with the traditional shape of terracotta pots, but made of polyurethane foam, deliberately leaving or producing scratches, bubbles and cracks on them (PASCA, TRAPANI, 2001).
From the top, Hella Jongerius, “Long Neck Bottles�, edited by Jongeriuslab, 2002; Hella Jongerius, self-production of vases. 128
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Formafantasma37 is a design studio formed by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, two young designers based in Eindhoven whose design goal is to rescue traditional techniques that are gradually disappearing, merging local cultures and global context, craft features and industrial processes. 37 Formafantasma participated at the second edtition of the “IN Residence” workshop. Their work is depth in BRONDI, B., RAINÒ, M. (edited by). 2010. IN Residence. Design Dialogues_Diary 2. Mantova, Corraini.
Formafantasma, “Botanica” and “Moulding traditions”. In the next page, “Baked”. 129
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Among the protagonists of produção pessoal in the Netherlands, it is worthy to mention Pieke Bergmans38, a young Dutch product designer. Her modus operandi consists in manipulating existing production processes to obtain new functions and forms, giving rise to spontaneous, fresh, playful, fun creations. Devoted to produção pessoal, she also collaborates with industry, exploring the potential of their production facilities and then exploiting them with the purpose of obtaining a “customized mass 38 Pieke Bergmans participated at the first edition of the “IN Residence” workshop, edited by Barbara Brondi and Marco Rainò, held in Turin in november 2008. For further deepening of her work, please look up: BRONDI, B., RAINÒ, M. (edited by). 2009. IN Residence. Design Dialogues_Diary 1. Mantova, Corraini.
Pieke Bergmans, self-production of vases.
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production” giving life to objects whose charm lies in the imperfection elevated to art. Pieke leads a hectic research into shapes, materials and their potential, is inspired by everything she finds in her path, devoting much time to experimentation. Regarding the dichotomy between limited and unlimited series, Pieke says: “The next step in mass production could be a manufacturing process that creates controlled imperfections, creating interesting and custom objects” (BRONDI, RAINÒ, 2009). Julien Carretero, “To be continued”. Julien Carretero39 is graduated in Industrial Design in Paris and in England, then he attended the MSc at Design Academy of Eindhoven, under the direction of Gijs Bakker (co-founder of Droog Design). He has worked in the Marten Baas design studio before founding his own studio in Eindhoven, becoming part of the Atelierdrop collective. His MSc thesis, entitled “Theme & Variations”, explored the border between unique pieces and serial production and gave birth to the series “To be continued”. These 39 Julien Carretero participated at the third edition of the “IN Residence” workshop. His work is deeply analyzed in: BRONDI, B., RAINÒ, M. (edited by). 2011. IN Residence. Design Dialogues_Diary 3. Mantova, Corraini.
reflections were the starting point for the main concern of the designer for experimentation, which leads him to consider production as a process of growth, alive and unpredictable. Designing on his own his industrial process, Carretero seeks to join the gap between industrial and handicraft production. These considerations inspire the “Drag” project, a reinterpretation of traditional techniques of modelling gypsum (here replaced by synthetic gypsum, more solid, waterproof and non-porous) while it is solidifying, creating a shaped profile. This way Carretero has created a low cost production system, which does not require any particular craft skill. It is flexible, as using a single very simple device you can get an infinite number of “unique” pieces.
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Jo Meesters40 is a laboratory for product concepts focused on searching for new methods of exploitation of materials and exploring the relationships between advanced craftsmanship and mass production. Jo Meesters aims to provide his products with an emotional value, establishing a strong affection link between the object and its user. According to Jo Meesters, “design means shifting boundaries, exploring new and traditional materials and 40 For deepening Jo Meesters’ work, please look up BRONDI, B., RAINÒ, M. (edited by). 2010. IN Residence. Design Dialogues_Diary 2. Mantova, Corraini.
methods, and new ways to match them” (BRONDI, RAINÒ, 2010). Continuous research for innovative materials and techniques is the main focus of the Jo Meesters’ studio. The basic principle that animates Jo Meesters’ work is sustainability. It has developed, among others, “Testlab”, a project based on reuse of waste materials, reinterpreted to get a new life. This project has given rise to the collection “Odds & Ends, Bits & Pieces”, obtained by putting together scraps of wooden sleepers with blankets wastes, using the technique of tapestry weaving.
Jólan van der Wiel, “Gravity Stool”.
Bram Amendt, “Shout a Shape”. 132
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Enviu, co-design platform based in Rotterdam. “Sustainable Dance Club” Project. 133
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BRICOLEUR DIY BY RECESSION DESIGN Recession Design is a project of DIY crafts, launched in 2009 at the Milan Design Week with the provocative
exhibition “Design – Do It Yourself”. The group of designer which goes under the name Recession Design share the idea that the economic crisis can become an opportunity for stimulating critical reflection on the contemporary design Multiple identities in Brazilian produção scene. Design is against the pessoal:Recession the “patchwork”.
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6.3 BRAZIL: ARTISANS’ COMMUNITIES On an opposite but equally exemplary front from the Dutch environment, in Brazil self-production is often linked to craftsmanship to rescue local traditions and identities. Brazilian designers have developed a national design, which is rich of influences from local arts and crafts, that is to say the material culture of the territory, as affirmed by Darcy Ribeiro41 in his book “O povo brasileiro – a formação e o sentido do Brasil” (1995): “We, Brazilians, are people to be, prevented from being so. Mixed people in flesh and spirit, since here 41 Darcy Ribeiro (born in Montes Claros in October the 26th 1922 and died in Brasilia in February, the 17th 1997) was a Brazilian anthropologist, writer and politician, known for its focus on Indians and education in the country.
mixture has never been a crime or sin. We are made of it (the mixture) and we are still carrying on making ourselves out of it. This mass of natives has lived for centuries without self-consciousness… It was so, up to define a new ethnic national identity, the Brazilian identity...” (Author’s translation). This extract provides a meaningful view of the Brazilian spirit, which has not developed a self-consciousness for a long time. What strongly characterizes the Brazilian culture is its plurality of ethnic and social background, which has led to a rich repertoire of insights for territory-led projects. From this perspective, it arises the need
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to define a New Design42, which is national, permeated by material culture elements (mainly from traditional arts and crafts), rich in originality. From this perspective, Brazil can be surely defined as a “hybrid” (KISTMANN, 2001) and “multicultural” (SEMPRINI, 1999) territory, because it is constituted by different people and cultures which cohabit and share information. This crossroad of different cultures seems to be a good stimulus for creativity, since it is a territory rich in native symbols and ancient traditions which can be reinterpreted by diverse cultures and actualized for current and future generations. Another feature which has deeply shaped Brazilian design is the dichotomy “local-global, which has led to a multi-identity country, “fruit of a post-modern society that combines local and global” (ROIZENBRUCH, 2009, p.33).
identity.In reality, according to Adélia Borges, it is difficult to outline the peculiarities of Brazilian produção pessoal, which is a very complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Beyond the fact that produção pessoal is a sort of production done by the author himself, Brazilian designers follow different paths with regard to material culture and identity. Some designers search for a language explicitly linked to local identity; some other receive international influences. Diverse young designers self-produce manually their projects recovering archaic and popular techniques, using local natural materials or reinterpreting anonymous traditional typologies. Everything is characterized by contemporary – and markedly Brazilian – sensibility and expressiveness.
Brazil certainly represents a very original reality in the complex panorama of young contemporary design. Produção pessoal is developed as a stimulus for reflecting on the relationship between globalization and the rescue of local 42 The expression “New Design” constitutes a framework for contemporary design, referring to the cultural, social, economic and political changes within design has been developed. This concept was analysed by the following authors: Branzi, 2006, p. 16; Manzini, Meroni, 2009, p. 1316; Schneider, 2010, p. 163-171.
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Heloisa Crocco, “Topomorfose” project
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Hugo Franca, self-production of wooden furniture for the Inhotim parque, Minas Gerais. By using recycled materials, processed through elementary tools, it is tried to operate a fusion of modernity (intended as geometric and chromatic abstraction) and “Braziliannes” (conceived as pleasure for excess, playfulness and vitality). From the analysis of Brazilian design, it emerges the diffuse use of
colours, research on materials, often with a playful approach to design.
According to the theorists interviewed (Dijon Moraes, Adélia Borges, Eduardo Barroso Neto), produção pessoal is best expressed in the fashion, graphic,
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furniture and gastronomy sectors. Brazilian fashion activities can likely be defined as produção pessoal experiences. In this sector, some fabric, lines and a sewing machine is the only equipment necessary to create a fashion micro-enterprise. Many designers create brands, often with their own name, participate in international fashion shows, open stores in major cities outside Brazil, becoming successful. In the field of furniture, it is very easy to start a produção pessoal: just some planks of wood, a saw and some fasteners (e.g. nails) are enough to allow a person to self-produce furniture. In Brazil there are a lot of designers-carpenters who own a workshop where they produce – by hands, with care - furniture with high technical quality. Besides, there are also some entrepreneurs who set up very well equipped businesses to produce furniture.
Brazilian produção pessoal is often expressed in practices of assemblage of industrial components, as new as reused. This is the case, for instance, of Jùlio Sannazzaro who realizes the diffuser of a lamp by cutting and combining two half-bottles of a cheap and widespread wine. Mariana Dupas and Rosa Berger self-produce the “Nebulosa” lamp by using pantyhose,
balls generally used as decoration and a net normally used to carry oranges. Annette Berliner uses a traditionally poor material, that is papier-mâché, to create hand-painted trays with typically Brazilian shapes and colours. Hugo França recovers forest wastes and traditional techniques to create unique pieces of furniture. For instance, he realized a chair with woven leather seat and structure made of wood processed with the technique of ancient canoes. Finally, the designs by the Campana brothers, Paula Dib, Celton, Heloisa Crocco, (among others) and the craft communities in Brazil are the reflection of a young, but booming country, which receives and reinterprets the influences of the International culture of design. There, self-production stresses the research on materials, the reuse of wastes, technological testing, biomimicry43 and so on. This is sustainable design, due to the fact that it is typically local, using the cultural, social, material and technological resources of the territory.
43 Biomimicry (or Biomimetics) is the study of biologic and biomechanics processes of nature, used as source of inspiration for improving human activities, technologies and artifacts.
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6.3.1 THE ROOTS OF BRAZILIAN NEW DESIGN The social, cultural and economic context in which Brazilian design has been developed is strictly interwoven with the history of international industrialization. Brazil has not a long history behind, unlike other countries such as Italy. It is a country whose identity is still about to be defined, or at least changing. This is one of the reasons for which Brazil is a country open to international relations,
to confront itself with different realities, especially Italy and the United States. After World War II many Italians and Germans immigrated to Brazil, exporting overseas their manufacturing know-how, technology, contributing to the development of Brazil44.
The design education in Brazil in 1960s was structured on the German 44 Information provided by the Brazilian designer Pedro Paulo Franco during the conference “It takes a Bric(k) to build a house�, during the Milano Design Week 2012.
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(from Bauhaus) and European model, distancing Brazilian design from its craft tradition until the 1980s.
During the Military Age (1960s and 70s) multinational companies have dominated the Brazilian industrial scene, creating a design background inspired by international references, far from the local culture. This context has debased Brazilian design, bringing it back to a low level of acknowledgment (Moraes, 2006). According to Agostinetti (2008), at that time Brazilian artists concerned to criticize the country. In the field of art, in this period it arose the socalled Conceptual Art: the object was dematerialized, confusing everyday life with processes, ideas and concepts
this period, multinationals increased externalization of their productions in Brazil, attracted by the local cheap workforce. On the other hand, Brazilian designers interpreted this limit as an opportunity, developing their own autonomous design, more authentic, using local technologies (Dornas Moura, 2011, p.88).
The
industrialized
models
of
multinationals was already been thwarted much before from designers and architects such as Zanini Caldas (1919-2001), Joaquim Tenreiro (1906-1992) and Sérgio Rodrigues. They developed Brazilian modernist concepts in their furniture designs, creating original and territorial projects (Roizenbruch, 2009).
represented through movies, videos, photos and more. However, in 1980s during the age called Post-Military, designers focused their efforts on overwhelming the multinational influences, rooting their projects on cultural, social, historical, economic and politic features typical from Brazil. In this regard, Moraes affirms that designers foreshadowed flying their flag “against the indifference of multinationals with their strategies of easy profit and lack of appreciation for local design” (Moraes, 2006, p.5). In
Sergio Rodrigues and his “Chifruda” armchair, 1962.
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In the 50s, the Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi in North East of Brazil conducted a careful search for popular art in order to explore the roots of Brazilian design. Brazilian design derived from her work the fusion between art and design, free
multidisciplinary creativity. She was able to combine her Italian style with Brazilian ethnic, in its various facets, from the Afro to the Indigenous, and even the “caispira� culture, that is rural.
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It was only in the late 1980s and 90s that Brazilian design accessed the post-modern design scene, enhancing identity and cultural issues in the creative dynamism and originality of local designers.
In the previous page: “Puras Misturas” exhibition organized by Adélia Borges in São Paulo, 2010: a collection of popular artifact from North East of Brazil. Above: Wooden furniture by Mauricio Azeredo.
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(2005). According to Agostinetti (2008), since the nineteenth century artists became subversive and violator of the order. The art created in that period began to reflect local artists’ ideas and not anymore universal issues. This new concept of art subsequently elevated contemporary art to the stage of Post-Modern Art; Neoconcretism arose in the field of Brazilian culture in the late 1950s. Artists like Lygia Clark (1920-1988), Amilcar de Castro (1920-
Ronaldo Fraga, Summer collection 2013, Belo Horizonte.
It can be said that the design concept in contemporary Brazil has become very complex, leading products to adapt to diversity. In this perspective, design acts as the intermediary between production and consumption, culture and tradition, innovation and quality (BÜRDEK, 2006; CIPINIUK, 2006; KRUCKEN, 2009).
Even in the field of arts, contemporary Brazilian production reflects the very multifaceted country, as well its dynamic development, as suggested by Lemon
2002) among others, participated at the first exhibition of Neoconcrete Art at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in 1959. Neoconcrete Art is important in the field of Brazilian culture because it signed the start for viewers to interact with the work of art, taking a critical and active role in relation to art.
Nowadays, in Brazil industrial production is weak in some sectors, while manual traditions are still very strong. Handicraft is also supported by some institutional programs, calling design to collaborate for development of artisanal communities. In the contemporary Brazilian design scene, some designers approach produção pessoal as an aware choice, moved by the will to join design thinking with manual skills, without the historical separation typical of industrial design. It is the case, for instance, of Domingos
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Tortora, who works in his hometown, Maria da Fé, in Minas Gerais, and employs ten people in his workshop. However, unlike some developed countries (like the Netherlands) where designers act as artists who knowingly decide to produce experimental objects on their own, in Brazil most designers are “pushed” towards produção pessoal due to a precise circumstance. In Brazil, the culture of design is still not much widespread and it is difficult to establish a fruitful collaboration between designers and companies, which are often more devoted to the mere imitation of Italian models than seeking to carry out design research. Consequently, some young designers – as they cannot find collaboration with industries, give rise to experiences of produção pessoal to freely express their creativity and local identity.45 Such designers regret the difficulty to manage the entire process (from design to production, distribution and promotion) and declare they would prefer to focus exclusively on designing, while neglecting the other phases, if it were possible.
Oscar Niemeyer, Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (with mural painted by Candido Portinari), Belo Horizonte, 1943.
45 Considerations of the Brazilian designer Pedro Paulo Franco, during the “SelfMadeMeeting” conference, held in Turin, on 6th november 2010.
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The historical path that led to contemporary New Design in Brazil.
6.3.2 THE MEANING OF CRAFTSAMANSHIP
this territory. Various design books in Brazil describe the meanings of this word, which is lately as spoken as misunderstood.
As already said, in Brazil self-produced design is strictly interwoven with craftsmanship. Hence, it is necessary to include in this research, a brief analysis of Brazilian handicraft to better understand its continuities and discontinuities within the design sphere.
The word “craft” come from the French neologism “artisanat-artisan=artificer” (SERVIÇO BRASILEIRO DE APOIO ÀS MICRO E PEQUENAS EMPRESAS, 2004, p. 5). Conceptually, craft is defined by the Conselho Mundial do Artesanato (CMA) as:
Before entering the deep analysis of the relation between design and craftsmanship in Brazil, it is important to define the meaning of handicraft in
“Any productive activity that results in objects and artefacts produced manually or with the use of traditional
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Rejânia Rodrigues and her nephew at home in Alagoas. Photo by: Celso Brandão.
a small industrial activity.
or rudimentary means, with skill, dexterity, creativity and quality. It is linked to natural resources existent in a given region, due to the relationship between the man and the environment, and established as an economic and social activity” (Author’s translation).
According to the definition adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), during the “International Symposium UNESCO” in 1997:
Thus, it is clear that the first important characteristic of craft in Brazil is the fact of being produced by hand, which distinguishes it from European and Italian (for example) craft, which already make use of advanced production techniques, laying on the borders with
“Handmade products are those produced by artisans, either totally by hand, or with the use of tools or even mechanical means. The direct manual contribution of the craftsman
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Creative solution of seat. Photo by: Paula Dib. remains as the most substantial part of the finished product. These items are produced without any limit in terms of quantity and using raw materials from sustainable resources. The special nature of artisanal products derives from their distinctive features, which can be utilitarian, aesthetic, artistic, creative, of cultural and symbolic character, significant from a social point of view.�
“Crafts is a popular example of cultural production that resists and will resist any changed imposed by time. Craft accompanies the time without the willing to beat it and not accepting its domination. Thus, nowadays the values of past are more alive and are highlighted in the imagery that populates the creation of a material culture adapted to the contemporary universe.�
The researcher Melo et al. (2002, p. 11) highlights the timeless essence of handicraft, which expresses the traditional values and material culture of a population, hence resisting to fast development. He states:
The art of crafts is much more than a romantic idea, linked to the past. It is a popular know-how, transferred across generations, based on cultural and social traditions. Craft products, due to their socio-cultural value, are the
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Sink over the slum in the Morro do alemao, Rio de Janeiro. Photo by: Leo Lima. best representatives of a population, reaffirming artisans’ self-esteem.
From Peace’s point of view (1991, p. 51), in handicrafts “there is a continuous shuttle between utility and beauty. This shuttle has a name: pleasure. The things are pleasurable because they are useful and beautiful. […] Craft is a kind of party of the object: it turns tools in a sign of participation”. Given the statements above, it can be understood that craft exemplifies the cultural richness of a particular region. It is a cultural and territorial production, which resists any changes imposed by time (DORNAS MOURA, 2011, p.
32). In this social and cultural value it is possible to identify a first point of contact between craftsmanship and self-produced design. According to Dorfles (1991), craft is a true product differentiator. In other words, the result of a craft production is a differentiated object even when subjected to repetition, that is, whether produced sequentially, there is no absolute equality among objects. This makes the handmade products unique and it links craftsmanship to selfproduced design. With regard to the professional of craft, called “artisan”, Martins (1973) affirms that this name arose between the X, XI and XII centuries around the European
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Brazilian religious tradition. castles called boroughs. At that time, the raw material used came from their region itself and the production used techniques derived from the traditional ways of life and history of craftsmen. Roizenbruch (2009, p. 58) explains that since that time craftsmen is responsible for passing their skills and experience from generation to generation, making craft a practice that links the past with the present. That is why, in one way
or another professional craftsmen, using territorial materials, shapes and languages, portray in their works a cultural style. The situation experienced and embodied by artisans requires from these professionals unique skills and abilities. As stated by Barroso Neto46 46 Eduardo Barroso Neto is the designer responsible for the first systematization of
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Above: Traditional cross made of paper, Tiradentes (Minas Gerais). Left: religious decorations made of wood, from Bichinho, Minas Gerais and typical banners made of fabric, Macacos, Minas Gerais. Photos by the author. (2000), this activity often requires ingenuity in shapes, uses and functions, revealing the creativity of who produced that piece. It is for this reason that, as Dorfles (1991, p. 22) points, nowadays the craft object is intended to be an exceptional work, precisely due to the need of constant presence of the craftsman, making its production in series impossible. It arose as a limited production, which is another feature in common with selfcraft production in Brazil.
produced design. Understood by some scholars as artistic expression and by others as productive activity, it is certain that craftsmanship reflects the culture and creative capacity of the common man, establishing a link with his community and his place of origin (MARTINS, 2013). Unlike
the
high
tech47
trends, overexploited by design, craftsmanship
47 High tech refers to high performance technology.
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follows low tech48 principles. In this context, it is possible to identify the origin of raw materials, the quality of inputs used, the workforce commitment and employment of new low impact technologies. The craft object is produced by hand through rudimentary tools and equipments, using techniques passed down through generations and materials generally abundant in the region. Finally, in brief we can refer to Martins (1973, p. 57) who points some remarkable elements in the craftsmanship field:
Craft is a manifestation of community life, the work oriented towards producing objects most commonly used in loco, either with an utilitarian function or with a playful use, as well as decorative or religious. Craftsmanship is a system of work of the population, though it may be found in all social and cultural levels. Handicraft is a practical activity, whose learning is informal, based on observation, testing and experience. The craftsman self-produces his objects, or learns his work in the artisanal workshop of his family or neighbour.
48 Low tech defines technology with low impact.
Gross National Happiness (GNH). Photo by: Paula Dib. 152
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(Author’s translation).
6.3.3 CRAFTSMANSHIP IN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT According to Nadja Maria Mourão (2013): “The crafts sector represents the wealth of cultural expression and creativity of specific populations, and is ahead of new possibilities identified as new socioeconomic solutions or creative economies. Small groups of artisans grow economically, act as managers, developing new skills, functions and sources of income. As a consequence, they offer a differential investment in human capital”
In the latest decades, craftsmanship has obtained a prominent position within the Brazilian economy due to several factors: stability of the national currency, changes in the industrial and commercial sectors, strengthening of micro-enterprises, popularization of internet and diverse social achievements, among others.
It is important to highlight that Brazil is a very young country, which is growing at a very fast pace. Just to mention some data, while São Paulo in 1870 was populated by only 30.000 inhabitants, the number of inhabitants
Local economy. Photo by: Paula Dib. 153
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Above: typical houses from Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais) painted on pieces of demolition wood (photo by the auhtor). RIght: hat hand-made of local straw by an artisan from the Jequitinhonha Valley (photo by the author). increased up to 240.000 in 1900 and reached 12 million in 2011 no fewer than 20,000,000.49 Yet, although this rapid development, the culture of design is not widespread yet and the country is still facing with many structural problems, whereby there is a large difference between wealth and development of the nation According to Rabahy (2003), during the 49 Data reported by the Brazilian designer Pedro Paulo Franco during the conference “It takes a Bric(k) to build a house�, April 2012.
period between 1960 and 1980, Brazil was rated as one of the eight richest nations in the West World, with a rate of economic growth of 7% per year. With time passing, this perspective changed, and in 2001 Brazil was classified as the 11th world economy. This drastic change has occurred because, since 1990, ONU realized that GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is a very restricted indicator to assess the development of a nation, and started using other indicators such as
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The house and atelier of an artisan in Resende Costa, Minas Gerais, april 2013. Photo by the author. the HDI (Human Development Index), which summarizes four parameters (life expectancy, literacy rate, years of schooling and GDP/capita). Moreover, it is noteworthy that the process of innovation and development is consolidated when a nation guarantees to its people basic rights such as health, education, housing, non-partisan political participation, etc.
According to the report ONU regarding the world economic situation and perspectives (ONU, 2013), in the last two decades, Brazil registered a growth of 24% in the HDI, rising from 0,59 in 1990 to 0,73 in 2012. In comparison to developed countries, Brazil is rated in the 85th place. On the other hand, it is the sixth largest world economy. According to the Central Bank,
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Brazilian economy showed an increase of 0,87%, that is 4% of GDP in the year 2012. It is worthy to note that craftsmanship plays an important role in Brazilian economy. Currently, craftsmanship handles approximately R$ 52 billion per year (that is about € 18 billion), being one of the top five contributors to Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Handicraft is the cultural activity with the highest rate of occurrence across the 5.564 Brazilian municipalities. It is proved by a survey conducted in 2006 by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia
e Estatística – IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic). Such a research showed that the highest percentages of cultural activities in municipalities were, in order of occurrence: crafts exhibitions (57.7%), arts and crafts fairs (55.6%), feasts of popular traditions expressions (49.2%), music festivals (38,7%), dance festivals (35.5%), dance contests (34,8%) and music contests (31.9%).50 According to the Vox Populi Institute (2013), craftsmanship is one the sector of creative economy, serving about 50 Data from the Municipal Basic Information Survey – MUNIC, conducted in 2006.
Typical rag dolls, Minas Gerais. Photo by the author. 156
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8,5 million of artisans51. In 2011, the IBGE included craft in the Código de Ocupação Brasileira - CBO (Code of Brazilian Occupations), which allows to properly assess the number of existing professionals. Handicraft constitutes a predominantly feminine activity: 85% of artisans are estimated to be women (BORGES, 2011). Generally, they do not consider craftsmanship as a professional activity and alternate craft work with other occupations. It is also important to highlight that a lot of artisans do not enrol in development
projects sponsored by the government
51 The numbers are not precise, especially because of a great amount of informal workers.
Cerrado leaves are deydrated and compose adornments. Grupo Flor do Cerrado, from Samambaia. Photo by> Lena Trinidade. 157
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Decorative craft: ceramic flower from Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais. Photo by: André Corrêa. because they are afraid to lose economic benefits, like “Bolsa Familia” (Family Grant) or retirement pensions which is prohibited for families which have another job beyond farming. As the Minister Fernando Pimentel states, Brazilian handicraft is one of the richest in the world, with wide recognition in Europe and the United States. According to the Pesquisa de Informações Básicas Municipais MUNIC (in English, “Survey of Basic Municipal Information”) conducted in 2006 by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE (in
English, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in partnership with the Ministry of Culture: “64.3% of Brazilian municipalities own some type of craft production. [...] This production is very important in the generation of employment and income in Brazil, where millions of artisans are responsible for a financial move that proves the economic capacity of the sector” (SEBRAE, 2010) (Author’s translation). In Brazil some organizations have been developed to encourage the partnership between designer and artisans. It is worth to mention the government programs
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Decorative craft: ceramic dolls from Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais. Photo by: André Corrêa. emerged from 1977 in order to stimulate the development and promotion of handicrafts as well as the creation of cooperatives to provide families with income. For instance, the “Programa Nacional de Desenvolvimento do Artesanato – PNDA” (National Program for Handicraft Development. The program “Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio ás Micro e Pequenas Empresas – SEBRAE” (Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises) was founded in 1988 offering a systemic view on craft activities, supporting them at all the stages of the productive chain. Since 1991 the MDIC - Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign
Trade has coordinated the “Programa do Artesanato Brasileiro – PAB” (Brazilian Handicraft Program), responsible for the elaboration of public policies for the artisanal sector. It aims to support the improvement of craftsmanship, from a cultural, social and economic level, promoting handmade products in relation to market. Such programs seek to add value to products, strengthening and stimulating local identity.
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Threads dyed with different local plants, by Eber Ferreira. Photo by: Leka Oliveira.
Although the scarcity of precise information to correctly assess the economic impact of such programs, positive data has already been registered. For instance, the “Programa de Qualificação de Empreendedores” (Entrepreneurs Qualification Program) in its ten years of activity has led to an increase in average income of individual artisans between 50 and 300 per cent (BORGES, 2011). A survey conducted in 2000 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development – UNCTAD, calculated that the cost per job created in the petrochemical industry is $220,000, in the automotive industry
it is $91,000, while in handicraft it is U$75.12. Furthermore, craftsmanship is responsible for sustainable development, unlike petrochemical and automotive industries. We must also notice that the business of craft is strongly connected to another sustainable industry: tourism. Brazil should be able to take advantage of international events (such as the Olympic Games in 2016 and the World Cup in 2014) to enhance tourism for the economic development of the country.
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Left: Chilli pepper jars at Central Market, Belo Horizonte, 2013 (photo by the author). Right: “Bala Delicia”, candy made with coconut milk, Macacos, Minas Gerais, 2013 (photo by the auhtor). The development of craftsmanship is mainly due to entrepreneurship. According to Dornelas (20008), the term “entrepreneur” comes from the French “entrepreneur” and it indicates a person who takes the risk of starting something new, thus an innovator. As Mourão (2013) states, innovation also is driven by groups of artisans who develop new production and commercialization methods. The shared work of craft producing baskets and fabrics, production and distribution of handmade biscuits, sweets and many other typical local products, are some of the models of associative work, practiced by new entrepreneurs. These are groups of people who develop their craft production people who wish to develop their craft production, with the aim to create a fair and sustainable
social environment, avoiding top-down welfarism. Entrepreneurship in craftsmanship can be fostered through proper definition of objectives and consequent planning, regardless small or large investments (MOURAO, 2013). An example of design-driven enhancement of entrepreneurship is the participatory design experience conducted in the artisan community of São Sebastião das Águas Claras (known as “Macacos”), in Nova Lima, Minas Gerais. This experience is deeply analysed as one of the case studies in the following of this monograph. Here it is important to note that participatory design has allowed artisans to become a community, opening a point of sale for their craft products with a focus on local identity
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and material culture, fostering local tourism. Mourão (2013) highlights that examples like this can be found all over Brazil, small and large attempts, each with diverse aims and potential. New entrepreneurs should be fostered to use available resources, suitable for each region. Thus, exchanging goods and services between sectors (systemic network of resources), sharing trading spaces (online platforms), new micro and small entrepreneurs can develop mindful innovative products and services. As a consequence, personal empowerment and quality of life are reached.
6.3.4 CLASSIFICATION OF BRAZILIAN CRAFT In order to better understand the craft sphere, it may be useful to map it and define a classification of the diverse approaches developed in Brazil. Craftsmanship includes a multitude of uses, materials, techniques and processes; this which makes it a quite extensive and complex approach. In an attempt to systematize the craft activity, Eduardo Barroso has defined the terms most used by professionals of the sector, which were later adopted by the Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas Brazilian
Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises (SEBRAE)52 in the document entitled “Termo de Referência - Programa SEBRAE de Artesanato”. In this document are exposed several concepts about crafts, establishing classification categories related to (a) use and/or function, (b) origin, (c) organizational structure and (d) type (SEBRAE, 2004). According to the use or function of handicraft objects, the SEBRAE identifies the following categories in Brazilian craftsmanship: - Accessory (such as handbags and belts);
jewellery,
- Conceptual; - Decorative (i.e. sculptures, tables, pads, etc…); - Educative (like games); - Liturgical (such as candlesticks, oratorios, saints, etc…); - Ludic (cars, dolls, houses, among others);
52 SEBRAE (Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas) is a private, nonprofit institution, established in 1972 in Brazil. It is part of the “S” System which aims to support the development of micro and small enterprises in Brazil. It operates through partnerships with the public and private sector, developing training programs, trade fairs and business meetings.
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From top: leather stripes from Rochina slum, Rio de Janeiro (photo by C. Brandão); Chita fabric in Muquém, Minas Gerais, in a project by R. Imbroisi (photo by L. Trinidade); Home accessory made of local fiber Capim Dourado, in Jalapão, Projeto Jalapa/SEBRAE-TO; Hand-made fabric from Resende Costa, Minas Gerais; Bamboo canes (photo by P. Dib); Local seeds (photo by P.Dib); Local seeds from the Jequitinhonha Valley (photo by the auhtor); Leaves used for the Ujamaa production, by R. Imbroisi. 163
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processed according to traditional methods, at small-scale, by a family or group linked to cultural traditions, mainly for tourism. Liqueurs, jams, cachaça53,
- Utilitarian (pots, jars, boxes, baskets are examples of this category).
According to the origin of craft, the Termo de Referência (SEBRAE, 2004, p. 21) distinguishes:
chocolates, candies are examples of typical Brazilian products. - Domestic craft: artefacts with aesthetic not elaborated, not necessarily connected to local culture and produced as a hobby or complementary activity by artisans.
- Popular art: traditional craft to be preserved and promoted as a source of reference for contemporary design. - Indigenous crafts: objects collectively produced by indigenous community members and incorporated into everyday tribal life.
- Utilitarian craft: objects produced to meet the needs of everyday life, without aesthetic concerns, simple shapes and using raw materials available in the region.
- Traditional handicraft: artefacts made by a social group, transmitted from generation to generation, preserving techniques, traditions and customs.
- Large scale craft: serial products, however using craft workforce, especially in the finishing stages (e.g. travel or religious souvenirs).
- Conceptual craft: objects produced by people with high innovative, artistic, educational and cultural level, generally with urban origin. - Craft with cultural reference: products produced in partnership between designers and artisans, incorporating traditional cultural elements of a region as a differential. - Typical products: food products
Also in accordance with the Termo de Referência (SEBRAE, 2004, p.26), artisans are classified according to the form of work organization: - Master craftsman: working in an office and is respected not only by his apprentices and assistant 53 Cachaça is a liquor made of fermented sugarcane juice. It is the most popular distilled alcoholic drink in Brazil
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artisans, but also by customers and consumers. - Artisan: professional with technical knowledge about the materials, tools and processes in which he is expert, dominating
the entire production process. - Apprentice: helper of craft production workshops responsible for preparing parts of the work, subject to a process of empowerment.
From top: embroidery from the Jequitinhonha Valley (photo by the author); the author with embroidered fabric at the Jequitinhonha Crafts Fair, Belo Horizonte, 2013; hammock decorated with typical “chita” fabric, Resende Costa, Minas Gerais (photo by the author); Chita fabric in Muquém, Minas Gerais, in a project conducted by R. Imbroisi (photo by L. Trinidade). 165
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production efficiency, gain quality and competitiveness due to cost savings in purchase of raw materials, manufacturing, transport, distribution and sale.
- Artist: coherent to his own style, always creates new things and goes beyond the already known. - Centre of family production: the workforce is made up of members of the same family, directed by the householder. In general, there is not a fixed-rate payment system, but people are paid according to their needs and fund availability. - Group of artisanal production:
According to the Termo de ReferĂŞncia (SEBRAE, 2004, p.24), the main raw materials used in Brazilian craft (mineral, vegetable, animal; natural or processed, recycled, reused) are:
groups of artisans who work in the same sector and use informal agreements such as purchase of raw materials, promotional strategies and joint collective production.
- Clay (used for dishes, pots, vases, sculptures, etc‌); - Leather (bovine, caprine, reptile, etc. used for saddles, shoes, bags and fashion accessories);
- Artisanal enterprise: micro and small productive enterprise, owning a legal status and a social contract and fixed salary for its craftsmen.
- Fibre (mainly, Buriti, coconut, rattan, jute, vines, bamboo, corn husk, banana leaf, used in
- Association: private non-profit institution established to defend and look after the interests of its members. It is governed by a board elected for regular periods.
- Wire (mainly, wool and cotton, employed in weaving nets, blankets, bedspreads, carpets, or crochets, knits and embroidered pieces);
- Cooperative: associations of artisans, not less than 20 participants, who join a group to achieve common benefits. In general, the aims are to organize and standardize activities of common interest, improve
- Wood (widely used in the production of furniture, decorative objects, sculptures, toys, musical instruments, canoes and small boats);
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the production of baskets, rugs, furniture, etc..);
- Metal (cast aluminium, brass,
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Classification of craft articraft according to USE/FUNCTION. Source: SEBRAE, 2004.
Classification of craft articraft according to ORIGIN. Source: SEBRAE, 2004. 167
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Classification of craft articraft according to ORGANIZATION. Source: SEBRAE, 2004.
Classification of craft articraft according to RAW MATERIAL. Source: SEBRAE, 2004. 168
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copper, iron and silver, used in the production of knives, horseshoes, candle holders, pots, jewellery and trinkets); - Stone (semi-precious stones, such as granite, marble, soapstone, used for decorative pieces); - Glass (used for cups, bottles, vases, lamps, mosaics and sculptures). - Other (rubber, paper, waxes, paraffin, bones, horns, feathers, seeds and recycled industrial materials).
It is important to highlight that Brazilian craft receives an important contribution from the indigenous population. The art of braiding vegetable fibres, the reuse of leather and animal skin, the handling of clay, among others, are a heritage left by Indians, living in various regions of the country. Indigenous craftsmanship is mostly the result of a collective production which overlooks the figure of artist as follows a logic of labour division, in which the parts are made by two or more people. Traditional crafts is based on family or group production, favouring the continuity of techniques and processes deriving from local culture and traditions (DORNAS MOURA, 2011, p. 35).
6.3.5 PROS & CONTROS OF BRAZILIAN CRAFTS According to Adélia Borges (2011), “the alliance between designers and artisans is a collective, large-scale, widespread phenomenon: it is leading to a truly silent (r)evolution in Latin America”. The analysis of Brazilian hand-crafted design is relevant in contemporary society because it acquires new functions beyond traditional, arising from consumers’ interest in products bearing regional, national and ethnic references. Octavio Paz (2006) states that “the handmade object is a sign that expresses human society in a personal form: neither as a tool (technology), nor as a symbol (art, religion), but as a way of physical and symbiotic life” (PEACE, 2006, p.3). In this context, it is growing the appreciation for hand-crafted design as carrier of new meanings. The functional aspect of craftsmanship is no longer relevant as it grows its market value. A self-produced object carries a number of meanings assigned by its consumers. These meanings emerge, almost always, from the cultural values of the territory integrated in craft production. According to Moraes (2010), handmade products are able to communicate cultural and social factors linked to their territory, allowing
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consumers to appreciate and value their history correctly. In Brazil, handicraft handles increasing workforce and generates larger income. Craft production is not limited to the sale of hand-made objects, but includes a complex system, from material supply, to manufacturing, transportation, sale, communication and consumption of such products. Less tangible than economic impact, but extremely relevant are social transformations caused by the development of artisanal activities. During her numerous experiences, Adélia Borges has witnessed many experiences of social innovation. For instance, thanks to the design and government support, many artisans got increased income, and could buy houses, televisions, or refrigerators. Also health conditions (due to acquired access to medical treatments), as well as self-confidence, pride of one’s origin, work and life get improved. Thanks to the direct contact within the community of designers and other artisans, illiterate and ashamed people are enabled to confidently express their profession, talking to “educated” people, even give talks or are published in newspapers. It is not rare to see artisans who learn to read in order to access e-mails with orders from clients. As noted by Adélia Borges (2011), in some communities, it can happen that houses are built or renovated to function as headquarters
for artisans’ associations. Hence, artisans spend some time working at home, and the remaining part of the day they join the association where they have access to information about various subjects, from health to hygiene, from production to city life. It is worth to cite Helena Sampaio54, who says: “When we get to communities, there are still people walking barefoot, with dirty feet. When we leave, all the artisans are wearing sandals. They now comb their hair, because the gathering of the group itself is already an event, it creates sociability, exchange, interaction among them” (in: BORGES, 2011, p. 215). After participating to non-charitable programs, artisans take more control of their lives, develop notion of belonging, higher political awareness and better recognition of being part of a city community. People get a clearer view of their rights and are freed from the logic of donation, to which they were used. It occurs what Ronaldo 54 Helena Sampaio is a Brazilian researcher and professor, graduated in Social Sciences, Social Anthropology and Political Sciences at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP). She has conducted social projects for the Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP), , the Oscip Artesanato Solidário and the Núcleo de Pesquisa de Políticas Públicas (NUPPs).
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Fraga55 calls “mechanism of cultural appropriation” of the place where they live. Artisans generally show a deal of affection for the designers they have worked with, and this gives great satisfaction to the designer. As a latent consequence of the programs of craft requalification, artisans can return to their hometowns and achieve a quality of life that, before, could be conducted only in large cities. It leads to a reversion of migratory flows, from urban areas to rural ones, re-establishing closer relationships with the territory. Furthermore, in order to sell their products, some artisans are stimulated to travel and this way they can wide their horizons. As a further consequence of Brazilian craft requalification programs, it is recently emerging the figure of young artisans. While until a few years ago artisans wished “better” professions for their children, thus many traditions were disappearing, nowadays an increasing number of teenagers (not only girls, but also boys) participate in craft activities. On the other hand, Eduardo Barroso (1999) points out Brazilian produção pessoal has to deal with many problems in terms of creative process, production and market management, 55 Ronaldo Fraga is the most famous stylist in Minas Gerais (Brazil), whose fashion collection are expression of the local identity.
compromising the economic, social and environmental sustainable development of the productive activity. Brazilian design, especially after the success of the Campana brothers, asserted its own identity, but still misses self-awareness. Moreover, entrepreneurial attitude is still missing: while design Made in Italy reached its success in the 50s thanks to the work of enlightened entrepreneurs, willing to develop a fertile dialogue with designers and craftsmen, this has not happened yet, unfortunately, in Brazil. Collaboration with industry is still a rare perspective, thus young designer chase the path of produção pessoal. Unfortunately, such an approach presents several problems, in terms of amount (often reduced) of items that can be produced, lack of professionalism that often results in poor product finishing, delivery times considerably longer and, not least, low economic resources to invest on production. As a reply to such difficulties, Brazilian produção pessoal should seek a qualitative differentiation and higher quality and value of products in order to compete with handicraft made by communities with a strong cultural reference, such as in the Asian and African countries. By applying design methodologies to craft production, it seems possible to add symbolic value
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to self-made products, and hence get a significant increase in market value, giving autonomy and sustainability to self-production. Brazil is witnessing a trend in the consumer market in valuing unique products with cultural identity and committed to ethics, sustainability and social responsibility. This assumption confirms that the inclusion of these features in produção pessoal may be an opportunity to use design as a strategy for the sustainable development of local artisanal initiatives. Finally, Engler points that nowadays there is a growing desire of crafts products that came from years of standardization and globalization. People got tired of products alike all over the world and want to be distinct, different and unique. In this context, crafts production arises as a possible way in the sense that it allows people to feel themselves special, show their identity by owning and using objects that are not like everyone else. In the future it is likely to reach an equilibrium between high quality craftsmanship and valuable (and not only fashion-led) industry. They will be two parallel markets, which can coexist meeting needs and desires of different target groups. In order to reach a high level and
coexist with industry, crafts production requires following quality standards which make the products repeatable and recognizable as result of design thinking. A good potential for the success of craft products is the synergy between craftsmen and architects/interior designers. This is the case, thus a restricted sector, of architects who work for open-minded clients who accept to combine in their house industrial objects-status symbol (such as an armchair by Kartell) with craft products made by the hands of an artisan who works on demand. In this context, it seems that the ideal market for self-produced objects is an enlarged average class interested in rescuing the material culture of a territory. Whereas in Europe the fair trade market is widely diffused among the average class, in Brazil it is accessible only to the high class. Furthermore, the cost for the certificate is too high to be accessed by most of Brazilian craftsmen (it is more likely spread in the gastronomic sector for products like fruit, coffee, etc.). Most Brazilian customers have not economic access to self-produced small series, thus they finish buying mass products, not because they prefer them, but simply because they have no choice. In reality, in recent times, due to the
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social ascent of the middle class and the dissemination of the design culture into society, the access to design is slowly increasing.
a systemic and articulated action can provide craftsmanship with relevance from a social standpoint, thus reaching economic sustainability.
In order to enlarge the target of craftsmanship, it is necessary to develop very creative and original and differentiated products, which carry a strong local identity and are promoted through an effective communication strategy.
This seems possible to be realized in the long term, but in order to let it happen it is necessary a holistic investment which embrace education, information, culture (through museums, etc.).
Barroso Neto (2000, p. 29) states that this type of craft is not much innovative in terms of aesthetics or production process. However, he suggests a planned intervention of artists and designers in partnership with artisans, in order to diversify the products, preserving their cultural traits more representative. Barroso Neto (2000) states that only
Referring to Borges (2011), it is possible to conclude as it follows: “artisanal production is in tune with recent ideas of sustainability, which embraces concepts of environmental responsibility, economic inclusion, social justice and cultural diversity – the latter which some recognize as the fourth pillar of sustainable development” (BORGES, 2011, p. 217).
Advantages and disadvantages of Brazilian crafts. 173
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Decorative panel made of pieces of wood, Tiradentes. Photo by: Barbara Rangel. 175
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exhibition “Design – Do It Yourself”. The group of designer which goes under the name Recession Design share the idea that the economic crisis can become an opportunity stimulating critical In the next forpage, Campanas’ reflection on the design accumulation of contemporary lines. “Anticorpos” scene. Recession Design is against the exhibition, São Paulo, 2009. 176
6.3.6 BRAZILIAN ARTS AND CRAFTS IN THE WORK BY THE CAMPANA BROTHERS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: For the analysis of the Campanas’ work has been consulted the following sources:
- Personal interview to the Campana Brothers. - Several books, publications and websites (cf. chapter 13 “Sources”).
- DORNAS MOURA A. N. 2011. A influência da cultura, da arte e do artesanato brasileiros no design nacional contemporâneo: um estudo da obra dos irmãos campana. Belo Horizonte, Brazil. MSc thesis in Design, Cultura e Sociedade. Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, 118 pp. - Release sent by the Campana brothers themselves on August 23rd 2011. 177
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While talking about Brazilian design it is almost impossible to avoid mention the work of the Campana Brothers. They have been the first young designer to redeem Brazilian craftsmanship from its negative connotation as popular art and elevate it to level of international design. Their work is particular in the field of produção pessoal field for their focus on manuality56, low technologies, 56
material testing, craft design and the rescue of Brazilian identity. The Campanas are exemplary designers-entrepreneurs, whose work interprets Brazilian culture, arts and crafts, being defined as art-design and authorial design within the context of New Design. Adelia Borges in 2011 in relation to the Campanas’ work.
The term “manuality” is used by
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The following case-study aims at assessing the creative influences of contemporary Brazilian design (and its inter-links with arts and crafts) in the work of the Campana brothers. The work of the Campana brothers is shaped by conceptual crafts beyond mere functionality, the innovative use of materials and new production processes, but always strictly linked to national material culture. The design by the Campanas reflects the cultural, social, political and economic context of Brazil but it also shows influences coming from other countries. However, as a reaction to this strong external influence, the Brazilian designers have tried to enforce local references in their objects. According to Borges (2001), Brazil is a highly creative and multicultural country. For this reason, national design has not been created by the Campana brother, but rather they have renewed this concept which emerged with modernist designers such as Sergio Rodrigues57, Mauricio Azere-
57 Sergio Rodrigues (1927) is the icon of Brazilian modernist design, specialized in wooden furniture. Its most famous product is the Mole armchair, produced in the 60s and exhibited at the MOMA of New York.
do58 and Carlos Motta59 among others. While in the 60s modernist designers had already brought Brazilian design to the international scene, it was only in the 80s, in the age of globalization, that Brazil vigorously established itself to the attention of the world public. The Campana brothers had the good fortune to work in a propitious moment for the internationalization of Brazilian design. Barroso Neto (2011) agrees with Borges that multiculturalism is not the unique focus of the Campanas, but their distinctive elements are lack of rules, of common repertoires, the primacy of aesthetics over function and economy. According to him, the aim of Campanas’ creations is to provoke the senses and not to satisfy them and their success lays in the rebellion to functionalism, the openness to new and unusual. What distinguishes the Campana Broth-
58 Mauricio Azeredo (1948) is a Brazilian modernist designer of furniture characterized by tridimensional joint (without the use of glue) and the combination of light and dark wood. He is also professor and as a designer he focuses more on research than on marketing and large production. 59 Carlos Motta (1932) based his activity on the concept of environmental and social responsibility. He tried to value craftsmanship and Brazilian identity, using wood found in the beaches, from demolition or reused.
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ers is their ability to create universal design, but with particularities typical of Brazil. In 2000 they organized a free course at the MUBE (Museu Brasileiro da Escultura) in São Paulo, forming a group of young designers based on hand-made work. As Maria Helena Estrada notes, this course is important in Brazilian art and design scene because after many decades it was formed a “school” or “movement”, that is to say a group of people, generally young, who shared common ideas. This was a new Brazilian view, free, light, colourful, delicate and ludic. (ESTRADA, 2003, p. 419). For Chiarelli (2000, p.49), the importance in the work of the Campanas is their ability to adapt their Brazilian identity to a refined international taste.
the Campanas show an incredible ability to interpret the essence of a mark and joke with its origins, reinventing the identity of global marks. Finally, as an answer to who would argue that Campanas’ work is not design but art, it is interesting to point that for the Brazilian brothers what is relevant is not the label of artist or designer, but the dialogue they are able to create between emotion and functionality. The first is typical of the work of art, while the second belongs to industrial design, but both explore and witness the current time.
Moreover, Chiarelli points that the Campana has the great merit to produce objects which are possible to be industrialized but still with a subjective and emotional character. They are the synthesis of the inter-relations between arts, crafts and design: their objects make use of arts and crafts to customize industrial design objects, as in the case of the Melissa shoes, industrially produced by Grendene (POYNOR, 2010). Another example is the Vermelha armchair, which is produced using typical craft materials and techniques, rich in cultural, social and artistic influences. While working with industries, 180
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Collage of the Campanas’ references. Source: “Anticorpos” exhibition, São Paulo, 2009. 181
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NAME: Fernando and Humberto Campana, internationally known as The Campana Brothers.
“Campanas”. Source: Presentation “A liberdade lírica dos Campana: entre a arte e o design”, curator Tadeu Chiarelli.
AGE & YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: Humberto Campana was born on 17th March 1953 and Fernando on 19th May 1961. They are working as furniture designers since 1980 when they founded their studio in São Paulo. The first exhibition of their product collection “As Desconfortaveis” was held in 1989 at the Nucleon 8 Gallery, in São Paulo, but they entered the international design scene in 1998 when they launched the Vermelha armchair produced by the Italian industry Edra.
ORIGIN: The Campana Brothers were born in the State of São Paulo (Humberto in Rio Claro and Fernando in the city of Brotas). The city where they were born is a small town, with 10.000 inhabitants at that time, 250 kilometres
far from São Paulo, whose economy is based on agriculture since this is a region rich in natural resources. Before moving to São Paulo to start their university studies, Fernando and Humberto were living with their family (their father is agricultural engineer while their mother is teacher) in a house with a dirt basement, large yard, surrounded by fruit trees and little rivers which led to the waterfalls of the region of Brotas.60 They growth in a rural area and they still keep the simplicity of the countryside. They are now working in São Paulo City, a complex and dynamic city with 11 million of inhabitants and they have settled their design studio in the Santa Cecilia neighbourhood. The region in which they operate is innovative and stimulating, and in it are intertwined various traditions (Japanese, Italian, Jewish, people from North-East of Brazil walk around the neighbourhood). The context in which they work is a brief synthesis of the Brazilian miscellaneous culture. 61 The Camapanas receive strong influence from the Brazilian context where they have grown. Their work is born in a context of total non-conformism, in a 60 Release sent by the Campana brothers themselves on 23rd August 2011. 61 Release sent by the Campana brothers themselves on August 23rd 2011.
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Collage by Campanas. Source: “CAMPANAS brothers, complete works (so far). 2010. New York, Rizzoli. period in which the Tropicalism, Concretism and other movements against military dictatorship were getting spread. The two brothers join two universes completely different from each other. The Campanas are strongly influenced by a sort of cultural hybridism: the nature (the grandfather had moved to Brazil to cultivate coffee and they were born and lived for eighteen years
on a farm) and urban dimension of São Paulo city. As Humberto states62, the inspiration for all their projects comes from Brazil. They are animated to improve many 62 Interview made by Regina Galvão, for Casa Claudia on April 11th 2013, available at: http://revistaalfa.abril.com.br/estilo-devida/decoracao/irmaos-campana-falam-deseus-planos-e-novos-produtos/
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things in their country, but unfortunately – Humberto says – they are involved with much more power abroad. Just to give an example, Humberto neither was allowed to design a garden for his own building, because most of the people from there do not like his design. Besides, public institutions prefer to hire foreign designers than the Campanas for public briefs, like it would have been possible for designing a mascot for the Brazilian World Cup 2014 or the Brazilian Olympiads 2016.
BACKGROUND: When at the age of 18 it arrived the moment of the university choice, Humberto Campana, still young and immature, chose to study Law (despite his dream to become an artist) because it was dangerous to be a creative63 (RAVERA CHION, 2010). After studying Law at the Universidade de São Paulo, Humberto went to live for a period in a small town in Bahia. When he came back to São Paulo he started researching what he was really interested in since he was a child: the infinite possibilities of craftsmanship. He began organizing workshops to create sculptures of iron and terracotta and giving 63 The architect Lina Bardi (as well as Niemeyer), was considered a subversive, a communist, and for this reason was persecuted.
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Campanas’ references. Source: Presentation “A liberdade lírica dos Campana: entre a arte e o design”, curator Tadeu Chiarelli. 185
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classes on jewellery. In 1980s he settled a small studio where he produced and sold hand-made products, such as baskets and mirrors framed with shells. Fernando graduated in Architecture at the Faculdade de Belas Artes de São Paulo in 1981; he did an internship at the XVII Bienal Internacional de São Paulo in 1983. He was keen in investigating alternative methods for the materialization of design; he studied the communication and synthesis power of the traits by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer and was delighted by the construction of small scale objects as well.
Their background as non-designers allowed the Campanas to develop an original design approach, beyond the boundaries of the ongoing rationalism. Moreover, the formation of the design couple was not planned at all. At the end of 1983, Humberto called his brother to support him with delivering a large order. Fernando points that he was called only to do a delivery activity, but soon he realized that there was much more work to be done with his brother. Since then, they have formed one of the most awarded couple in the contemporary design scene, suggesting new reading codes of objects and a change in perspective on everyday life.
The Campana brothers have started working as designer almost for accident, following their heart, without marketing aims. The first exhibition of the Campana Brothers took place at the Gallery Nucleon 8 in São Paulo on 29th June 1989: it was the collection “As Desconfortáveis”, about twenty objects made by iron (Darrin, 2010, p. 69). This collection, at the boundaries between arts and design, embodies the concept of New Design and can be called Art-Design (Chiarelli, 2000; Schneider, 2010). For the Campanas (2009, p. 34) it was since this exhibition that they discovered their ability of creation:
“[...] We have discovered a new vocabulary, we found our way. We understood that we did not suffer the clean and perfect language of international design, such as the Italian. Our idea was to take advantage from the mistake, mistake in finishing, production, so common in our country, because of the rush of production” (Author’s translation).
With the collection “As Desconfortáveis” the Campana Brothers express their radical vision, detaching themselves from Functionalism, which until that time was still a market need:
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for this reason, the objects of that exhibition did not reach market success. Adriana Adam64, one of the supporters of the Campanas’ work, the objects were “works of art” and for this reason it was not necessary to worry about commercial issues. (CAMPANA, 2009, p. 35).
“As Desconfortáveis” collection: chairs “Positive” and “Negative”, 1989.
They opened their studio in the Santa Cecilia neighbourhood in São Paulo in the 80s. The Campanas have reached international success starting from the exhibition Project 66 held in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York in 1988. They have now produced more than 200 items and are recognized as contemporary designers in various countries. Fernando and Humberto Campana are representatives of the new generation of designers of the socalled “New Design” (BRANZI, 2006; 64 Adriana Adam is designer and owner of the Gallery Nucleon 8.
ROIZENBRUCH, 2009), trying to rescue Brazilian design and building a Brazilian identity, getting influenced by movements such as Memphis and Anti-Design.
In 1995 Fernando and Humberto was invited to participate at a conference on Brazilian design organized by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI), which took place at the Royal Palace of Milan. This event attested that the design process held by the Campanas was in opposition to the minimalist design of that age, confirming the interest of international market in their objects (CAMPANAS, 2009).
The originality of the design signed by Campana was highlighted during an individual exhibition held in 1996 at the Nucleon Gallery in São Paulo, where they presented three models of chairs, among which there was the Vermelha armchair. Lang Ho (2010) states that the Campanas entered the international design scene in 1998, thanks to the Vermelha armchair, designed in 1993 and recognized by the Italian architect and designer Massimo Morozzi, art director of the Edra company, which then started producing industrially that armchair. In the same year, Paola Antonelli, curator of the Museum of Modern Art
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(MOMA) of New York, organized an exhibition of the work of the Campanas and Ingo Maurer, signing the international acknowledgement of the Brazilian brothers, whose products were defined as artisanal and full of creativity.
of New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rheim. They won the Prêmio Especial Museu da Casa Brasileira in 2001 and the prize Designer of the Year, given by Design Miami, in 2008. According to Lang Ho (2010), in the decade 1990s furniture design was dominated by Postmodernism; it stimulated the creation of innovative design, with a new language, rich in originality, drawing from the vast cultural repertoire of Brazil.
Vermelha armchair, Campanas for Edra, 1993. (Source: Darrin, 2010, p. 129).
Among the most recent works by the Campana brothers, it has to be mentioned the creation of costumes and scenographies for the “Metamorphosis” show of the Ballet National de Marseille (realized in 2007) and the stenography for the musical “Peter and the Wolf”, presented at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2008. Fernando and Humberto also creates permanents collections for renowed art institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, the MOMA
The work of the Campana brothers reveals great practical abilities, as well as craft-designer attitudes, features recurrent in Brazilian students of that period who received a formation based on the Bauhaus model, integrating craftsmanship and industry. Moreover, they develops an autonomous design, highly authentic in the use of local technologies, almost as a reaction to the Brazilian Post-Military trend which was attracted only by the cheapness of the local workforce. Brazilian cultural richness, arts and crafts are strong influencers in contemporary national design, which is – as well as its country – rich and diversified and for this reason, subject to changes. Beside Brazilian plurality, globalization reflects in the use of new technologies,
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productive processes and materials and multiple aesthetics, giving birth to the concept of New Design and its sub-classifications, i.e. art-design and authorial design.
STRUCTURE: Behind the metal door of the metal door of a old hangar, there is the workshop created by Humberto and Fernando Campana. In two pavillons divided by a courtyard work twelve people (architects, seamstresses, a craftsman who has been working with the Campana family since about 1998 and international trainers). Among samples of leather, crystals and strands of wire, this team embodies the ideas that later are produced by companies (such as Edra, Alessi, Grendene, etc.) - if not by the studio itself, which signs and limited editions numbered. Most of the productive companies are foreign, not for an aware choice from the Campanas but just because they see their work much more accepted abroad than in Brazil itself. Fernando and Humberto are requested by art institutions and companies, since its inception, cultivate partnerships with Brazilian communities producing handicrafts. They also work for art institutions and companies and, since their beginning, they have cultivated partnerships with Brazilian productive communities of ar-
The Campanas’ studio, São Paulo. Photo by the author. tisans65, NGOs etc.66
DESIGN SECTOR: The Campana brothers became famous for their furniture design and creation of provocative objects (shoes, jewellery…). Nowadays, the scale of their work grew, embracing also other sectors, from scenographies to showrooms (i.e. Camper shop) to museums (Stedelijk Museum’s, in Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands) to hotels (in Greece) and 65 It is the case, for instance of the Multidão armchair, which is produced by craft sewers from the city of Esperança, Paraíba, in the North East of Brazil, rescuing the art of producing dolls which was in crisis until that period. Moreover, the collection of t-shirts for Lacoste is produced by the community of the favela Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro. 66 Release sent by the Campana brothers themselves on August 23rd 2011.
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Fernando brings a certain practical organization to the work and he can control Humberto’s chaos. Their creations are half and half in terms of the collaboration between them67. Fernando, graduated in architecture, is used to define the project, think of volumes and make drawings. Humberto likes to work by hands and create prototypes to make the project at real scale. The process is not always like this: sometimes, the idea of a project comes from Humberto and Fernando intervenes afterwards to make the drawings.
Campana brothers - Agência JWT Thompson, em São Paulo.
The peculiarity of their design process is their attitude to create through experimentation and mistakes. From this testing, rich in fortuity and unexpected, original and unique products arise. In
gardens. 67 Personal interview made to the Campana Brothers on May 13th 2013.
DESIGN: Although in the last years Fernando and Humberto most of the times are working for company briefs, their design process still keeps its independent and free attitude typical of a craftsman. They follow a chaotic process of idea generation, balancing Humberto’s intuitiveness with Fernando’s rationality. Depending on the project requirements the brothers work in turns. For Humberto, work is an attempt of mental organization, while for Fernando, work is leisure. Humberto is more intuitive whereas Fernando is more rational.
Campana brothers - Shangai pavillion, 2010
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this regard, Eduardo Barroso (2011) points that this creative process known as “trial and error” is typical of artists and not designers. It seems that Campanas’ projects are determined more from a research on materials than from a specific request from companies. The designers act independently, starting from the analysis of materials, to discover what kind of product the material “desires to be”. The objects arise from the synergy between material, form and function. In the beginning, Fernando and Humberto chose to work with cheap materials, due to their economic conditions not very favourable. Nowadays, the low-tech concept which inspires their projects is rather an aware choice, resulted from environmental issues. They constantly explore the possibilities of materials discarded as “banal” in order to rescue their nobility. Until the 80s, Brazilian design was expressed primarily through the use of wood, in particular the jacaranda68 wood, worked with great skill, as in the case of Sergio Rodrigues. Still, the Campana brothers, who are sons of an agronomist and grew up in the countryside, have developed a sustainable attitude that refuses to cut the trees of the 68 Jacarabnda is a tropical specie of wood, typical of Southern and Central America.
Amazon to protect nature (RAVERA CHION, 2010). Beside the material experimentations, another source of inspirations for the Campanas is the local ethnic and aesthetic pluralism of Brazil which generates a design with multiple aesthetics, hybrid signs and a particularly Brazilian energy (MORAES, 2006, p. 179). As a matter of fact, some projects by the Campana Brothers own expressive elements based on researches realized by visiting and observing shops and markets in the chaotic city centre of São Paulo (MORAES, 2006, p. 183). The routine of the large metropolis and the everyday life of Brazilians, the scarcity of technological resources, the accumulation of materials deeply inspire the work of the Campana brothers. This is the case, for instance, of the Favela armchair, which is constituted by the overlapping of wooden pieces, characteristic of the constructive process of shacks in the favelas69 of large cities. 69 Favela is the term use to define shanty towns in Brazil, most often within urban areas. These are areas of irregular occupation, with lack of public services or urbanization, defined by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics as “subnormal agglomerations”. The first favelas appeared in late 19th century and were built by soldiers with no place where to live. Some of the first settlements were called “bairros africanos” (African neighbourhoods) and were the places where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for
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essence of their work. It is evident in the Campanas’ work a clear inspiration from nature. However, it is not an idyllic view of nature, made up of meadows in bloom, but rather a cannibal, dangerous jungle. This reveals a strong Brazilian feeling, primitive, unclean, that comes from a fusion of races: Europeans, Asians, Indians.
Moreover, the work of the Campana
Campana brothers - Favela armchair The primary objective of the Campana brothers is to create objects that require very simple technologies, in order to focus their attention on the search for original projects, beyond the technological constraints of industrial production. In their activity of design professors, they encourage students to work with their hands and head without using any machinery, but only simple processes such as cutting, bending and joint. Their sources of inspiration are the jungle and the Brazilian Carnival which - as noted by the designers themselves - “is like a work of the road and done with nothing, with bottles, waste”70: this is the
brothers seems to express a design concept typically Brazilian. Yet, on closer inspection, this issue is somewhat controversial. The Campana, in fact, work by assembling existing components (i.e. tires of cars, plastic rods for watering, rope, etc.) that can actually be found all over the world. However, it is the way in which these elements are processed and assembled that is typically Brazilian. This is what Fernando Campana defines “design of the emergency”, a Brazilian attitude to design things out of necessity, like in the construction process of the slums which are constructed even in a “sophisticated” way, despite the lack of available resources.
work lived. Most modern favelas appeared in the 1970s due to rural exodus, when many people left rural areas of Brazil and moved to cities.
In conclusion, the objects designed by the Campanas reflect this background
70 Quotation by Fernando Campana at the conference “Oltre l’Europa: progetti dal mondo”, held at Abitare il Tempo, in Verona,
in 2000, during the homonymous exhibition edited by Paola Antonelli, Giulio Cappellini and Vanni Pasca.
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rich in shared symbols of the social and cultural scene of a large metropolis, which is, according to Moraes, an important source for the New Brazilian Design. For the future, Fernando (since he is interested in aerodynamics) declares to be willing to design a transparent plane. Fernando (who got from his father, agronomic engineer, a strong passion for plants) is also keen in garden design, for a domestic context or private (like the surrounding of a company) or even at public scale (for instance to rescue the identity of a place in a suburb without spending too much money, but just cultivating plants in a green square).
PRODUCTION: The infinite possibilities of craftsmanship have been Humberto’s main interest since he was a child. However, the Campana team does not only self-produce, it also partners with international and domestic industries. In any case, the distinctive mark of Camapanas’ work is the incorporation of craftsmanship in mass production. Depending on the project, sometimes the pieces are self-produced in the studio in limited editions and sometimes other products are manufactured through their industrial partners. The production process adopted by the Campana Brothers is inspired on manuality and “No Tech” defined by Estrada (2000, p. 419) as follows:
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“Doing with little, but with creativity. It is a design without technology, it is a possible design, it is a new aesthetics, very Brazilian, a way of designing which rises from the scarcity of means, at the margin of industrial process and it develops with a great expressive strength” (Author’s translation). The Campanas’ production process cannot be designated neither as industrial nor as crafts, but rather as something independent, merging the two production methods. From this perspective, the work by Campanas reflects the national contemporary design, where modern industrial technologies live side by side with craftsmanship, creating objects of art-design.
Production process of the Vermelha armchair. Source: DARRIN, 2010, p. 29.
According to Barroso Neto (2011), the production process of the two designers is based on the concept of “trial and error”. In reality, this process is more typical of artists than designers or architects; therefore the result is better definable as “work of art”. The creative process starts from the experimentation and “subversion” of materials, contradicting basic commercial requirements for industrial products, such as manufacturing process, durability and functionality. According to Lang Ho (2010, p. 28), it is this starting from the material and its production the cornerstone of revolutionary thought in contemporary design, which was essential for the recognition of the work by the Campanas in the international scene. Since their beginning, the Campanas have used common materials such as cardboard, fabrics, scraps of wood, plastic pipes and aluminium among others. Reinterpreting these materials and their manufacturing processes with originality, they transform common projects in different objects, giving life to banal materials neglected by the social context. This productive method is one of the main characteristics of Brazilian design, which is rooted on the scarcity of knowledge about production technologies and on the good price and accessibility of natural and local materi-
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als such as rattan, wood and bamboo (HO LANG, 2010, p. 29). As Morozzi (2004, p. 31), the Campana brothers use local languages to express something globalized. The importance given to materials is
evident in the Favela chair, the creations for H. Stern, Lacoste and Grendene. Exemplary is the self-production process behind the Vermelha armchair, marking the beginning of industrial production by Edra. Its structure is made of aluminium tube and the seat and back-
Production process of the Vermelha armchair. 195
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São Paulo - Rua 25 de Março market rest are constituted by approximately 450 meters of cotton yarn. For its production, the two designers required that the armchair would be totally handmade. In order to allow the technicians to understand the production process of the armchair, it was created a demonstrative video tape of tasks.
Maria Helena Estrada (2000, p. 419) defines this unpretentious and diverse manner of use materials and manufacturing processes as “No Tech” (without technology, as an opposite to the “High Tech” trend). No Tech is a new aesthetics, very typical of Brazilian culture and
attitude, which comes from the scarcity of means and develops at the edge of industrial processes, with a large expressive force and subverting the object. Campana (2009, p 43) appointed the No Tech as “a language based on the hand gesture”. This new production was portrayed by critics as the use of “manuality”, which is very characteristic of Brazilian self-production and crafts (CAMPANA, 2009). For designing the lamp “Estela” it was used the screen rubber PVC acquired at Rua 25 de Março, a popular trade area in São Paulo. According to Humberto Campana, this is a good example
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Manual experimentations (left image) before creating the Cone armchair, 1997 (right). of subversive use of material, since this screen, generally used as a slip carpet, here becomes a light diffuser. Other examples of using craft resources are the “Plastico Bolha” armchair (produced by overlapping plastic bubble sheets), the “Tatoo” table (made of a iron structure and bathroom drains) and the “Anemone” armchair (produced with an iron structure and garden hoses) among others.
Finally, it is important to note, that although the Campanas undoubtedly work as self-producer designers, independently from any industry boundaries, most of their unique design projects were produced by the following companies: H. Stern, Grendene, Lacoste, Camper, Fontana Arte, Swarovski, Capellini / Progetto Oggetto, Alessi, Magis, MoMA Store, Artecnica, among others.
This manufacturing technology was considered poor if compared with other international cases. However, the exposition realized at eh Museu de Arte Moderna of São Paulo showed an attempt to make the production process more elaborate and less rustic, but always inspired by craftsmanship. It is visible the intention to integrate conceptual issues within industrial processes to meet consumer aspirations.
In 2001 the Campana brothers developed a jewellery collection of very expensive pieced produced in limited edition from the Brazilian company H. Stern, always interested in using colourful local stores with the aim of rescuing Brazilian gemstones to be considered precious (H. STERN, 2001). For this company, the Campanas have contextualized in jewellery a set of very expressive elements characteristic of Brazil, such as sensuality, texture, shape, motion, colour, besides semi-artisanal manufacturing, typical of their creations
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Campana brothers - Jewellery for H. Stern inspired by the ‘street’ (Borges, 2011). Such a collection has consolidated the concept of art-design, “contrary to the line of thought that seeks to produce standardized jewellery that meet the taste of most of the women in the world”(CARRIERI et al., 2009, p. 11).
signed by the Campanas in 2004 show an overlay of lines and an accumulation of material forms which are characteristics of the craft and manuality of the work of the two designers, proving the possible union of technical and artistic solutions to industry.
The most evident expression of the challenge afforded by Campanas to combine craft techniques with an industrial production is the shoe collection created for Grendene, a Brazilian Company whose major product is Melissa, a plastic footwear. The Melissa shoes de-
The concept of accumulation of materials and handmade manufacturing are well expressed by the limited edition (twelve pieces) of male and female tshirts hand-made by Lacoste in 2009. The accumulation of the reptile logo represents the riverbeds of the Ama-
Accumulation - Limited edition Lacoste t-shirt
Campana Brothers - Melissa shoes
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Accumulation - Trousseau pillows
Campana brothers - Corallo armchair
zon, and the branches of tropical trees of the region and the traditional lace technique typical of Northern Brazil.
ules with kinetic characteristics which work as supports for whom is cooking. This joke of enlarging the furniture, modifying its shape, is a characteristic of the Campanas’ work. In November 2012 the project won the British “Designer Kitchen & Bathroom Award”, in the category “Innovation of Materials”).
The collection “Transplásticos” (furniture design made of natural fibres and plastics) designed in 2007 is exemplary because it represents the manifest of designers’ environmental responsibility, showing the union of art, crafts and environmental commitment. One of the most recent productions by Campanas are the two collections (“Clássica” and “Soft Réptil”) of quilts, sheets and pillows designed for the Brazilian company Trousseau. This work intends to rescue the traditional craft work of lace making, subverting the use of the lace through overlapping and accumulation. In 2012 the Campanas launched the kitchen island “Shaping Silestone” for the company Cosentino. The idea of this kitchen is to be a furniture which expands, a central table to be accessed from various sides. It is made of mod-
Most recently, at Milan Design Week 2013, the Campanas have presented a collection of five beds designed for Edra, traditionally known for design for chair, but recently, based on an idea by Massimo Morozzi, decided to approach sleeping furniture. The beds, whose based is incorporated in the headboard, are inspirited by the previous furniture that Campanas designed for Edra: hence, there is a “Favela” bed, one “Corallo”, etc. For the near future, the Campanas are involved in starting new projects in Rome and New York, with the idea to develop old concepts to access industrial production as it happened with Edra.
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Campana brothers - Crafts productions by sewers from the city of Esperança, Paraiba In conclusion, as Martins (1973) notes, the craft objects designed by the Campana Brothers are cultural expressions of the society which has produced them, deeply representing the Brazilian soul.
DISTRIBUTION: The Campanas manage the distribution of their products through their own studio and their gallery representatives, as well as collaborating with both international industries and national companies.
PROMOTION: The Campanas’ industrial partners are the most responsible for the communication of the design-
ers’ work, through their own platforms (public relations, events, trade, exhibitions, etc.). Regarding the personal work by Campanas, they are used to promote it through the company website and word of mouth in many cases. Beyond this, it is possible to say that Campanas are dedicated promoters of themselves. They always participate to exhibitions and design fairs to promote their works all over the world. For instance, in July 2013 they are presenting the furniture collection “Barroco Rococó” with some inedited pieces at an international design event in Monte Carlo. In New York they are making an exhibition of their works, reinterpreting old design concepts which now require
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an industrial approach. By participating at design fairs and getting contacts with producers, the Campanas are looking for low-view entrepreneurs to industrially produce their new ideas, as it occurred with Massimo Morozzi by Edra.
ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: The design by Campanas more likely addresses the art market than the ordinary design one. Their interest is on developing innovative ideas and concepts, without thinking at economic sustainability as a starting point. The products designed by Campanas embrace diverse sectors, from plastic shoes to limited editions of jewellery. Consequently, the price and market ranges are very wide, but always placed at a high level. Although the feasibility of their extremely high design sector s quite doubt nowadays, the Campanas address a market of high level consumers (in terms of culture, aesthetics and purchasing power).
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: The work of the Campana Brothers address social sustainability in the sense that it gives voices and interprets the plurality of social and ethnic origins typical of Brazil. Translating the Brazilian identity into design is one of the largest challenges of the Campanas. A lot of their projects are reinterpretations of
Campana brothers - Dolls made by sewers from the city of Esperança. “design” solutions that they witnessed in poor communities of Brazil, spontaneous solution, beautiful and unusual. This social background allows to create human-based products, unique for their strong cultural appeal. Since they live in the large metropolis of Sao Paulo, they put their effort in making a bridge between the rustic and artisanal universe (deeply human-centred) with the contemporary industrialized world.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: Sustainability is part of their design but we they do not overplay this aspect; it is just a natural constituent of what they do. The Campana Brothers are conscious of the environmental responsibility of the designer. This is proved by the use of local natural materials, such as
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Campana brothers - Transplásticos
in the case of the “Transplásticos” collection. Beyond natural resources, they also use cheap materials, as a mindful choice, aiming at not harming the environment. From this perspective, they constantly explore the possibility to use materials discarded as “banal” to rescue their nobility. Moreover, Fernando and Humberto put their effort in humanizing design, by rescuing craft tradition of communities, making more sustainable the whole productive chain. Finally, their continuous interest in emotion, the use of everyday materials, the high impact aesthetics are all features, among others, which contribute to create a strong empathy between the object and the user. In the end, it creates products with a deep value of affection, which take longer because they will not be discarded by their user. To make an example, it is interesting to refer the collection named “Transplásticos”. It tells a fictional story: in a world made of plastic and synthetic matter, a
fertile ground is laid for transgenic creations. Natural fibres recover the plastic as in an immunological response: nature grows from the plastic and overpowers it. Regular chairs, multiple-seating chairs, lamps, have been created by taking advantage of the elasticity of natural fibre. Taking as a starting point plastic chairs, water containers and rudimentary wood stools, natural fibre extensions were added, altering the original form. The pieces subsequently took on a geographic dimension through organic shapes, adding value and comfort to the original base material. All the furniture pieces of this collection are handcrafted using Apuí, a natural fibre which suffocates the trees in Brazilian forests. The concept which informs this product is an analogy with environment, as the woven fibre appears to grow from the plastic beneath, suffocating and drawing nourishment from it. Beyond the conceptual value of this project, the extraction of this fibre helps preserve and control the biodiversity of Brazilian forests as apuí suffocates and kills the trees from which they grow. To produce the objects, the fibres are released manually, without any tools or processes that might harm the trees. The majority of these pieces are produced by artisans hired from a traditional Brazilian wicker furniture company. In general, the Campana brothers tend to use dead branches, fallen on the
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ground, natural output which becomes input for design creations, as in the case of the fruit bowl “Costela” or the tray “Jabuticaba”. The work by the Campanas can be considered sustainable as they protect the environment, recycle, and do not produce garbage.
easily discarded by their user which is in deep empathy with them.
STRENGHTS:
WEAKNESSES:
First of all, the Campana brothers play a special role in Brazilian design because they have opened their country to the international design map after the military age.
- The products designed by the Campanas are most of the times One-Off, inaccessible to consumers because they are produced in extremely limited numbers.
The design by Campanas is a good example of glocal design, due to the designers’ ability to create a “universal” design, but with particularities typical from Brazil.
- Although most of the time the materials used to produce the objects are cheap or discarded, the final price to consumers is extremely high. It seems to be just a market-driven choice, which does not add value to design.
The Campanas have the honour to have created a school or movement – the “No tech” - in Brazilian design, which was not occurred since a long time in the contemporary design scene. Their production process contributes to humanize the industrial process, by rescuing craft tradition of communities, making more sustainable the whole productive chain. The products designed by the Campanas are sustainable because of their strong value of affection, which make them timeless objects which will not be
The Campanas are interested in natural materials (i.e. the collection “Transplásticos”), as well as cheap, discarded and reused materials.
- The productive process behind the objects, based on the concept “trial and error” is typical of artists and cannot been defined as a work of design. (BARROSO, 2011). - Moreover, this “trial and error” process produces a large amount of wastes, which affect the environment. - Finally, since the traditional mark of Brazilian design is the use of wood while the Campanas use plastic materials, it is questionable if the aesthetics created for their objects is authentically
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Brazilian or if it is just a sign of mark by the Campanas themselves. In reality, the cultural influences behind their projects are Brazilian, such as No Tech and multiculturalism.
DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS: Since the Campanas have proved to be good at exploring the material culture of Brazil, it seems spontaneous to suggest them to develop some project in a small village of artisans in the suburbs instead of base all their work in SĂŁo Paolo, which is nowadays a too globalized metropolis.
ful recommendations for the future development of the Campanas’ work. Their design approach (and the design culture behind it) is still being shaped. Moreover, their approach is as particular as it is difficult to be compared with other experiences to make some forecasts, but it is still useful to give a personal interpretation, in relation to sustainability and social innovation.
As the productive process developed by the Campanas, although industrialized, always include a large dose of manuality, each product results to be unique and diverse from the others because it has intrinsically the mark of its producer. From this perspective, appears to be more rationale to aim at the high value of these diversified series, instead of producing One-Off items, almost inaccessible to anyone.
Finally, it is worth to highlight that the Author does not claim to stand in comparison with the many theorists and critics who have analyzed the work of the Campana brothers. Furthermore, it is still very early to come out with mind-
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Humberto and Fernando Campana busy with self-production. Source: presentation “A liberdade lírica dos Campana: entre a arte e o design”, curator Tadeu Chiarelli.
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In the next page, “Mandala� project, London, 2008. Source: http:// www.behance.net/gallery/ProjectMandala/1409863 206
6.3.7. SOCIAL DESIGN BY PAULA DIB
Paula Dib is a PROCESS DESIGNER, who works as a consultant for communities, co-designing and providing insights for social innovation.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: This case study has been written thanks to the information gained through: - Personal interview made via Skype on March 26th 2013; - Conference: “Italia, Brasile, Olanda: le prospettive dell’autoproduzione nella sfera locale” held in Turin on Novembre 11th 2012 during the fair Operae; - Interview released from Paula Dib for
Daniel Douek71; - Interview released from Paula Dib to What Design Can Do72; Paper written by Fundaj73:
71 http://acasa.org.br/ensaio. php?id=344&modo&fb_action_ ids=10151293576533200&fb_action_ types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_ aggregation_id=246965925417366 72 http://www.whatdesigncando.nl/ people/paula-dib/ 73 http://www.fundaj.gov.br/index. php?option=com_content&view=articl e&id=2326:fundaj-promove-a-palestraqdesign-como-processoq-ministrada-pelad i s i g n e r- p a u l a - d i b & c a t i d = 4 4 : s a l a - d e impressa&Itemid=183
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Paula Dib in a co-design process with people from Capo Delgado, Mozambique. Photo by: Lucas Moura. NAME: Paula Dib AGE & YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: Born in 1977, she works as a professional designer since 2003 when she founded her social enterprise Transforma. ORIGIN: Paula was born and live in São Paulo, Brazil. Her father is from São Paolo, her mother from Conceição do Mato Dentro, Minas Gerais. BACKGROUND: Since Paula was a child, she studied at Escola Waldorf, in São Paulo, where
she got a humanist formation, strictly linked to arts and manual works (such as stoning techniques). After school, in 1996 Brazil was living a good economic trend and Paula’s father suggested her to spend some time in Australia to learn English. She was just 18 years old and she accepted the challenge. Initially, she was living in a touristic area, full of Asian people and not of native. She got unsatisfied because that was not the Australia she expected to find, not as adventurous as she dreamt. But then, her teacher realized her bad feeling and gave her the opportunity to go and live in an aboriginal village, in North Darwin,
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to discover the real Australia, helping craftsmen to deal with local wastes (such as plastic packages which were a new item in that area). She studied Industrial Design at the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) in São Paulo, where she graduated in 2000 and she got a different view, which however made her unhappy, unsatisfied with product design. During the university studies, she worked with the ceramist Kimi Nii, and she considers this experience as her second formation, developing
housewives cooked, their tools, how men fixed their boats in the end of the afternoon, how kids were playing. In reality it was mainly an exploration activity and not a design one, she took lots of pictures of the way people were working and living their ordinary life.
A fisherman fixing his boot in a village in Bahia. Photo by: Paula Dib.
Ceramist Kimi Nii, São Paulo. knowledge that she has applied to her life until nowadays. She started working as a designer for communities almost for intuition. She had the opportunity to spend one month in a fishermen village in Bahia, Brazil. She has observed the daily life of the fishermen, the way
However, due to this experience, it started appearing in Paula the dream to be involved in this kind of community, participating to such a delicate, magic, inspiring universe, rich in originality, beauty, spontaneity. She realized that inspiration requires active involvement, living in a place, developing oneself together with that place to discover the potentialities of design contribution. This was a radical change, a turning point in her life. Coming back to São Paulo, she started working with urban and rural communities of the suburbs. With time, she got to know Permaculture, an approach which means “permanent culture”, a systemic
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Design exploration. Photos by: Paula Dib. 210
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mixing innovation with fun. An important step in her career was in 2006 when she received the Young Design Entrepreneur Award. The British Council awarded her fresh and creative way to co-create and provide insights for social innovation and improvement of quality of life.
Local traditions in Mozambique. Photos by: Paula Dib. way to see the world, looking at interlinks among its elements. Being inspired by Permaculture, she always intends to design systems at human scale. During her work, Paula has also attended a workshop with the Campana brothers, learning the pleasure to “play” with design, making experiments, testing on materials, techniques, functionality,
STRUCTURE: Paula Dib is founder of the social enterprise Transforma (based in São Paulo) together with another designer. Although composed by only two designers, Transforma is open to collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of external specialists to deal with specific projects. Paula Dib says: “as a social enterprise Trans.forma acts in a transversal and integrated way, promoting partnerships between companies and social organizations to complement social, cultural and productive resources and to maximize the positive impact of the actions”.74 Paula works as a design consultant for local governments, NGOs, companies and universities (for instance, organizing workshops within the university laboratory of FAAP, São Paulo) mainly in Brazil, Europe and Africa. DESIGN SECTOR: Paula Dib initially was calling herself 74 http://www.whatdesigncando.nl/ people/paula-dib/
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“social designer”, title that she started to refuse after a speech with her professor Adélia Borges, who let her notice that this label is not meaningful, cause design is social anyway, since it is always conceived to address people’s needs. Nowadays, Paula defines herself as process designer, researching for improving the use of (human, material, knowledge…) resources and guiding people to find solution to their problems, improving the quality of their life. She is not focused on the final product, but aims at exploring the reasons behind making things, developing a methodology of social innovation, to be applied indifferently to crafts, health, education, tourism and so on. In synthesis, her design process can be described as humanistic, cultural, action-oriented.
DESIGN: Paula Dib does not consider herself as a self-producer designer, because she points that she collaborates with a lot of people. She does not believe in authorial design; on the opposite, design arises from collaboration, interaction between people to create something contextualized and real.
Paula is not interesting in authorship, in signing her mark: she rather guides the process, gives a direction to people in order to make use of what they already have near themselves, rescuing their histories, their identities, the available materials. She likes to work as an independent designer mainly for fun, for the pleasure to get involved in the place, in its history, which she is used to register by making documentary films. Concerning the design phase, Paula Dib is used to draw a transversal line between design, community and trading partners in order to make sales really become effective. She works as a facilitator, a multidisciplinary guide which collaborates with diverse stakeholders, such as companies, governments, Sebrae, etc. However, she does not trust much in the top-down support coming from government which generally aims to increase the entrepreneurship of craftsmen. In reality, as Paula notes, craftsmen likely have not formation for creating an enterprise, and even the context in which they work makes the picture more complex and difficult. As a matter of fact, artisan villages are usually located in countryside, with no effective connections and roads to get from the production plants to the areas of selling. For this reason, Paula recommends to get to the place of the
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Co-design process. Photos by: Paula Dib. project, observe the context, to create something local which could be sold locally too (for instance, using local coins), creating a local chain. Paula has
also some remarks regarding SEBRAE (Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas), because it seems to consider only the big picture of the
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project, creating methods which, in the end of the story, do not really fit the context, because they have not been conceived locally, keeping in mind the huge diversity of Brazil. Paula’s work is always heavily influenced by the context: her design starts by observing the environment in which she operates, looking for possibilities and providing solutions, following a circular process which tries to get always the best out of the context. Co-working with craftsmen, the diagnosis phase is fundamental in order to understand the people of the collaboration, the structure of the artisanal group, the history of the place, the raw materials and the techniques available, the feasibilities of eventual interventions. Paula’s work follows this process: Understand WHY to work in a group or region; Define HOW to collaborate; Identify WHAT is expected as a result of this collaboration. When interacting with communities, Paula applies the design methodology in a soft manner, as it was a joke, stimulating artisans to think different. It is the artisan himself who ask for innovation and develop a new solution; it is this way that he more likely will apply the new design. Following this process, Paula aims at innovation, which is, in her opinion,
the result of using available materials, transformed through the abilities of the place, involving the history of the context, reinterpreting all with a curious way of looking to put into action.
PRODUCTION: Regarding self-production in its strict sense, Paula is used to self-produce some small objects for herself, but it is just a personal hobby which does not count in her professional experience. For instance, she has produced her own cups and dishes made of ceramic and baked in a oven she had at her home. She highlights how fun it was self-producing dishes one weekend and then inviting friends one week after to have lunch using her hand-made plates. The production process Paula is used to direct is manual and it uses tools and structures provided by cooperatives, artisan workshops or, in certain cases, university laboratories. Paula has always worked in context with low techniques, valuing local resources to create products out of technological aims. She had not the chance yet to measure herself with digital fabrication techniques, so she focuses her work on handicrafts but she does not exclude a possible involvement with technology for the future.
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In order to better understand how Paula Dib manages the production phase, it is useful to refer to a concrete example, i.e. the Caboclo collection of leather shoes self-produced by a community of
artisans, under the guide of Paula. The collection of shoes includes two models: shoes and sandals. The shoes are produced in an amount of about 100 items per month, whereas the monthly
Leather products in Cariri, Brazil. Photos by: Paula Dib. 215
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Caboclo production and shoes. Photos by: Paula Dib. production of sandals is of about 700 items. This production was launched in about 2007 in Crato, Cearรก in North East of Brazil, a region of late colonization whose economy is based on cow breeding and with abundant availability of leather (used for beds, roots, dressings, house and daily life in general) and with artisans developing a good know-how in leather
manufacturing. The traditional shoe production was a compless process; Paula observed the state of art and simplified the process, making it as much ecological as possible, optimizing the use of resources (i.e. the use of leather, which until then was wasted a lot). At its beginning, the project was not really well organized, involved only one artisan who produced by hands not high
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income for the author. Paula Dib has also designed a cardboard packaging for shoes, which is locally produced in CearĂĄ.
Caboclo shop in Barcelona. quality products. In about 2011, Paula Dib was called to guide the process (which now involves 23 artisans) and then the quality of products began to be progressively improved.
DISTRIBUTION: When Paula works with artisan community she always aims at optimizing the work process and improve the quality of the end product. Generally artisans get almost no income from their craft work, which is conceived more as a personal hobby and not as a professional job. For this reason, Paula always puts her efforts in creating very good quality products to be sold at higher price, to guarantee an
Due to the growth of this project, Paula Dib succeeded to collaborate with trade companies, which made possible also to sell abroad. The Caboclo collection is sold not only in Brazil, but also in Europe (i.e. Spain, France, Germany, Finland) and, surprisingly, even in Japan. Selling abroad is made possible by the fact that commercial taxes in Europe (and especially in Spain) are much lower than in Brazil and it allows to have a final price of the product not very high. Furthermore, in Brazil, the average consumer is still more interested in industrial products, has not yet widely spread a good culture of craftsmanship. This lead to the fact that handmade products are better accepted in Europe than in Brazil, and it encourages the sales abroad. In order to face this problem, Paula is fostering her artisans to invest on quality, in order to make small series of products with a unique value, able to replace the traditional luxury brands. Thanks to the better quality of the products, these self-made shoes can be now sold in green fashion fairs (e.g. in Germany), reaching more and more customers. This is possible thanks to a diffuse change of perspective and aspirations
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in consumer’s minds. As a matter of fact, while in the past people desired to buy expensive goods made by luxury brands, nowadays even these brands are getting cheaper and more affordable by the average consumer. In this context, consumers are likely to desire more and more handmade products, because they see in the touch of the artisan something unique, special, exclusive, the energy of the person who has produced that item, and even the mistakes are well accepted as a sign of diversity.
PROMOTION: Due to promote the Caboclo collection, a catalogue has been created. Paula Dib admits to be not a good self-promoter; she rather prefers searching for new design opportunities than updating her website for communicating her past works. Sincerely, she does not realizes how she got job orders; she thinks it is a casual process made possible by word of mouth and keeping always strict contact with institutions such as FAAP. Certainly, also being honoured with the British Council Young Design Entrepreneur Award has contributed to the spread of her fame. In reality, she has unconsciously developed this is an original way to approach self-promotion, that is to say taking amateur pictures to create documentary films to be shown to
From the top: Paula Dib taking picture; artisan engraving the Caboclo logo mark on a shoe sole. Photos by: P. Dib.
local companies in order to get funds for new projects. Paula Dib also takes care of the promotional image of her collections, self-designing logos, packaging, etc. For instance, in the case of the Caboclo collection, she has created a stamp to engrave the logo mark on the shoe soles.
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ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: In terms of economics, the process Paula is used to apply when working with artisan communities consists in analyzing the context, identifying the potentialities, providing artisans with a new orientation, trying to build a sustainable value chain which moves slowly towards quality. Paula Dib, inspired by Permaculture, is aware of the importance of sizing productions according to the possibilities of the context. Unlike Sebrae and other governmental topdown projects push productivity to increase in size, Paula is more focused on observing the productive context, evaluating if changes are feasible and respecting its rhythm. This approach, focused more on know-how than on quantity, leads to a slight growth (as it is testified by the increased number of shoe-makers joining the community, from 1 to 23) and aims at revitalizing activities which were neglected in the last period of crisis. Paula tries to find a possible market for her artisans, bringing them back to work in their own sector. By reusing wasted materials (e.g. wasted tires for producing shoe soils) it is possible to reduce the productive costs and get more income for the artisans. Thanks to the designer’s guide, the products have reached a higher quality and it is possible to increase the selling price, being it beneficial
for the artisans. It is relevant to note that in the beginning artisans were selling their shoes for 10-12 reais (that is to say around 4 euro). Paula encouraged the artisans to optimize their work, in a way that they could increase the selling price until 120 reais (i.e. 46 euro more or less). With the increase of income, more and more artisans asked to join the project creating a bigger community of craftsmen working on this shoe production. The selling price is defined in a participatory way by Paula and the artisans together. Paula provides marketing insights, analyzes different sources, creates flip-charts to define a balanced price, which takes in account the cost of raw materials, the manufacturing time, etc. In this way, artisans are relieved by the duty of defining their marketing (for which they do not generally have the necessary knowledge) and can spend more time on their real task, i.e. production. Due to this increase in income, artisans can improve their living conditions, and consequentially improve local economy. In order to improve the relation of artisan work with the market, Paula enhances to foster the collaboration between design, crafts and commercialization, creating partnerships. For instance, she works with Tekoha, an organization which creates trade channels for handmade products.
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It is important to note that this is another market, which cannot and should not compete with supermarket: the added value of handicrafted products lays in its manual skills and in its storytelling power. From this perspective, Paula’s work contributes to the growing of green fashion market, which sustains the whole value chain behind. SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: Paula’s work with artisan community can be considered as a transparent process, in which the designer and the craftsman harmoniously interact for improving the quality of life in a given context. Paula is not moved from a welfare attitude; her approach is rather to cooperate with the artisanal communities and let them grow naturally, according to their own rhythm and not following a plan given by the designer. Co-designing with artisans requires respecting them, their techniques, their context, their time, without trying to break paradigms and imposing own method. When possible, Paula tries to rescue traditional materials, techniques and the cultural iconography of a territory. She also aims at valorising and promoting the status of artisans, in a way that their work could contribute to the development of a territory. Paula is used to explore the context of work, identifying the problems and
empowering the community to find their own solutions through a bottomup process. Paula Dib is proud to define her work as social design, because it aims at enabling artisans to express their creativity and concretize it in objects with a story to tell, with a social and cultural value. As Paula notes, nowadays the world is full of stuffs, people are getting bored from industrial objects and look for meaning behind things. Self-production intends to express these hidden meanings. It is interesting to mention as an example the project realized in 2008 with forty children of thirty different nationalities in a school of London.75 The aim was to create unity in diversity among the children, reducing violence. The first step of the project was the diagnosis, to understand children’s aspirations, which in the end resulted to be mainly the desire to “leave a mark”. The second step was to interview the whole school community (teachers, staff and students) asking what would be their ingredient for Peace (which resulted to be Love, Togetherness, Colour, Flowers, Harmony). Starting from these ingredients, the students drew their interpretations and in the end
75 For a better understanding of the project, look up the webpage: http://www.behance.net/gallery/ProjectMandala/1409863
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Paula Dib during the “Mandala” project, London, 2008. Photo by: Paula Dib. a big mandala76 of twelve meters in diameter was made using drawings produced by the students (as shown in picture n. x). The site of the installation was the main yard, a large concrete area, with very little green, which was targeted by the as an uncomfortable place with little significance. This low cost, bidimensional creation had the power to change the relationship with the place. It was significant to the community and other schools from different regions gathered in the following month to celebrate the day of peace in schools and the value 76 The word Mandala comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as “circle”. In reality, a mandala is far more than a yesple form; i represents fullness and can be viewed as a life structure itself, a diagram that brings back our relationship with the infinite and the world.
of the differences. Another interesting project to understand the social benefits of Paula Dib’s work was held in Mazambique in partnership with Aga Khan Fundation, with the aim to create didactic material for a local school. The process started by walking through the village collecting discarded local materials or natural materials (such as bamboo, seeds, sand, rocks, etc.) to be used to create toys out of them. The first production was totally free, letting the educators produce dolls, toy cars and musical instruments. The next production was more structured and with a pedagogic basis, addressing the needs of the kids of three to five years who attended the school. Carrying on exploring the diverse natural materials found in the village to create, together with the educators, a large collection
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of toys, paints, glues and brushes in order to develop the physical, emotional and social development of kids. This project is a meaningful example of the possibility people have to rediscover their surrounding and their hidden creative abilities to transform materials and produce
any kind of object. This collaborative work improved people’s self-esteem and creativity, as well as interpersonal relationships. Finally, the added value of this work was also the fun, the satisfaction self-production offered to people.
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Co-design process conducted by Paula Dib in Mozambique for creating didactic tools with available local materials. Photos by: Paula Dib. 223
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ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: Paula’s work is deeply rooted in the environment in which she works. She starts every project from the basis, analysing local resources (in terms of materials, techniques, human and cultural values) and tries to optimize their use, as she did for instance working with Caboclo artisans. This work is environmentally sustainable because it is analyzes the whole value of chain, improving the use of raw material (generally natural materials available in the given territory), its manufacturing process (for instance, using chromefree leather), until product recycle and reuse (e.g. the soil of shoes is made of reused wasted tires). The productive process is analysed in order to make it the most ecological possible, considering the environment a priority with respect to the production time. Every aspect of the process takes into account environmental sustainability, trying not to be harmful and looking for the highest quality possible.
STRENGHTS: The personal growth made possible by collaborating within a multidisciplinary team. The independence of the consultant work gives the opportunity to travel and discover newer and newer things,
Above: Craft technique and available materials (eucalyptus wood and local seeds). On the right: Caboclo’s production: Chrome free leather and tires reused for shoe soles. Photos by: Paula Dib. 224
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through fresh and virgin eyes, curiosity and passion for adventures, without getting bored by the routine of an ordinary life. Working as an independent designer allows you to keep free from company boundaries. Using an approach based on observation and diagnosis as a starting point of each project, the available resources are likely used in a more effective way, reducing the risk of failure.
WEAKNESSES: While working with artisanal production, it is difficult to get certifications of origin of resources and quality standard and it is difficult to change the production process due to artisan’s resistance. Being independent makes difficult to have a routine and stable life and work. Working as a consultant for temporary projects, it is difficult to make long-term plans.
DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS: - Enhancing partnerships with organizations and universities, sharing the work within a multidisciplinary context. Starting collaboration with FabLab of São Paulo, enabling communities to access digital fabrication techniques to innovate artisan production. - Fostering local selling to contribute
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to the economic development of the community, instead of selling internationally to optimize transports and logistics. In order to make it happen, it is necessary to first create a public of people who like and want handmade products. Furthermore, it needs to afford large communication investments, involving opinion formers, artists, presenting Paula’s products at popular channels such as TV sitcoms and magazines. - Improving communication of the work, fostering the use of pictures and documentary films as an original way of approaching self-promotion.
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exhibition “Design – Do It Yourself”. The group of designer which goes under the name Recession Design share the idea that the economic crisis can become an opportunity for stimulating critical reflection the contemporary design In the nextonpage, cover of a comic by scene. Recession Design is against the Celton. Source: www.aletria.com.br 226
6.3.8 URBAN ICONOGRAPHY IN COMIC DESIGN BY CELTON Lacarmélio Alfêo de Araújo is the leading independent comics designer, producer and seller in Brazil, based in Belo Horizonte. He manages the entire process of designing the adventures of the hero Celton, producing the magazine, selling and promoting it originally in the traffic jam of the capital of Minas Gerais.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: For writing this case study, it has been conducted a personal interview to Celton, at his house in Belo Horizonte, on March 27th 2013. Additional information is obtained by online research (see sitography).
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Lacarmélio Alfêo de Araújo. Source: http://celtonquadrinhos.blogspot.it/ NAME: Lacarmélio Alfêo de Araújo is better known as Celton from the name of the protagonist of his comic magazine. Celton is both the name of the creator and the creature, making a funny confusion behind the story. In this case study, just for yesplicity, we will use the name Celton in reference to the comics designer.
AGE & YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: Celton was born in 1960 and started working professionally as comic designer in 1981 when he launched his first story.
ORIGIN: Celton was born in Itabir-
inha de Mantena, in a poor countryside in the interior of Minas Gerais. In 1972 he moved together with his family to Belo Horizonte, looking for a better future. Belo Horizonte and Minas Gerais are a powerful source of inspiration for all his work.
BACKGROUND: Since when he was just 6 years old, Celton has showed signs of his passion for comics and with the passing of time he has strengthen this passion. When he was a child, he did not like studying at school, but he has always preferred to make things alone. He did not attend the university and he learnt his profession of comic designer just by doing it.
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Double page of a Celton comic. In the top left, it is visible the Santa Teresa, “urban icon” of Belo Horizonte. At the age of 13, he worked as tangerine salesman and shoeshine: by working in the street he had developed the attitude to interact with people. With time, his passion for drawings earned more meaning for his life, but no publisher wanted to bet on the adventures of Celton, neither in São Paulo. In order to solve this problem, he tried to independently produce his stories and he convinced his mother to get a bank loan to finance his dream. At that time, the sales in the newsstands of his city were not enough; therefore, he decided to invest in his ability to interact with people developed during his 229
adolescence and decided to start selling himself his magazine in the street. However, due to the strong market competition, he left his country towards the United States, “the land of free enterprise”. The six months spent in New York (working as busboy, guitar player in the street to make money) were long, but determining for changing his life. It was there that, analysing several comics heroes he realized that nobody of them was a national character and no Brazilian hero was developed yet to tell the history of the country. Hence, he came back to Brazil with the idea of launching
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his work in the beautiful scenery of Belo Horizonte and he won many readers.
The design process adopted by Celton.
In 1981 he did his first attempt to make money out of his passion and he independently launched his first comic magazine, titled Celton. In 1991 his first comics was published and sold in the market.
As time passed by, he has also created other personages and stories, always characterized by the good humour of the road and regarding the issues of Belo Horizonte and Brazil in general. Among these, can be mentioned: “O Combate do Presidente com o Capeta do Vilarinho” and “O Presidente contra o Dragão da Inflação”. At the beginning of the 90s, he launched the magazine Belô, having the city of Belo Horizonte as background. This comic book was soon accepted by the readers and it got titled Celton, in honour to the success of its protagonist. Nowadays, Celton is recognized as the largest independent seller of comics in Brazil.
STRUCTURE: Celton works alone, at home, as an independent designer but in reality his work is deeply influenced by his wife Cássia (who acts as financial manager of the magazine) and by the people in the street (who always provide him with useful insights to improve his job).
DESIGN SECTOR: Celton is designer of comics magazine.
DESIGN: Celton is an independent designer in the strict sense of the word. Regarding the design phase, Celton himself writes the story and makes the drawings, autonomously, only moved by passion. He defines himself as an independent and lonely professional, but at a deeper analysis, his work results to be positively influenced by the feedbacks coming from his wife (who is used to read the story before the
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Puppet used by Celton as a model for his human figures.
Self-made desk by Celton with his tablet.
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Covers of Celton comics, in chronological order. Source: Celton’s archive. 232
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publication) and from his readers with whom he has a direct contact on the street. If in the beginning the magazine regarded more leisure themes, as time passes, Celton has focused more on rescuing the history of Brazil in a ludic way, by means of comics. The story of Celton involve urban legends of Belo Horizonte, mixing humour and adventure, based on the daily life of everyone. Celton likes to “colour” the real history of Brazil (inclusive of places of Belo Horizonte, real characters of the history, folkloric traditions of Minas Gerais and the Colonial Age of Brazil) with imaginary events. For instance, he has wrote a magazine about the traditional characters Loira do Bonfin and Capeta do Vilarinho. Belo Horizonte is the elective location of the stories, but sometimes also Rio De Janeiro, São Paulo, New York and Itabirinha de Mantena (the designer’s home town) are represented in the comics. Celton is very attracted by history: one day, while helping his son Pedro to do his homework, he realized the difficulty to find relevant information about the history of Belo Horizonte. For this reason, he created a special edition of his magazine, a research booklet including historical pictures and texts regarding the origin of Belo Horizonte.
One of the first comic produced by hands by Celton. comics series telling the real history of Tiradentes, a national hero, the first Brazilian to have fought against Portugal and for this reason he was hanged, giving birth to the movement “Inconfidência Mineira”. This challenge is requiring a big effort in historical research, which Celton is embracing with passion, aware of the fact that the personage of Tiradentes owns all the ingredients to be considered a hero. His history is exciting and attracting, generating empathy in most of the people: Tiradentes was poor, orphan, but kind, smart, brave, he fought against the system and died hanged.
Nowadays, Celton is developing a 233
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task is to decide among diverse stories which one (or a mixture of features from diverse stories arisen) is the best to be developed in a comic.
Construction process of illustrations. The name of the hero Celton was created with the idea to be easy to remember, pronounceable all over the world, indifferently in various languages, becoming something familiar to the readers. Celton, the protagonist of the comics magazine, is a good character, in charge to protect the city against bad entities. He always looks for the best solution to the problems with plague his city. He plays various roles, from scientist to mechanic, he has impressive physical strength and speed above the normality. What distinguish Celton’s magazine on the market is its authentic Brazilian spirit, which informs the stories represented, the drawings, the local attitude of selling, making this work unique in the comics magazine scene. The first step of Celton’s job is the script: he reads books, makes researches to get inspired and this way many stories arises in his mind. A hard
Thanks to his experience, Celton is aware that readers do not like incomplete stories, but they have to be finished within the 32 pages of a comic book. In fact, due to the fact that Celton sells his magazine on the road, taking advantage of the traffic jam of the moment, it is unlike that each reader will have the opportunity to read all the numbers in sequence, but the purchase occurs more as a random experience. As Celton notes, a boundary in the script phase is the structure of the story and the number of pages. In particular, each story has to be organized as follows: - introduction of the problem to the public, being clear and attractive in order to let the reader easily catch the topic. This part takes around three to five pages. - body of the story (generally light, humoristic) developed in the pages six up to nineteen. - conclusion, which is often unexpected, generally occupies the pages from 32 to 50. Celton likes drawing a direction for the story in order to make the reader think about one possible solution, but suddenly something surprising
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happens, defining a different and unexpected end. Regarding the images, Celton learns and improves his drawing abilities by reading (more and more times) other comics to get inspired. He likes realistic drawings, in black and white, taking rigid care of drawing rules (i.e. perspective, shadows, etc), although it costs time and effort. The references of his drawings are the Italian Tex (which arrived even in Itabirinha during the 60s) and the Brazilian Luluzinha, while he does not like stylized personages such as the Brazilian Monica (see figure below).
PRODUCTION: Celton himself also manages the production phases of the magazine. Celton organizes his work flow as follows: during the morning (until midday) he produces the comics, and in
the afternoon (generally, from 13.00 until 20.00) he goes selling the magazine on the street. The production time for a magazine varies a lot, but it generally turns around three months (from designing the story till the end of production). After writing the whole story, he creates a map of the cartoons and starts to make the drawings. In the past he was used to draw by hand, making the first drawing with pencil on lucid paper and then colouring it with black china ink. Although the incredible charm of drawing by hands, he is not against digital fabrication techniques, but considers them just a facilitator tool. Hence, in 2011 he has bought a tablet to make digital drawings (then post-produced via Photoshop), which has incredibly optimized and made his work more efficient. While drawing through his tablet, Celton warns to not create a too artificial style, because he judges computational graphics too cold. He always tries to keep his digital drawings fresh as they were made by hands. When the magazine is finished (also thanks to the pressure of his wife, as he nicely notes), he sends the file to the typing office to publish a first packages of 20.000 copies77. Sometimes, when the current number is not ready yet and the previous one is already all sold out, 77 For his magazine, Celton has chosen Offset printing on 80 grams white paper.
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Celton provides to republish the previous story (a smaller series of 3.000 to 5.000 copies). While republishing, Celton adjusts some neglected details and filters some mistakes, improving the quality of the magazine. Once, through republishing, the selling reached even 50.000 copies. The unit cost of production for the magazine is of R$ 0,40 (which is about 0,15 â‚Ź); including all the other costs of production (time spent in designing and selling, transporting the magazine etc.) the selling price is set at R$ 2,00 (about 0,77 â‚Ź), guaranteeing a discrete income. The cheap price of the magazine is undoubtedly a feature of differentiation on the market. Sometimes, local companies economically sponsor Celton to include their advertising within the magazine; obviously, it supports the production costs of the comics.
DISTRIBUTION: One of the most original feature in Celton’s work is the way he approaches self-distribution:. As a matter of fact, since 1998 Celton became an independent seller of his comics, on the road, taking advantage of the traffic jam. This is certainly a feature which makes his work unique in the market. At the beginning, Celton sold his magazines also at bars
Celton selling comics in the street. and school doors, but this approach revealed to be more time consuming and for this reason now he is devoted only to the street selling. With time and experience, Celton has also optimized his technique of selling in the street. Whereas in the beginning he was used to stop under the traffic light and take advantage of the one minute red light to stop in front of cars to sell his magazines, recently he understood that it would have been much more efficient to not stop in a specific place but keep 236
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looking for traffic jam situations and then run behind the cars to sell the magazines. Consequently, Celton has not an elective spot for sales, but it is just the traffic conditions to give the answer. On the other hand, the choice of selling on the road makes Celton’s work less stable and highly influenced by external features such as the weather and the type of day (for example, during holiday days, the traffic time varies a lot).
Celton’s stories are set in Belo Horizonte, and it is there that his author sells the comics, in the crowded streets of the city centre. Celton is aware of the biggest potential of selling in São Paulo, and for this reason he has al-
ready started to go to the paulista capital to sell comics in the huge traffic jam of the city.
Celton has also self-produced his equipment for selling in the street: he uses a yellow placard made of plotted PVC and a box for containing the magazines which is fixed to his motorbike (see picture). Being in direct contact with his public and hearing the opinions and reactions of people in the streets helps Celton in developing his adventures. Sometimes the story is as successful as he has to republish it more than once, like in the case of the number “O combated a
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Sogra com o Capeta”, which exceeded 45.000 copies sold.
PROMOTION: In Celton’s work, the main vehicle of promotion is his distribution strategy itself. When he is on the road, Celton not only sells magazines but he puts all his efforts in communicating his work, doing it as a performance, stimulating people to buy always the next number of the magazine. As flag colour, he has chosen the yellow, a colour which is very attractive and visible even in the night. With his fancy uniform, most of the times a yellow suit, Celton calls the attention selling to all the people he encounters stuck in the traffic jam. He always stands a yellow banner, whose bold letters proclaim his cause: “Estou vendendo as revistinhas que eu mesmo fiz. R$ 2,00” (in English: “I am selling the comics I have done on my won. R$ 2,00”). Even the motorbike conceived as a shop and called “Trânsito Lento” (which means “Slow Traffic”) is one of the elements of the communication strategy adopted by Celton. Besides the communication on the road, Celton makes promotion also through a blog (for which his sister is in charge), direct mailing (his personal contacts are available on the magazine itself), by participating to TV shows and conferences. Furthermore, the
writer Fidélis Alcântara in 2010, after a series of interviews to Celton, has launched the narrative book “O Fazedor de Histórias” (in English, “The Story Maker”), telling the story of the comic producer of Belo Horizonte.
In this way, Celton has already gained enough visibility in Brazil, becoming almost an idol. Sometimes, he has also been invited to talk about selling strategies at conferences, and this contributes to spread his name too. On the other hand, sometimes the strong impact of this promotion strategy ends with overshadowing Celton’s real activity; someone remembers him more as “the man with the placard” than as a real comics producer.
ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: Celton’s distribution strategy has revealed to be successful for many reasons, allowing Celton to reach a comfortable economic condition and to reach a large number of readers. First, the attitude of Celton, running behind the cars with his incredible verve, surely attracts the attention of the drivers in stuck in the traffic jam. By selling on the streets, Celton can save time and money eventually necessary to deal with marketing mediators. Moreover, the cheap price of the magazine (getting
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even more attracting by the marketing strategy of writing on the comics the price of R$ 3,00 and then selling it for just R$2,00, making people thinking to receive a nice discount), undoubtedly contributes to increase the sellings. This way of selling has resulted to be effective: just to give some numbers, each number of Celton’s magazine is sold in at least 20.000 copies and one time, a story was sold four times more than Spiderman.
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: Celton’s magazine is not just a comics. It brings social and cultural values, aiming at rescuing the history of Brazil. Moreover, the distribution strategy of selling in the streets and the cheap price make the magazine accessible to a large public of reader, which contributes to a large diffusion of these cultural themes.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: Celton’s comics can be defined as environmentally sustainable because of the material and the technique used for used for producing the magazine. It is monomateric, made of paper, which is a renewable and natural resource and is recyclable. Besides, the digital production process cuts down the consumption of paper and inks.
STRENGTHS: - The independence from other mediators (writes, drawers, sellers, etc.) optimizes the cost of production. - The digital elaboration of the magazines reduces the cost and time of production. - The cheapness of the magazine (feature of differentiation in the market) makes it accessible to a very large number of readers. - The direct contact with people in the streets provides the designer with useful insights for improvement.
WEAKNESSES: - The physical effort due to selling on the street makes Celton exhausted at the end of the day and it could compromise his job due to the weakness related to the aging. - The impossibility to find a substitutive person or helper for selling in the street (the attitude of Celton himself is unique and the familiarity with his image has a strong impact on people). - The cheap price of the magazine does not allow a large income. - The risk of getting critics from historians when developing historical magazines.
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- Unfortunately, some cultural limits in Brazil are delaying Celton to be widely recognized as a good comics designer, but just as a “weird character of the street”.
and not leave it (with all its communication power) just to sponsors’ advertising.
DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS:
- Developing a blog as a cultural tool, not only providing information about the magazine itself, but also valorising the cultural values behind the comics, in
- Improving the graphic layout of the comic magazine. - Using a typography more linked to the territory; exploring the possibility to use popular typography, which is more expressive, in the title of the comics. - Using the flag colour yellow for the paper of the magazine, to enhance the identity of the comics and give more personality to the black/white drawings. - Using recycled paper to convey environmental issues.
- Externalizing the communication activities, i.e. contacts with sponsors, blog, production and delivery orders, etc.
order to highlight its social value. - Better controlling the advertising pages within the magazine. For instance, increasing the promotion of companies more related to the contents of the comics (graphic companies, public institutions to promote local tourism in Belo Horizonte, etc.) and more careful distributing these pages within the magazine. - Creating an archive of Celton stories.
- Spreading the logo mark Belô, created for the magazine, proposing it to local authorities as a registered mark for local tourism. - Reorganizing the information inserted in the cover; including the date of publication (which nowadays is missing) to keep track of Celton’s history. - Designing better also the back cover (including here his personal contacts) 240
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Celton’s covers with the logo “Belô”.
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exhibition “Design – Do It Yourself�. The group of designer which goes under the name Recession Design share the idea thatthethe economic crisis can become In next page, hive symbolizing the an opportunity of for artisans stimulating critical industriousness who, like reflection on the contemporary design bees, are organized to form a creative scene. Recession is against the community. PhotoDesign by: Daniela Martins. 242
6.3.9 DESIGN & CRAFT ENTERPRISE COMUNIDADES CRIATIVAS DAS GERAES The Program named “Comunidades Criativas das Geraes” (thereafter abbreviated as CCG) is an University project developed within the Escola de Design at the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais (UEMG) of Belo Horizonte. This is a service design project, which uses design as a key instrument to foster the sustainable development of local initiatives within the craft production of the community of São Sebastião das Águas Claras (Macacos), Nova Lima/MG.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The information regarding the Comunidades Criativas das Geraes Project is gathered through field research, working within the CEDTec (Centro de Estudos de Design & Tecnologia) Department of the Design School at Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais (UEMG), Belo Horizonte. Mainly, three visits have been conducted in Macacos (context observation, project presentation and final interview to artisans). Relevant information has also been got through several interviews to Daniela Martins, executive coordinator of the
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project, the most relevant on April 10th 2013 and April 29th 2013.
Beyond the direct contact with the CCG team, the following written sources have been used: - MARTINS, D. 2013. Comunidades Criativas das Geraes: um caso de inovação social no artesanato sob a perspectiva do design. Belo Horizonte, Brazil. MSc thesis in Design, Cultura e Sociedade. Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais - ENGLER, R. MARTINS. D. et al. 2013. Geraes Creative Communities: Social Design applied to Crafts Production in Nova Lima. In Conference Proceedings of the 4th International Forum of Design as a Process, Belo Horizonte, 2013
Pictures and images here reported have been personally taken during research fields or are gathered from the following websites of the Project: http://www.comunidadescriativas. com.br/ http://www.flickr.com/people/comunidadescriativas/ https://www.facebook.com/comunidadescriativas?ref=stream&hc_location=timeline 244
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The Comunidades Criativas das Geraes’ team (artisans and students). Source: Source: http://www.flickr. com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ 245
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tins79 (executive coordinator) and Nadja Maria Mourão80 (research coordinator).
Logo of Comunidades Criativas das Geraes.
NAME: “Comunidades Criativas das Geraes” (Creative Communities of Gerais) is a university project developed within the CEDTec (Centro de Estudos de Design & Tecnologia) Department of the Design School at the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais (UEMG), in Belo Horizonte. It is directed by professor Rita de Castro Engler78 (general 78 Rita de Castro Engler is Professor and Vice-coordinator of the MSc in Design, Innovation and Sustainability at the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte. She is coordinator of the Centro de Estudos de Design & Tecnologia Department of the Design School at UEMG, where she is involved in researches regarding design culture, innovation and sustainability.
coordinator), Daniela Menezes Mar-
The title “Comunidades Criativas das Geraes” is a Brazilian adaptation of the “Comunità creative” concept defined by the Italian designers Ezio Manzini and Anna Meroni. Anna Meroni (2007) coined the term “Creative Communities” to define groups of people who, collaboratively, invent, enhance and manage innovative solutions to new lifestyles. Creative communities are local initiatives, which use local resources to solve daily problems, promoting social interaction, in a sustainable way. These communities perform actions in order to modify the models of thinking 79 Daniela Menezes Martins is MSc student in Design, Innovation and Sustainability at the UEMG, Belo Horizonte. She is executive coordinator of the CCG Project, which is the focus of her MSc thesis. She has studied at the BSc in Graphic Design at UEMG and at the Specialization Course “Management of Solidarity Economy and Sustainable Development” at the Faculdade de Administração Milton Campos (FAMC), Nova Lima (MG). 80 Nadja Maria Mourão is researcher and research coordinator at the CEDTec Department of the UEMG. She is graduated in the MSc course Design, Innovation and Sustainability, where she has developed the thesis “Sustentabilidade na produção artesanal com resíduos vegetais: uma aplicação prática de design sistêmico no Cerrado Mineiro”. She is involved in researches about design culture, sustainability and social technology.
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and doing, working with new proposals and improvements (MANZINI, 2008). It is through them that mobilizations of local individuals around productive activities happen and enable social innovation, bringing improvements in economic, environmental, social and cultural levels. The Comunidades Criativas das Geraes program was developed according to these ideas, as Martins, Engler, et al. (2013) state: “Its goal was to promote craft production using a social design participative methodology. Craftsmen took part in multiple activities that aimed to value the territory, its identity and culture, in order to improve the local crafts production. Craftsmen were encouraged to develop products to reach customers aspirations without losing local identity. The group understood the importance of their production to generate income and to preserve regional values and culture. […] Most of them (the artisans) are now more involved with community issues and producing new crafts based on tradition, human and environmental values.”
AGE & YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: The research and extension program CCG was created in 2010 by an interdisci-
Photo by: Daniela Martins. plinary team from the CEDTec Department of the Design School at UEMG. During the period from October to December 2010 the sewing workshop: “Ecobags Creation” was developed as a pilot project. After other participatory design and crafts activities (such as the paper workshop “Criação de Chapéus” held in Nova Lima in June 2011), in the beginning of the year 2012 arose the proposal to establish a productive unit of the CCG program in the community of São Sebastião das Águas Claras (also known as Macacos), out of the city of Nova Lima.
In august 2012 the artisans from Macacos, supported by the designers’ team created the “Artesania Aguas Claras”
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group and in the end of the year, three artisans got together to open a small shop, “Chiquita Banana” where all members of the group were invited to exhibit their products.
From the left side, the artisans Marimyllian Maia, Ana Vono and Mônica Soares who founded the shop “Chiquita Banana”.
ORIGIN: The CCG Program was launched in Nova Lima, a small city near the capital of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte. According to the Brazilian Institute
of Geography (IBGE, 2010), Nova Lima is located in a mountain region, characterized by the biome Mata Atlântica, within the boundaries of the so-called “Quadrilátero Ferrífero”81. According to the data of the João Pinheiro Fundation, the population of Nova Lima gains the highest month income per capita of the Estate of Minas Gerais. Despite it is very close to a large metropolis and its population is concentrated in urbanized areas, Nova Lima still preserves habits and customs typical of small towns in Minas Gerais. The City of Nova Lima (2012) points out that the municipality owns the largest green area in square meters per inhabitant of the RMBH (Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte), offering beautiful landscapes with its mountains, forests, rivers and waterfalls, as well as quite diversified flora and fauna. According to Murta (2006), in 2005 UNESCO has certified the area of Nova Lima as the youngest Brazilian biosphere reserve. Cultural diversity has been another factor that influenced the choice to realize establish the CCG Program in Nova Lima. As a matter of fact, the city stands out among the various municipalities of the RMBH for being 81 “Quadrilátero Ferrífero” is a region in the Estate of Minas Gerias which took its name from the mining deposits of iron in the area within Itabira, Mariana, Congonhas, Itaúna. (GEOPARK QFE, 2012).
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Panoramic view of São Sebastião das Águas Claras (Macacos), Nova Lima, Minas Gerais. the only one to have received English immigrants to explore the mines of gold extraction. The English Saint John d’El Rey Mining Company has marked forever the future of the city. The link with English culture is still visible in the local architecture (i.e. the characteristic aqueduct “Bicame”), urbanism and habits (such as the tradition of tea with milk and “queca” - Brazilian word for “cake” – recognized as immaterial heritage of Nova Lima) (MELO, 2008, p.75). The historian Flavius Cyrus Bandeira de Melo (2008) reports that Nova Lima had a history marked by mining. As a result of the mineral exploration, it has attracted a wide range of people from
various parts of Brazil and abroad in search for precious metals. Afterwards, slaves came from Africa to work in the mining, bringing with them their rich African culture and tradition, such as the Congado, a cultural manifestation of African influence, still present in Nova Lima. Nova Lima’s population derived from internal and external migrations (especially from Portugal, Spanish, Italian, English, Arabic). After the first design workshops developed in Nova Lima, in September 2012 the CCG projects were based in the community of São Sebastião das Águas Claras, better known as Macacos (Brazilian word for “Monkey”, due to
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the gold carriers who in the mining age were called monkeys). The village of Macacos was founded in the XVIII century and based its development on mining due to its large area of auriferous soil and large number of streams and creeks, ideal situation for mining activity (QUEIROZ, 2003, p.27). The origin of the village is strictly interwoven with the Estrada Real82, route crossed by mining troops and traders who needed a place for rest and care of animals during their tours among valleys and mountains of the region. Such camps led to the rise of a community, a group of people who built their houses, started agricultural activities, created livestock and kept business contacts with “tropeiros�83 and miners (QUEIROZ, 2003). However, like other mining regions, the activity of gold extraction fell and caused economic stagnation of the community. The town did not expanded until the last decades of the twentieth century, when the village became to be explored by travellers and adventures in search of its beautiful and peaceful landscapes. Mining is still one of the most lucrative economic activities in the region but, 82 Is called Estrada Real any land path (from the cost of Rio De Janeiro until the interior of Minas Gerais) crossed in the process of settlement and economic exploration during the colonial age in Brazil. 83 Tropeiros are troop conductors in the mining age in Brazil.
Church of SĂŁo Sebastiao in Macacos. from the other side, it is responsible for some relevant problems the population and the environment has to deal with. and possibly accounts for some of the problems facing the community. As a matter of fact, local biodiversity has been exploited in a predatory manner. Local mining companies have supported a few environmental projects but they are not sufficient to counteract the harmful effects of mineral exploration. Another relevant issue in local economy is tourism, since Macacos offers a bucolic atmosphere, favourable to receive tourists and adventurers. At first, this growth has been quite beneficial to the community, creating new work opportunities, developing trade and services. Notwithstanding, as time passed by, this growth has become a problem, as there was neither suitable
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public investments nor infrastructure to accommodate this growth. Therefore, recently tourism has contributed to environmental degradation and devalued local culture, wasting the potential of the creative community. Just to make some examples, trail, trekking, biking, horseback and other sportive activities have contributed to the degradation of the environment, leaving wastes on the ground and ending up generating soil erosion. Moreover, waterfalls attract predatory tourism which has damaged local water. It is possible to say (MARTINS, 2013) that the territory has a large touristic potential unvalorized, which could gather also design opportunities. For instance, design could support the local artisan community to aggregate value to the territory and contribute to local tourism (for instance, developing souvenirs and merchandising products). The city provided many touristic structures (spa, bars, restaurants, sportive attractions and events such the yearly “Festival de Gastronomia Rota dos Sabores”), but was still poor of artisanal shops to attract consumers and spread local identity. Furthermore, as Martins (2013) points, Macacos has a population, mostly of working age, endowed with varied artistic and creative skills, propitious to develop different kinds of crafts products. However, it was difficult for single artisans – isolated as
they were - to express themselves and access the consumers’ public. Artisans needed to be encouraged to become a really productive and effectively selfsustaining community. In this context, in September 2012 a bottom-up initiative arose from the local community of about 30 artisans of Macacos, who asked support for the Comunidades Criativas das Geraes Program for its growth. Due to the great touristic potential of the region, it was important the training and qualification of the community in order to enhance entrepreneurship and generate income for artisans. The goal of this design program is to empower artisans to create handmade products with higher added value by strengthening cultural identity (i.e. using and reusing local resources available) and promoting the local tourism. As a consequence, the sustainability of the group, to promote craft production through social design participatory methodology has been benefited, by selling the resulting crafts products to a new market segment (MARTINS, 2013).
BACKGROUND: Based on the concept of Creative Communities (Meroni, 2007), in 2010 the Comunidades Criativas das Geraes was created as a research program of the CEDTec Department of the Design
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School at UEMG, Belo Horizonte. It involves an interdisciplinary team of students (graphic, product, interior design) with the aim of integrating people in their territory through experiences, cultural exchanges and dynamics, using creativity as a catalyst for the sustainable development of Minas Gerais communities (MARTINS, ENGLER, et al. 2013). From the first contact with the community, the designers’ team realized the need of conducting an initial diagnosis to analyze the feasibility of developing a project with focus on craft production to implement the community income. According to Martins, Engler, et al (2013): “This diagnosis was made in a participative way with residents and local leaders with expertise in the areas of education, psychology, craft production and trade, through interviews and survey of primary and secondary data, and photographical record of the region. Then, we conducted a sensitization workshop aimed at presenting and discussing the actions and work methodology to artisans and local community. For this workshop, the Secretary of Culture of Nova Lima and representatives of the Association of Earth Art were invited to join the program work team.”
The pilot project was developed in the town of Nova Lima calling a group of local artisans to product Ecobags. It gave them the opportunity to create new businesses after the Municipal Law that in 2011 prohibited the use of plastic bags in Belo Horizonte. The sewing workshop “Ecobag Creation” had the aim to empower artisans to develop reusable bags, using as raw materials household wastes disposed in the neighbourhood of the community itself. Ecobags were created with various shapes and functions as for glass bottles and some with specific compartment for breads. Beyond the functionality and environmental sustainability of the reusable products developed, the workshop had the value to enable artisans to approach a new business. Since that occasion, a participatory design methodology was used. The workshop consisted of lectures (regarding product market, craft production, material and immaterial culture, marketing and consumer’s behaviours, guidelines for sustainable fashion), practical classes (production of prototypes) and technical visits (to supermarkets and sewing stores). At the end of the workshop, an exhibition was held in the House Aristides, where ecobags were exposed to the community. After the end of the workshop, it arose a bottom-up proposal to develop
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design activities in the community of São Sebastião das Águas Claras, also known as Macacos. As already said, the goal of the actions was to use a participatory design methodology in order to create handmade products with higher added value by strengthening the cultural identity of the community and promoting local tourism. Since the first interview to artisans, it was clear craftsmen wanted and needed to change their production and almost nobody declare him/ herself worried about possible changes. All the interviewed artisans declared themselves interested in taking part of design workshops and available to spend time on them. Mainly, artisans showed
their interest in learning design thinking (44%), improve their product (17%) and make their work professional (17%), as well as optimize the management of their activity (11%). More in detail, it was pointed the will to develop new products or adapt current production to market, improve objects finishing and raw material used. All these expectative created a good background to establish a design program for the development of the creative community of Macacos. Nowadays, the CCG program has developed a model of co-working between designer and artisan which can be applied to other communities with a similar potential in terms of human and material resources, as well
Workshop “Criação de Chapéus”, Nova Lima, 2011. Source: www.flickr.com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ 253
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as touristic vocation (for instance, the city of Mocambeiro, Minas Gerais). The next project to be developed within the CCG Program will be a stop motion workshop involving design student of UEMG and young people of the city of Macacos. The focus of the project will be valorising the identity of the territory by means of a digital design product (video). By meeting the natural attitude of the youngs for cinema and animation, the CCG program will access a diverse target, promoting environmental issues.
between the designers’ team and the crafts community has consolidate the group of local artisan as a production unit, developing sustainable products aiming at local ecotourism (MARTINS, ENGLER, et al. 2013). Partnerships have been signed with the Municipality of Nova Lima and Artisans Association of Nova Lima – “Artes da Terra” aiming to support actions in the medium and long term, once the design support would have ended up, creating a self-standing community.
STRUCTURE: The Comunidades Criativas das Geraes is part of the activities of the CEDTec Department at the UEMG, Belo Horizonte. Its general coordinator is professor Rita de Castro Engler, the executive coordinator is MSc student Daniela Menezes Martins, while the research coordinator is professor Nadja Maria Mourão. The project has involved 17 design students of the UEMG guided by the professors’ team to serve the Macacos’ community of thirty artisans. Hence, applied research and design activities have been developed, using academic resources and expertise aiming at the sustainable development of the territory. It is important to note that the proposal for the development of the design project arose bottom-up as a demand from the artisanal community. The collaboration
In order to better understand the composition of the CCG group, direct surveys have been conducted. According to these questionnaires, it results that the community is entirely composed of women; it suggests a prevalent attitude for crafts among women. Schooling level is not that high: 43% of interviewed have stopped their studies at high school, while only 33% is graduated. The reasons that have led CCG members to be involved in craftsmanship are various. Mainly (33%) artisans are following a family tradition or because they like artistic activity, are creative or approach artisan production as a challenge of reusing domestic materials. 22% of artisans feel craftsmanship as a good distraction or occupation in their leisure time. Most of artisans work autonomously (without any business partner): the
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small productive volume makes not sustainable share the work with any business partner. Besides, and, before the design intervention, were isolated, not being part of any group or community. At end of the design process, in August 2012, eleven artisans decided to become a productive unit, creating the communitarian group “Artesania Aguas Claras” with a focus on commercialization. Besides, since 2011 two artisans have been part of the “Artes da Terra” group, which works as a productive community. DESIGN SECTOR: Although the result of artisans and designers co-creation consists of products (decorative, utilitarian and accessory), it is better to classify the design intervention as a service design activity. As a matter of fact, the main focus of the designers’ activity was not the final product, but rather to support the artisan community, create relations and partnerships, optimize the productive process, enhance entrepreneurship, and facilitate the openness of a point of sale for the economic substance of the community. The most relevant contribute of the designers’ work has been to foster artisans’ entrepreneurship and empower them to become a professional group. For this reason, the activity of design in this case can be considered more as service design than as product design
The artisans of the community “Artesania Águas Claras”. Source “Artesania Águas Claras” catalogue, 2013.
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Some products of the collection “Artesania Águas Claras”, divided for typology (decorative, utilitarian and accessories). Source: http://www. flickr.com/photos/ comunidadescriativas/
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in strict sense. It is demonstrated by the fact that, after the design workshops, artisans have not changed the raw materials (in 91% of cases) and tools (in 64% of cases) used for their products. This is because of the large investment and expertise required for changing the production process. Only a few artisans have started producing new objects made of paper, clay and TNT. Others have bought an oven for producing ceramic pieces, pyrograph, suitable glue, brushes and have started using more the sewing machine. Regarding the type of products, 38% of artisans develop utilitarian products, while 29% of them is involved in producing decorative items, followed by ludic, religious, conceptual ones and fashion products (clothes and accessories). Guided by the designers’ team, artisans have explored new product possibilities and are now involved in producing new typologies of objects. These are, among others, candles, soaps, cookies, bamboo cups, placemats, centrepieces, toys, dolls, patchworks, pillows, paper flowers, tiles, decorative banners, decorative frames, key-chains and bags.
DESIGN: CCG use a co-design approach: that is to say, the designers’ team provides artisans with design methodology to be applied in craft production. The
designer develops a role as enhancer by understanding the community’s forms of organization and production and, by means of collaborative activities, enables the improvement of knowledge, creativity, techniques and tools (MARTINS, ENGLER, et al. 2013). Designers follow the artisans’ production and influence the design phase, by giving advices to optimize the process and the final product itself. In the end, the product cannot be conceived as authorial by the designer, but it is fruit of a co-creation by the designer together with the artisan. The co-design approach adopted by CCG consists of an iterative process takes about four months. The process starts with the designer giving a brief to artisans for developing a product. On the basis of the assigned task, the designer leaves the artisan work on it, independently, for a period of nearly two weeks. The artisan creation ends with a presentation of the concept developed by means of a hand-made prototype. All the artisans of the community participate at the presentation together with the designers’ team. All of them are asked to give their advices and suggestions to the work made by others with the aim of further improvements of products. Hence, the artisan is provided with a new period of independent work for optimize his/her product, which will be presented during a participatory
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Design methodology presentation to artisans. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ session again. As in a design process in its strict sense, the artisan is required to present various alternative products. The designers’ team (according to criteria such as material and production viability, economy, sustainability, aesthetics, etc.) chooses the best product to be developed further for final production and commercialization. Sometimes, it happens that the final product is a mixture of elements from different initial concepts combined on the basis of artisans’ creations. It is also important to highlight that the CCG’s work is a collaborative process; it is this sharing of creations that distinguishes it from the work of
the traditional individual designer. On the other hand, what it is similar to traditional design is the methodology used (from the brief phase to the concept development to the oral presentation of design solutions, working with deadlines, addressing designer’s brief as he was a real client) and the areas of research (materials, ergonomics, marketing, sustainability etc.). All of this occurs in a soft manner, nearly spontaneous, ludic (without using the term “design methodology” itself) because if the artisan perceives it is a process diverse from what he is used, he feels it as complicated and gives up. Personal interviews have revealed that
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Visit to the “Centro de Artesanato Mineiro”, Belo Horizonte, 2012. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ Macacos’ consumers perceive the added valued of self-produced design. The designer stimulates the artisan to rescue local iconography and apply the elements of local identity in the final products. To get inspired (in terms of images, colours, shapes) artisans combines territorial observation (and visits guided by designers) with research on internet. PRODUCTION: The CCG program aims at support craft production. It is characterized by the use of low resources, low technologies (the unique machine used is a simple sewing machine), low budget (all the production is based on artisans’ efforts,
without any external investment). On the other hand, it is just this lack of resources that makes artisans more creative, stimulating them to look for solutions to their own problems. More detailed information are available thanks to direct surveys conducted with artisans. The interviewed artisans produce their objects at home (in 73% of cases) or have a personal workshop or atelier (23%). Raw material used are various: mainly fabric wires (41%), and secondarily, clay, fibre, metal and stones. Reused materials (manufacturing leftovers) constitute a relevant part of craft production (in 95% of cases). A few artisans also use vegetable wastes in
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their products, such as leaves, seeds and trunks. Regarding the techniques developed by CCG artisans, they are mainly: embroidery (21%), crochet (13%), mosaic and handmade paper (8%), followed by minor techniques, such as sewing, bijou, painting, decoupage, macramĂŠ, assemblage. The productive tools used are pretty low tech: knife, iron, sewing machine, nippers, brush, etc. Due to its low profitability of crafts, CCG artisans have to approach it only as a complementary and not full-time activity. 46% of artisans is involved in craft production only 10 hours per week. Only a small percentage (18%) of interviewed works full time as craftsmen (40 hours per week). This means that CCG members need to develop another retributive activity to get economic independence. Production range is quite low, mainly small series of 20 items are produced per month (in 46% of cases), with a minimum of 10 items monthly and a maximum of 250 items per month. Production time is pretty slow, but it varies a lot according to the type of product. Average time spent for producing one item varies a lot according to the kind of product: it varies from less than one hour until a maximum of three days. Most of artisans declare that source of reference for their design is local
nature (from which artisans observes the colours of flowers, animals) and the Macacos village itself (with its icon of Monkeys). They generally look up magazines and internet to get visual references for their designs.
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Co-design workshop. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ As a result of the design intervention, products have been improved in their quality (in terms of aesthetics and finishing, for instance), as assumed by all the artisans interviewed. In most of the cases, changes consisted in small
adjustment of existing products (using more natural materials, better choice of colours, adapting products to local culture, inserting new details such as embroidery, improving shapes and techniques). Sometimes, artisans have
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developed new products (such as the case of the embroidery work which was transformed in a book) or a specific packaging for their products (when missing). But first of all, artisans started to be more critical and demanding in respect to their work, now considered as a real profession.
DISTRIBUTION: Since the creative community has grown, it emerged the need to open a self-managed shop to sell the products of the group itself. Concerning selling, before the design intervention, most of CCG artisans sold their products on demand (28%), or through word of mouth (26%) and at fixed fairs. Only few artisans recurred to shops, bazaars and seasonal events for commercializing their products. In December 2012 three artisans of the community has opened a shop in Macacos, called “Chiquita Banana”. This represented one of the most relevant changes led by design. Beside this shop, some artisans have also a personal atelier or sell their products in other points of sale, in Nova Lima and Belo Horizonte. The fact of selfmanaging the distribution locally, has facilitated logistics and transports, but first of all, direct contact with clients has being beneficial for further improvement of products. Still, on demand and word of mouth represents complementary selling channels.
Banner of the “Ciquita Banana” shop. With time passing, the community of artisans (especially the smaller but more consistent group of typical food producers) got stronger to the point that the Municipality of Nova Lima (with the support of EMATER and UEMG-CEDTec) in May 2013 decided to establish a weekly fair of Macacos’s producers. The fair, with 23 stands granted for free by the municipality, has become a tourist attraction and constitutes a further point of sale for the products of the community Artesania Águas Claras. As assumed by artisans themselves, commercialization represents a problematic issue to deal with (82% of craftsmen consider themselves worried or unsatisfied about selling). The artisans declare their interest in increasing their product distribution, by finding new points of sales and promotion. Moreover, the high price of handmade
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The Fair of Macacos’ producers. Left: The “Artesania Águas Claras” stand. Right: artisans of “Mani” Institute. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ products keeps the amount of sold items pretty low. As a matter of fact, three to thirty-five items per month is the selling range on average, while one artisan has neither started yet selling her products. However, calculating the amount of selling appears to be a critical issue for all the artisans. Due to the low resources used (in terms of materials and techniques), production cost is pretty low too. Average cost for producing one item varies from € 0,8 to a maximum of € 11. It is also interesting to note that some artisans do not know or neither calculate him/ her expenses. This shows their lack of managerial and commercial skills. Most of the artisans consider fair the selling price of their products, but half of the total artisans believe that consumers do not perceive the value added by design to craft products. In most of the cases (25%) it guarantees a profit margin of 70%, but there are also artisans (17%) who are not very focused
on commercialization and neither can calculate their profit margin, while others have never sold any product yet (8%). Interviews done to the CCG members have shown clearly that artisans only focus on the product itself and due to lack of time, money or low productive volume, they do not develop a suitable packaging for selling their objects. As a matter of fact, in 82% of cases, products do not have a suitable packaging for transport. Moreover, only 55% of artisans have developed a gift packaging, but it is pretty simple (mainly, it is a TNT, fabric or plastic sachet closed through a lace): it is developed more for cheapness reasons than following a mindful design.
PROMOTION: Communication of the community’s work is mainly managed by the designers’ team which has created
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a facebook page, posted pictures on websites like flickr.com. Besides, the designers have created a catalogue of the products to be distributed among the city and a folder for promoting the food products of the group, with a map which also serves as informative service for tourists. Concerning promotion of the CCG work, word of mouth appears the most used mean (in 64% of cases), followed by Facebook (personal or of the CCG group itself). Some artisans also use website, business cards, and flyers which are distributed in local shops and hotels. In general, promotion is not a priority yet for artisans: there are still two artisan who do not deal with communication at all.
The catalogue of products “Artesania Águas Claras.”
ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: The economic level of CCG’s artisans is quite low: 73% of artisans have an
income included between 260 and 1.300 euro. Only a small niche (27%) live very comfortably, with a salary up to 2.100 euro per month.84 As artisans themselves have assumed, for the Creative Community of Geraes craftsmanship is developed more as a hobby or complementary activity than as a remunerative job. Data shows it: 80% of interviewed artisans is not responsible for family subsistence and thus are not economically independent. Half of artisans have assumed that craftsmanship generates less than half of family income; while in 18% of cases, craft production does not produce anything or half of family income. From an economic point of view, the design intervention has contributed to create a pole of reference for craft production and local tourism, based on a shared local identity (made of common references, such as nature and monkeys, icon of the town). Regarding marketing feasibility, thanks to design, craftsmen have created differentiated products. In order to deal with the competition among artisans of the community, the designers has stimulated mutual exchange of ideas (avoiding copies) and encouraged each craftsman to differentiate his/her product, in terms of raw materials, visual references, etc. All this process has supported a continuous 84 Data collected through direct survey with CCG artisans.
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improvement in craft production. From a broader view, according to Daniela Martins, local market is not valorising yet products made by hands in limited edition. Most of consumers look for industrial products just because they are cheaper or for the status symbol aggregated by the brand. This is felt as an obstacle for the development of the artisanal community, which still needs to be valorized. In Brazil there is already a market piece which understands the added value of craft products, but it is still limited, made of people with high culture and purchasing power. SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: The CCG program has proved how design can foster social innovation in a territory, strengthening relations among community members and making the group sustainable. As a consequence of the designers’ intervention, the territory has been valorised, becoming a pole of reference for crafts with added value (like in the cases of other craft districts in Minas Gerais, i.e. Vale do Jequitinhonha, Tiradentes, Bichinho, etc.). The role of designer is the one of enabler, who empowers artisans to find their own internal motivations, mainly to create a motivator environment. Welfarism is avoided, because it does not develop design skills in artisans, but exploit craftsmen as mere technical
The artisan Ana Vono with her wooden centrepieces. Source: http://www.flickr. com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ operators of top-down projects, creating dependence from the supporting institution.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: According to interviewed artisans, environmental sustainability is a relevant issue in the CCG work. Sustainable practices (such as waste sorting, use of natural or recyclable materials and reuse of manufacturing leftovers) are voluntarily applied in the community everyday life. Sometimes, although informed about the possibilities to make their production sustainable
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(for instance, by using local vegetable wastes), in the end craftsmen do not put this knowledge into practice. From an environmental perspective, design has contributed to add value to craft products. The designers’ team has stimulated artisans to use raw materials abundant in the territory, without compromising the environment. Sustainable practices, such as waste sorting, recycle and reuse of production wastes have been encouraged, in order to reduce the cost of raw materials and protect the environment from degeneration. As a result, artisans have understood the importance of sustainable management, respecting the life cycle of raw materials, for instance by using seasonal vegetable resources for their production. STRENGHTS: Among the advantages identifies by interviewed artisans themselves, there is mainly the comfort of working at home, the pleasure of creative authorial activity. Some artisan also approach positively craftsmanship as a challenge to rescue local tradition and reuse raw materials, cheap and easily accessible. The designers’ team has encouraged the development of productive group, which called itself “Artesania Águas Claras”. Artisans got cohesive and stronger, winning their former condition
of isolation and increased their selfesteem and income. The designer’s intervention in the craft process has contributed to improve craft process and products (mainly, in terms of finishing and aesthetic level, as well as economic competitiveness), fostering local cultural identity. The community got design workshops for free (paid by the sponsors of the project), thus had the possibility to approach a design thinking, although inexpert. The designers’ team has stimulated trade and cultural dynamic among the community, encouraged entrepreneurship. Artisans have understood the potential of local craft production as a sustainable business from economical, social, cultural and environmental standpoint. Three artisans got together and opened a shop – Chiquita Banana - in order to sell the community’s products and access the public of consumers, generating income. Designers have supported CCG communication, by developing a facebook page, website, catalogue and flyer freely distributed in local hotels, inns, restaurants and shops to promote commercialization of community’s products. Artisan community got visibility and has spontaneously pushed the interest of the local Municipality, which has organized a weekly craft fair in Macacos for selling
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and promoting local products. From designer’s perspective, working with artisans allows to learn a different approach to project – the artisan production – very rich at human and social scale. WEAKNESSES: Artisans complain about the lack of a personal workshop, with suitable space and tools for craft production. Another weakness recognized by artisans themselves is the slowness of production process, which led to small productive volume. Furthermore, the high price of products makes craftsmanship an economically unsustainable activity due to the low sale levels. Some artisans also experience difficulties in getting raw materials and are missing quality standard in their products. It is difficult to keep the group cohesive, because of internal problems among members. Since all the funds come from the public sector (Estate of Minas Gerais), the process is slow, delayed and very bureaucratic. Since it is an academic project, for law it cannot receive funds from private institutions which could facilitate the development of the design process. Economic boundaries (and the consequent low resources available) reduce the possibility of growth of the project.
As a consequence, production processes still reveal low technical level, which affects the final product. In order to increase the community income, the shop “Chiquita Banana” has accepted to sell also some ethnic products (with Indian, Egyptian origin); it compromises the local identity of product collection. DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS: It is possible to affirm that increase the number of points of sale (reaching the near Belo Horizonte) is a need common to most of the artisans. It is necessary a more severe selection of products to be sold in the “Chiquita Banana” shop, based on criteria of local identity and avoiding low quality and foreign products. The designers’ team could provide the artisans with a matrix of criteria to be followed in order to facilitate the selection process. Optimizing the production place (workshop) and providing artisans with suitable tools would be very beneficial for improving the quality of products. Product research and innovation is also a issue which has to be carefully taken in account by artisans for continuous improvement of their products. Almost all the artisans have showed the need of suitable packaging for transport and special gift pack; it can be a good potential for further designer’s intervention. Moreover, since artisans’ focus is almost
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exclusively on the production phase, the designer should support management of production, commercial phase (helping artisans in defining prices) and first of all, promotion (by developing, and keeping updated, a website and catalogue of CCG). It would be interesting to develop a label applied to products to tell the story behind them (i.e. identity of the artisan community, raw materials used, handmade process, social innovation values of the chain) in order to communicate the added value of that production to consumers. It is recommendable to foster partnerships between craftsmen and architects/interior designers to ensure a market for craft product developed on demand for clients interested in personalize their houses with high value objects. It is also recommendable to stimulate stronger partnerships with local professionals (such as architects) and traders (owners of hotels, restaurants, shops, etc.). Foster the participation at craft fairs, in Macacos and the near and bigger Belo Horizonte, or organizing events is surely a good strategy for improve the promotion of CCG. Furthermore, from the state of art here drawn, it emerges the need of democratizing internet access in order to improve distribution and communication of craft products and
scale the market. In conclusion, except one artisan (who did not get the aim of the design contribute), all CCG craftsmen declare
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themselves satisfied of the collaboration with the designers’ team.
Embroidered canvas with the local icon of Macacos’ church made by Mônica Soares. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/comunidadescriativas/ 269
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In the next page, coffee and biscuit from São Tiago. Source: “De Maria a Maria” facebook page. 270
6.3.10 DESIGN & THE COMMUNITY OF BISCUIT PRODUCERS IN Sﾃグ TIAGO Sﾃ｣o Tiago is a small town in the interior of Minas Gerais, famous for its tradition of coffee and biscuits which grounds its roots in the colonial age of Brazil. Sao Tiago is part of the Estrada Real85, 85 The original highway (Estrada Velha) connected Ouro Preto (in Minas Geras) to Paraty (in the South of the Rio de Janeiro ; subsequenty the route was redirected to Rio de Janeiro city. The journey took three months. Nowadays, a partnership between the Instituto Estrada Real and the Government of Minas is reconstructing the route. The highway runs for 1.400 kilometers and passes through 177 cities (Sﾃ｣o Tiago is one of these). Most of the cities along the Estrada Real have growth around a craft production, rescuing cultural traditions of the former community. The route reveals a wealth of colonial and baroque architecture,
the highway through which gold was exported from Minas Gerais to Europe in 17th and 18th centuries, and today is being revitalized for new purposes, especially thanks to Universitary projects by UEMG and Politecnico di Torino (coordinated by professors Dijon de Moraes and Luigi Bistagnino). A community (of designers, producers, distributers, communicators) has growth around biscuit production, based on rescuing local tradition and identity. Through field research (developed as well as natural beauty, Ouro Preto and Diamantina are calssified as world heritage sites by UNESCO.
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Schematization of the Estrada Real. together with T창mara Lowande, BSc student in Product Design at UEMG, Belo Horizonte), the activities performed within the whole process of design, production, distribution and promotion of handmade biscuit of S찾o Tiago have been analyzed. The resulting storyboard aims at systematizing the local community; it is used as a base for identifying strength and weakness points and proposing guidelines to optimize the described process and reinforce local identity.
The results of this case study will be used for a participatory design session with the local stakeholders in order to let them develop, together
with designers, sustainable solutions (products, processes and services) for their community. For this participatory session, it is recommendable to present open proposals and not finished products in order to let the community develop its own solution. This way, it will be higher the possibility that solution will be effectively applied because of being created bottom-up from the user themselves. The overall aim is to show how design thinking can contribute to reinforce local community and reorganize the production process in a more sustainable
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way. This innovative model will involve new tasks and new professionals, redesigning fruitful relations within the community. This model is designdriven, since the designer works in this context as a multi-language and interdisciplinary professional who guide and facilitate the process and the relations within the community.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: This case study has been developed through field research during the exchange program at UEMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
as well as for the great accessibility and availability of its owner). Survey online has provided the author with marketing information regarding biscuits. Literature analysis has been conducted mainly by looking up SEBRAE publications regarding production and packaging of handmade biscuits.
NAME:
Relevant information has been gathered during the visit in São Tiago which occurred on April 1st 2013. In that occasion, the following figures involved in the local biscuit community have been interviewed: Adriângela Magalhães, executive secretary of Assabiscoito Association; Geraldo Magela Sampaio, biscuit producer from 1998 until 2008, owner of the second oldest bakery in Sao Tiago and the first to apply sanitary regulation. Nowadays, he is president of FOCEST (Fórum Cultural e de Empreendimentos de São Tiago). Rosa de Minas bakery (one of the oldest companies, beginning in 1998 a family production in the farm); Minerisse bakery (chosen for its large size (in terms of workers and production,
The trademark of the city of São Tiago, a terra do café com biscoito. The name of São Tiago comes from the Spanish Saint Giacomo. Spanish colonist brought this devotion to the city of São Tiago, where a church was built in honour of this saint. As time went by, houses farm were started to be built around the church and, this way, the village of São Tiago arose. The city has kept until now its old tradition of coffee and biscuits, which got as famous as many people associate the city to
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Entrance to the Festival of biscuit in São Tiago, “Terra do Café com Biscoito”.
Historical view of Ministro Gabriel Passos square with the church of São Tiago.
biscuit craft production. Word of mouth spread the fame of São Tiago as “A terra do café com biscoito”. Recently, the Municipality has officialised this expression, which became the trade mark of the city.
in the interior of Minas Gerais, with 12.886 inhabitants (including the rural zone), from which 9.000 live in the city.
AGE & YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: The community of artisanal producer of biscuits grounds its root in the 18th century when handmade biscuits were produced and offered to the troops trading gold along the Estrada Real. Biscuit production began to be a commercial activity in the end of 1980s when a lot of bakeries were opened. It was in 2003 with the foundation of the Assabiscoito Association that the craft community of biscuit producers got joined and enhanced, launched new activities. ORIGIN: São Tiago is a small town
The tradition of producing and offering biscuits in São Tiago grounds its roots in the 18th century and it has continued to be preserved until nowadays. At that time, São Tiago was just a farm village. Tropeiros86 from Sao Paulo were used to stop in São Tiago or São João del-Rei87 to have a rest during their commercial travels, and they were welcomed by the so called “sinhas donas”88 with home-made biscuits and coffee served in the afternoon. Every 86 Tropeiros were conductors of troops (the entourages of mules and horses) between productive regions and consuming centres, from the seventeenth century in Brazil. 87 São João del-Rei is a city 200 km far from the capital of Minas Gerais, famous for its baroque architectural heritage and craft production of objects made of tin. 88
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Slave women.
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Tropeiro, troop leader in the colonial age in Brazil during their trip were welcomed in the cities with coffee and biscuits served by slaves. house you would have visited, you had to take a coffee; refusing a coffee was considered as an offense. Culture of biscuits is still linked to family tradition and to the pleasure of hosting people at home to share with them coffee and biscuits. Biscuit consumption is interwoven with special occasions, as joyful as sad, like birthdays, marriages and funerals.89.
used to produce polvilho91, one of the ingredients of biscuits. Besides, coffee production was a very well developed sector in that region. The coffee company Soberao was funded in São João del-Rei; in Tres Corazoes was established the homonymous company and the local company Campana since 2009 is providing the Festival “São Tiago, a terra do Café com Biscoito” with its coffee.
At the time, Conceição dos Ouros (a village near São Tiago) was specialized in mandioca90 plantation, which was 89 Cookies are consumed during funerals as a symbolic memory of the good moments spent with the died person. The idea behind this tradition is to remind that the died person was as good as he/she deserves a tasteful cookie. 90 Mandioca is an edible tuberous root, traditionally cultivated by various indigenous populations in Latin America, exported to other parts of the world, especially to Africa,
where it is widely the basis of the diet. In Brazil, the tradition of cultivating mandioca has remained until nowadays and it is consumed in various forms, mainly mandioca flour and tapioca flour. 91 Polvilho (also known as fécula de mandioca, carimã or goma) is the amid of the mandioca root. It is used for various culinary purposes, such as to prepare the dough for pão-de-queijo, typical cheese bread of Minas Gerais.
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BACKGROUND: As time went by, biscuits began to be more and more appreciated. Visitors wanted to buy bigger amounts of biscuits to bring them to their home towns. In order to satisfy this increasing request of biscuits, in the end of 1980s people of São Tiago started to open a lot of bakeries, aware of the consistent request for biscuits out of São Tiago. Consequently, the biscuits production has increased and improved time by time. Nowadays, companies of São Tiago produce 43 kinds of biscuits (sweet and salty), such as “paoes de queijo”, “torradinas”, “roscas”, “rosquinhas de nata”, etc. This consistent increase is also due to the support coming from SEBRAE, which in the last years has developed training courses marking the development of bakeries. For instance, Sebrae together with the Assabiscoito Association launched in 2003 until 2006 the PAS Program (Programa Alimento Seguro).
STRUCTURE: The first bakery to be opened was Sozote (nowadays not active anymore); nowadays about 50-5592 bakeries are producing biscuits in São Tiago. Bakeries are mainly family businesses, with a number of workers per bakery varying from ten to fifty. Among the figure involved in São Tiago’s biscuit production, Assabiscoito Association is in charge for promoting economic activities in the city. It has developed partnerships, such as with Minas Pão, a yearly bread festival, which takes place in May in Belo Horizonte. Assabiscoito has also supported partnership with SEBRAE in order to support biscuit producers, not 92 It is difficult to define the precise number of bakeries because some of them are family productions, which are not registered in the city archives of professionals.
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From top left: countryside house; baroque church; typical house; religious banner;decoration for Junina fest; Chita fabric. in terms of know-how (since they are already pretty expert) but concerning administrative issues (such as taxation, hygiene, production standards, physical structure of factories, etc‌). Moreover, the Ministry of Culture of Minas Gerais economically supports the local Festival of coffee and biscuit with funding.
DESIGN SECTOR: In the beginning, the author was hired to design a packaging line for the biscuits handmade by the bakery De Maria a Maria. The biscuit producer Maria Cecilia Coelho Lara Loures pointed the need to differentiate her products by developing innovative packagings, not only in terms of graphic but also of sizes. Unfortunately, in March 2013 the bakery closed its business and the
author came into contact with other bakeries (Minerisse and Rosa de Minas). It was this way, by means of field visit to the bakeries and interviews to the Assabiscoito Association, that the author realized that the idea of designing an innovative packaging line was still out of time. A new packaging was not a common need felt by population and there was still the need to reinforce the community before. Hence, it arose the idea to analyse the entire process of biscuit design, production, distribution and promotion, in order to map the activities in which the community is involved. Defining the weak points and suggest future design recommendation is the aim of this case study, which focuses on process design and not anymore on graphic design.
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DESIGN: Within Sao Tiago’s community, design is almost an unknown concept: field research has proved that local people cannot acknowledge design as value aggregator, mainly for lack of experience. They produce biscuits just following their good sense, instinct and traditional habits, without bothering to innovate their process. The shapes of cookies are kept almost the same since the beginning of biscuit production, but it has contributed to strengthen identity and tradition, with simple shapes easy to be recognized. Until nowadays packaging design is not yet developed, but solutions are applied only on the basis of economic reasons (each pack costs about 0,10 ₏ and increase in costs result to not be viable). Companies are resistant to apply new solutions in logo and graphic design, because their brands are pretty old and consumers have already memorized their identity and would not accept easily any changes. The graphic
design of the label to be applied to the packaging is generally developed with low investment within the bakery itself, which prints the information on the label. Hence, there is still a resistance in applying design thinking and methodology to the cookies community, but there is a very large potential for innovation. A consistent investment in service design is necessary, applying design methodology as facilitator of the process, defining a new path for social innovation.
PRODUCTION: Nowadays, biscuits production has still conserved its handmade tradition. Local families constitute a relevant part of biscuit production. Each bakery is responsible for purchasing its own ingredients (flour, margarine, yeast, chocolate, sugar, guava, milk, coconut, corn starch) from cities near SĂŁo Tiago (unfortunately,
Process of handmade biscuit production. 278
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not always at short chain). Only eggs are bought collectively by Assabiscoito Association once a week. This facilitates logistics and reduce costs due to lower wholesale prices. The dough (made of flour, egg, margarine and sugar) is hand-made for certain types of cookies (e.g. rosquinha) or through electric machine for other types which has a particular shape. Raw biscuits already moulded are displaced on trays and baked at a temperature of 180-200° C. After baking, the cookies are left to cool before being packaged. It is used a transparent PE sachet, which is filled with cookies and closed through a metal wire or heat-sealing. Finally, the label on the packaging is applied (glued or screen printed). Biscuit average production amount is of about 70.000 to 1 ton of biscuits per month, respectively at Rosa de Minas and Minerisse, which are two of the largest bakeries in São Tiago. Production standards have been improved: for instance, hygienic
regulations have prohibited the use of wooden tools to knead biscuit dough; they have been substituted by plastic ones.
Below: Typical “polvilho” biscuits.
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Internal view of the main point of sale “Forno na Praça: Espaço Café com Biscoito” and its stands. DISTRIBUTION: Biscuit producers have always dealt with selling their products. Hand-made biscuits are sold in bakeries themselves (mainly as wholesale), as well as in supermarkets. An important element in the biscuit community has been the creation of the “Forno na Praça: Espaço Café com Biscoito”, a restaurant and coffee shop in Praça Ministro Gabriel Passos, in the centre of São Tiago. In the last years, during the Festival in the street next to the School it was built a traditional oven made of compressed and baked clay. Such an oven was conceived as a touristic point of reference, in order to show visitors how biscuits were traditionally produced in farm since the Colonial Age. The idea of the oven was as successful as citizens protested in order to keep the oven in the square instead of disassemble it at the end of the festival. The municipality of São Tiago welcomed this bottom-up request and - together with the aid of the Ministry of Culture - in 2012 the so-
called “Forno na Praça: Espaço Café com Biscoito” was built as a touristic point. This space became the main point of sales of biscuit and contributed to revitalize the city centre of São Tiago, adding value to handmade biscuits and increasing the acknowledgement of the city. Since now, nineteen bakeries have joined the Forno na Praça (which set an offer of more than eighty kinds of biscuits and thirty kinds of coffee drinks). Consumers recognize this space as the most comfortable point of sale due to its large offer, and prefer to spend a bit more money (due to resale taxes of 40% on the original price) instead of reaching different bakeries to find each kind of biscuit. Talking about distribution, it is also important to analyse the packaging used for selling biscuits. Commercial packs includes generally 100 to 200 grams of biscuits (the most expensive kinds of biscuits are sold in smallest size in order to keep the price always balanced and affordable by consumers). In the
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Packaging of biscuit “De Maria a Maria”.
Straw basket for selling more packagings of biscuits.
beginning, while collaborating with the bakery De Maria a Maria, the idea was to create the following packaging line in order to address the needs of different target groups: Kids (5 packs of biscuits, 20 g each, each one for one day of school); Individual (30 g); Family (200-300 g); Gift (300 g, with different tastes of biscuits). In the end, interviews to the community of biscuit artisans (Assabiscoito Association, Geraldo Sampaio and the bakeries Minerisse and Rosa De Minas) has pointed that individual or kid packs are not economically viable solutions and are meaninless for the context of São Tiago. As a matter of fact, in São Tiago it is tradition to offer biscuits to guests at home, and share with the family, and not to consume individually, neither to give to children as snack for school. On the other hand, gift packs are very common; straw baskets or decorated metal tins are already given as
a present. Regarding the idea of mixing different tastes of biscuits in the same gift package, it has been proved to be a viable solution, but it has to be included in the pack appropriate partitions so the flavours do not mix. Concerning the packaging design, SEBRAE has created partnership with a graphic design studio in order to take care of brand design. Mainly, the packaging used for handmade biscuits is a transparent PE sachet, closed through metal wire and do not allow large margin of change. Some companies are closing their packages through heat-sealing; it guarantees better conservation of biscuits but does not allow the open-and-close functionality required to a cookie packaging. It is a large initial investment, but it is amortized by producing large amounts of biscuits (it involves only energy costs) and guarantees maximum safety. Plastic is necessary in order to keep biscuits intact and the transparency is required to show the product inside.
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Moreover, economic boundaries do not support many changes in the closing system and material used for biscuits (the overall package cost has to be way cheaper than the biscuits themselves, whose cost is already very low). The largest area for intervention, is the graphic design of the label applied to the packaging. However, quality regulations have been created to define the standard information to be included in each packaging (company logo and contacts, ingredients, nutritional information, grams, production origin, production and expiration date). Information resulted to be possible to be reorganized and better designer in terms of readability. Even size, shape and colour of labels can be freely designed to enhance brand identity. Warm colours (red, yellow, beige) have been proved to be the most suitable as they activate the taste and attract consumer’s attention, evoking a Brazilian imaginary Brazilian brightly coloured. In the end, the label is either glued or silkscreened on the packaging. Another design element is the way biscuits are packed: they are either stacked or randomly thrown into the packaging. In the first case the packaging is more elegant and allows to contain a greater number of cookies, without them breaking easily; in the second case, the packaging process is much faster, and therefore cheaper, at the expense of aesthetics.
The festival of coffee and biscuits. The price of biscuits to consumers turns around R$ 3,00 (that is to say about 1 €); biscuits resold out of Sao Tiago are more expensive (about R$ 4,00) due to intermediary costs. It is interesting to note the main target group for handmade biscuits are not local inhabitants because they are still able to self-produce biscuits and are not interesting in buying biscuits. 90% of buyers are foreign retailers from São Joao del-Rei, Prados, Oliveira but even from São Paulo, Rio De Janeiro and Paranà. They come to São Tiago to buy large stocks of biscuits to be resold in their city (mainly using little trucks and promoting biscuits by means of
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Some of the stands of the festival. loudspeakers). Of course, this sale at distance requires a large investment in logistics, which is very difficult for bakeries. Sales are not always regular along the year; for instance, during holidays they are lower because many local people leave São Tiago for travelling. Moreover, consumption of biscuit and hot coffee is higher during the cold winter and decreases during the summer period.
PROMOTION: Promotion is mainly managed through word of mouth, both by producers and by consumers. It has revealed to be
effective because of the possibility to express, by means of words, the taste of biscuits. In 1999 the local school Afonso Pena Junior organized the first festival of biscuits, offering biscuits (handmade by local housewives and biscuit producers) to tourists within the space of the school itself. The festival was held on July the 25th, the day of Saint Tiago, patron saint of the city. Furthermore, July is a month with a good touristic flow and with a cold weather in the region which fits well with the habit of consuming hot coffee and biscuits. Due to the growing dimensions of the festival, the school was not able anymore
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to host the fest. For this reason, it was created a commission composed by the Municipality of São Tiago, EMATER93, Credivertenses (credit cooperative), FOCEST94 (cultural forum) and the biscuit producers themselves. In order to address the need of larger space for hosting the festival, the commission decided to set the festival in the main square in the city centre of São Tiago. However, the church with its religious activities occupied most of the space of the square. In order to better manage the city space devoted for the festival, the already mentioned commission decided to move the festival from the month of July to the second weekend of September, a spring month, colourful, in which no other city events were occurring. The festival takes three full days, from Friday to Sunday and provides visitors with cultural shows (musical and theatrical performances) and tasting of biscuits and coffee (coffee is used to neutralize palate and 93 EMATER (Empresa de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural) is a public enterprise with legal, administrative and financial autonomy, with the aim of supporting rural producers and workers in the Federal District of Brazil. 94 FOCEST (Fórum Cultural e de Empreendimentos de São Tiago) is private, no-profit institution, with the aim of promoting cultural activities in the city of São Tiago. Its chef is Mr Geraldo Magela Sampaio, who has been interviewed by the author.
better perceive different tastes of each biscuits). During the festival, several stands are built in the street all around the main square of the city. A rustic style was adopted for the festival since its beginning, in order to rescue the old biscuit tradition. In 2012 the festival comprehended fifteen stands; they were made of bamboo structure and eucalyptus panels for the lateral walls, while baskets made of straw contained biscuits to be offered. The local school situated in the immediate vicinity of the square offered its space to stock biscuits during the festival. The aim is to offer to visitors a complete experience of local tradition, strengthened by the special flavour of handmade biscuits and coffee (served in disposable cups). In most cases, this rich experience of tasting ends with visitors purchasing the biscuits they have tried and liked. Thanks to word of mouth communication, the festival grew in size year by year. Just to mention some data, in the first edition, fifty companies were involved and they produced 500 kilograms of biscuits, while in 2012 each bakery produced 450 kilograms, reaching a total production of six tons of biscuits. Visitors are mainly consumers who taste biscuits, enjoy the festival and spread its fame outside and retailers who come to know local products to open new businesses.The public of visitors got spread with time;
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in 2012 the festival attracted 55.000 people, not only from São Tiago, but also from Belo Horizonte, and other estates of Brazil, mainly São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Espirito Santo. The city of São Tiago provides public buses to facilitate foreign visitors to reach the festival.
production are mainly young people (of about eighteen years old who work part-time to economically support their studies in the other part of the day) and women (due to their earnings, they got purchasing power and feed local economy with increasing purchasing in fashion and cosmetic shops).
ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: Biscuit production has strongly contributed to economic growth of the city of São Tiago. Before installing biscuit production as a commercial business, São Tiago was just a rural area under-developed. Afterwards, a lot of families opened family businesses of biscuit production, generating a large average class. Nowadays, income from biscuit is higher than rural production. Also the purchasing power of its inhabitants increased; hence, supermarkets and diverse shops have been opened increasing territorial economy. As Adriângela Magalhães, executive secretary of Assabiscoito Association, states, the sector of biscuit production is in sharp increase in the last years, to such an extent that workforce offer is higher than demand. For this reason, unemployment is not an issue for the economy of São Tiago. Bakeries employ on average ten to fifty workers, with a total of about 700 people involved in biscuit production in the city. Workers employed in biscuit
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: Craft production and of biscuits has contributed to create a social and cultural identity. Biscuit production has enhanced aggregation of the local community and citizens’ pride. The “Forno na Praça: Espaço Café com Biscoito” has spread the fame of São Tiago’s biscuits in the city, making São Tiago known in its surroundings.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: The production process developed by biscuit producers has low impact on the environment. Ingredients used for producing biscuits are natural and not harmful and generate low wastes. However, it is important to note that not all the ingredients are locally supplied (i.e. the Rosa de Minas bakery imports flour from Paraná and Argentina because it is cheaper, while Minerisse buys sweetener from the Santa Catarina Estate in the South of Brazil). It causes environmental problems due to transport. Producers adopt waste
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sorting, their wastes are collected by the municipality to be recycled. Waste packaging (of sugar, flour, margarine and egg) are sold to farmers to be reused for other purposes. The finished product – the biscuits – have a long period of validity (sixty to ninety days if conserved in a closed pack, or in glass or tin packaging), and almost never are thrown away as a waste because of expiration. Surplus production is not thrown away as a waste but delivered to local entities which need this food, such as the school and hospital.
STRENGHTS: - Handmade biscuits constitutes a high quality product, widely recognized for its added value. - Biscuit production generates low impacts on environment since it produces almost no waste materials, wastes are recycled or reused for other purposes. - São Tiago has the advantage to be the unique city with such a format of festival. There are also other cities which organize festival of biscuits, but what distinguishes São Tiago is its focus in rescuing the culture of biscuit. The focus is the biscuit itself and the pleasure of tasting biscuits, and not (as it happens in other festivals) paying for assisting to famous musical groups, just
accompanied by biscuit consumption.
WEAKNESSES: - Within the biscuit community there is still a large resistance in applying design as process facilitator. - Nowadays São Tiago is part of the Estrada Real project but it is not receive effective support in financial and promotion terms. - Bakeries experience difficulties in dealing with ingredient supplies, they import materials from far away (with consequent transport problems). - The touristic flow is very fluctuating and consequently also the production amount of biscuits, affecting economic sustainability of bakeries. - Packaging is not properly designed, in terms of materials, graphic, usability, but it is produced only following cheapness principles. - It is missing communication materials (websites, shopping bags, catalogues). - The expositors in the Forno na Praça are not well organized and signalized, hence it is difficult to recognize and differentiate one brand from another. - The identity of the Forno na Praça
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is still weak; its decoration (placemat, menu, signs, offered services) are not enhancing local identity. For instance, placemates are imported from Belo Horizonte and are made in China, using plastic materials, which are not sustainable. - Bakeries cannot afford communication investments, which results to be pretty poor.
DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS: - Strengthen the link with the Estrada Real Project to receive financial and organizational support from the Institudo Estrada Real and get more visibility within touristic circuit.
Bulk sale.
- Reorganize supplies in a cooperative way, commissioned to the Assabiscoito Association. It would make ingredient purchase cheaper and easier.
- Organize the Festival according to systemic design, using biodegradable dishes and reusing outputs as inputs for other activities, aiming at zero impacts.
- Individuate local suppliers, creating short production chain to reduce transports (avoid purchasing flour from Paraná and Argentina only because they are cheaper).
- Organize cultural events during the Festival with the aim of rescuing the Afro origin of São Tiago. Involve citizens in popular art shows, to promote old traditions and avoid paying foreign musicians (furthermore, Sao Tiago has neither a proper infrastructure to host foreign artists).
- Design a cooperative productive plant, based on sharing tools and oven, in order to reduce investments and energy consumption and make transport more efficient. This task can be commissioned to a production engineering.
- Within the Forno na Praça tasting experiences can be offered, serving biscuit and coffee (strengthening this
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indissoluble link). In this case, selling would become a design experience: after tasting diverse types of cookies, consumers will be more likely to buy a greater number of biscuits. - Launch online shopping in order to increase sale sizes. This task can be commissioned to a web designer, who has to create a commercial website and design a proper cardboard box, as resistant for transports as beautiful, light and economic. If increasing in size, biscuit business has to follow quality standard regulations (i.e. irreversibly close biscuit packaging). - Design proper signs for expositors in the Forno na Praça to signalize and differentiate one brand from another. These signs can be produced by the local artisan association, made of local materials. Product designers will be hired for this task. - Introduce bulk sale for large amount of biscuits in the Forno na Praça, reusing metal or glass cans that everyone owns at home, reducing production of packaging. - Externalize packaging management to Assabiscoito Association in order to improve logistics and make packs cheaper due to wholesale. - Design gift packaging, decorative as
well as functional and reusable, such as metal tins, as well as coffee mugs filled with biscuits or straw baskets which can contain tens of biscuit packs. - Design a shopping bag made of reused flour packages in order to facilitate transport of large amounts of biscuits and spread the identity of the Forno na Praça thanks to its graphic design. This project is being commissioned to the plastic artist Yara Tupynambá from Belo Horizonte. Reduce the colours used to customize the shopping bag, and use eco-inks. - Design suitable packaging for complementary products (goiabada95, honey, cachaça, etc.) sold in the Forno na Praça whose packaging is still pretty poor. Brazilian brands (Bonomi, Verdemar, Doces da Christy, etc.) can be used as a source of inspiration for developing valuable packaging. - Improve graphic design of label on packaging: reorganizing information for better readability and brand identity. Using colours, sizes and shapes of label strengthen local identity and differentiating companies one from another.
95 Goiabada is a popular dessert made from the tropical fruit goiaba, whose origin dates back to the Colonial Age in Brazil.
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- Substitute PE with cellophane to produce packaging. It is possible to spread environmental issues by communicating that cellophane is more sustainable of plastic because it is made of cellulose, a paper-based renewable resource available in the territory. - Design proper placemat to be used on the tables of the Forno na Praça, in order to strengthen local identity. Such a placemat could be self-produced with printed paper or made of fabric by local artisans. - Develop a proper graphic design of the menu for the products sold in the Forno na Praça, as well as a catalogue showing the variety of biscuits produced by bakeries. - Rescue traditional handmade shapes of biscuits, instead of developing innovative shapes industrially produced
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In the next page, cotton threads. used for craft production, Jequitinhonha Craft Fair, may 2013. Photo by the Author. 290
7. STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES
in order to keep the local identity and tradition of biscuits, easy to be recognized as a mark of quality. The overall exploration carried out up to here has highlighted the peculiarities of produção pessoal, thus its strengths and weaknesses, synthesized below. From this critical analysis, guidelines for future development of produção pessoal will be defined.
STRENGTHS Produção pessoal guarantees full freedom of expression and experimentation; as a consequence, products are not standardized due to business logics, but are more
autobiographical. - Production series are diversified and flexible. - It is easier to start a new production, as no high technological investments are necessary. - Limited self-production on demand allows to scale production on a real need, avoiding the risk of unsold. - Digital produção pessoal permits maintenance and repair of objects, extending their lifetime. - Self-producers has the opportunity to
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rescue manual skills. - By self-producing objects through digital fabrication techniques, the designer likely goes deep into the heart of the objects, designing its by components. - Designers research new materials with (often) lower energy consumption. Processes are more traceable and controlled in environmental terms (direct contact with the sources). - Produção pessoal often give rise to a “territorial design” with a strong local identity. - The involvement of local artisans contributes to the sustainable development (in social and economic terms) of the territory.
- By managing directly and personally production, the designer can skip very expensive steps, i.e. the contact with intermediaries (agents, representatives, distributors, etc.). - Thanks to produção pessoal a shorter distance between designer, maker and user is acquired. - By sharing projects in open design platforms, design creates a network, fed by the society, which contributes to the continuous improvement of projects. WEAKNESSES - Produção pessoal implies greater risk of failure, compared to traditional design integrated in the industry logics. - Self-producer has usually to deal with limited financial resources.
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promotion and communication. - Sometimes, the result of the new makers and digital fabrication are “weak gadgets”, incomparable to industrial design in strict sense. It is needed to explore the potential of produção pessoal into new segments, going well beyond the very crowded field of furniture design.
- In an approach of produção pessoal it is implicit high risk of isolation and the difficulty of creating contacts and networking, without reaching an effective impact on the society.
- Self-producer generally makes use of limited technological know-how and not advanced materials; as a consequence, product finishing is generally rough. - Generally, one of the main difficulties it is the management of distribution: it is difficult to plan production and sales and products have a little capillary distribution. - Moreover, the self-producer has generally scarce resources to invest in
Community joined together for the “Ujamaa” project conducted by Brazilian designer Renato Imbroisi.
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In the next page, hands growing seeds. Source: www.flickr.com. 294
8. TOWARD SUSTAINABLE PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL In terms of environmental sustainability, it is important to highlight that artisanal practices are, historically, connected to the use of local and recycled materials. Because the distance between gathering raw materials (whether natural or residual) and their transformation is short, little energy is required for transportation of supplies and the finished product. Moreover, practices of produção pessoal and Do-It-Yourself (which make use of 3D printing techniques and e-commerce) allow to drastically reduce the cost of failure. Such an approach avoids planned obsolescence, as well as landfill. Briefly, it avoids producing
something which has not yet a proved purchasing demand, cutting down wastes. Certainly, there is also another side of the coin. Nowadays, thanks to digital fabrication techniques it is easy to produce large amounts of models, prototypes, physical tests, that become wastes in the end. By giving to everyone access to self-production, we would wonder if wastes will be reduced or massively increased. What about if millions of people could really selfproduce their objects by means of their personal 3D printers and then, not satisfied of their results, they keep on trying?
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Some designers have found an alternative to the current consumerist system, that is to design “parasites products”. Such products consist in adding some element already existing in our houses, something which was previously considered as a waste (WILES, 2009). Shay Alkalay96 states: “We are surrounded by objects, so instead of replacing them, why do not we add something to them? I would not say, let’s improve them, but add something”. Raw-Edge has proved this possibility in 2007 by designing “Cut Attache’z”, making some cuts on an old desk in order to add a new drawer. Parasites products are not products per se, but they become useful objects since they save something to become a waste, or extend the life of an object which otherwise would be thrown away. Parasites products represent a new design thinking, which Wiles (2009) defines “guilty design”. It is a design which seeks to not add new useless products in the current scene of hyperconsumerism. Wiles notes that parasites design could be particularly useful for young designers. Young designers cannot afford the cost of expensive productive equipments (like injection moulding…) but they can draw on a large amount of 96 Shay Alkalay is one of the two designers of Raw-Edges and member of Okay Studio.
items which are already produced and available in the market, ready to become “parasites”. Nic Rysenbry97 says: “You can design something to be attached to these objects and make them better, more functional and more useful for the people”. The result may be an increase in sales, both for the product modified and for the “parasite add”. Rysenbry uses a natural metaphor to describe this approach: guilty design is inspired by nature, which combines things already in use, as in the case of the waste of a bird which is used to build its nest. From this point of view, guilty design reflects some “Cradle to Cradle” design principles, a theory developed by William McDonough and Michael Braungart (2002). Cradle to Cradle aims to encourage designers to design the product life cycle in a more sophisticated way, thinking about the end of life in broader terms than simple disposal or recycling. According to this theory, products must circulate inside the “technical cycle” as long as possible, through designed reuse of components, before being recycled and must be used as food, as input for new products (“waste equals food” is the slogan that summarizes the Cradle to Cradle theory). The produção pessoal approach 97 Nic Rysenbry is design student at Royal College of Art.
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which makes use of reassembling preexisting components in a “parasite” way, allows to keep longer materials and components circulating within the so-called “technosphere”, reducing the overall consumption of resources. A linear approach to consumption (buy, use, dismiss) is replaced by such an ecosystem of components, circulating and recombined, where outputs become input for other purposes. Furthermore, reusing pre-existing components (avoiding producing upstream wastes), allows to save much energy compared to the alternative of recycling. Another aspect for which such a produção pessoal can be considered sustainable is the fact that the user contributes to the creation of the product. In this regard, Nigro affirms: “In a house it is always nice to combine contemporary furniture with secondhand items”. Especially, in the Italian culture, using something old, with its unique character and feeling, is experienced as pleasant. Van Ast says: “I think that one of the great challenges for mass production is to create variety”, thus he advocates to combine the perfection of the new with the appeal of the old, making objects more personal. Such a “personality” added to objects is not only an aesthetic factor of attracting the consumer, but it can be read as an aspect of sustainability.
This is because self-produced objects establish with their user a personal relationship of affection, which should be more durable and more sustainable than simple and passive consumption. In the end, this creates a change of perspective. Moreover, analysing produção pessoal within the Post-Fordist context, it is possible to state that self-producer manages on his own small productions, working on demand or – referring to an expression used in industrial context – he adopts the principles of just-intime. In this regard, it is possible to assert that theorists who speculate that any design activity in strict sense has to refer to standard sizes or to specific conditions of mass production, they are clearly in error. Indeed, there is also another kind of demand, which led to a more flexible offer, both in terms of design, and in terms of production methods: this can be embodied in produção pessoal on demand. Briefly, not only one-off design on demand is advantageous from an economic point of view, but also production is better managed by small-designer-artisans or designerentrepreneurs. After having clarified the reasons for which it is worthwhile to mention justin-time within this dissertation, it is useful to define it more deeply.
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Just-in-Time (JIT) is a philosophy of industrial production which allow to cut down stocks and wastes within the productive cycle of a factory, guaranteeing reduced production times and high quality of products. This can occur only because JIT production works as a “pull” model, that is driven by the market demand and not “pushed” by a top-down company plan. This is what occurs in produção pessoal, in which is the designer to independently manage timing and logics of design, production and sales, without being submitted to constrains of industrial mass production. It is evident that the JIT logic fits perfectly with the practice of produção pessoal. By basing their production to the principles of JIT, self-producers can improve their performances also in terms of sustainability. As a matter of fact, they can minimize energetic costs of each process and eliminate unnecessary activities: thus environmental resources are used only when needed. Furthermore, by adopting a “pull” model, it is possible to create a more direct contact with users. On one hand, it contributes to produce only objects which are really needed avoiding upstream wastes; on the other it promotes long duration of objects due to the affection value of products developed this way. In a period of particular marketing
stagnation, the idea of a limited production and controlled by users can be considered as an effective solution able to offer something new on the market, avoiding productive and economic wastes. All in all, in the contemporary production model, characterized by small numbers and the return to a local dimension, industry should change its production structure to adapt itself to the potentialities of digital fabrication. It should adopt - if not single material – at least an advanced logic of Design for Disassembly. Moreover, the new digital fabrication technologies can support Design by Components of objects ease to assemble, maintain and repair, as well as dismantle at the end of life aiming at recycling. This will avoid the creation of “ecological simulacra” which conceal within them a load of “eco-incompatibility “, as in the case of batteries, treatments with heavy metals, pollutants, etc... Such new design processes can be successfully applied to the design of components for new domestic appliances, small facilitators of the flows within the new home system. Finally, it is necessary to foster systems of production, sale and consumption in tune with the peculiarities of the territory in which they are inserted (LANZAVECCHIA, 2012).
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Produção pessoal as a sustainable design process: flexible, customized, local, on demand process, tailored to local or personal needs. 299
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In the next page, network of relations as basic principle for future produção pessoal. 300
9. GUIDELINES FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
The analysed case studies has proved that produção pessoal is a flexible production model, adaptable to the potential of ICT, applicable within a network of relationships between designers and small enterprises and will likely create a new economy. In the current times marked by the crisis of the Fordist industrial system that has undermined the existence of small and medium enterprises, produção pessoal seems to reposition design towards sustainable development. According to Richard Sennett95 (2008) handicraft 95 Richard Sennett is an American sociologist who has widely researched on the changes thaking place in the capitalist system.
represents a viable alternative to face the current industrial crisis caused by a collapsed system based on global finance. According to Adélia Borges (2011): “As an activity that preserves the environment, expresses cultural identities and leads to the improvement of life quality for the people who produce and consume it, craft can be an important development alternative for countries that until now were considered peripheral”. Already in the 70s, Aloisio Magalhães forecasted the idea that a possible reaction to the crisis of the Western World (marked by excessive technological and
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industrial development which turns everything monotone and flat), could start from developing countries (such as Brazil), due to their new authentic culture, rich in originality. By adopting new sustainable raw materials and re-locating production at human scale, such a change could also be economically successful. In this regard, developing countries will likely run the risk to receive foreign technologies as a graft, without having taken part of a natural process of evolution. According to the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro, in Brazil industry may emerge from a craft attitude, from the manual skills and the original views of local people. The future of produção pessoal will likely be a return to a local dimension, based on collaboration between design, craft and industry. Particularly fruitful will be the synergy between designers and craftsmen. As a matter of fact, the designer (reacting to the difficulty of finding contact with the industry) can provide the artisan with design methodology, exploring new areas and guiding innovation. On the other side, the typical artisan represents a valid point of reference for the designer, in terms of local identity and traditions, as well as manual and technical skills. In order to make it happen, the designer should develop not finished products, but open projects or guidelines, to
leave to the artisan a wide margin of creativity and personalization (DE GIORGI, GERMAK, 2008). From the case studies analysed, it emerges the lack of coordination among the diverse experiences of produção pessoal, which appear fragmented and isolated, and therefore unable to become a critical mass to significantly influence the design sphere. Besides, self-producers accuse serious difficulties in managing the entire process and declare the lack of commercial skills for planning, distributing and communicating their products. Produção pessoal appears to be a faceted phenomenon, which defies from easy definitions (as seen in the fourth chapter of this monograph). This research intends to be the starting point, a tool to understand and map the various facets of the produção pessoal phenomenon, register and promote them and creating a fruitful interconnection among the actors of this complex map. It is important to connect communities, associations, technology providers and diverse actors who – at different levels – work in the field of produção pessoal, accelerating the process of social innovation. This International scene proves the need to design a platform of services to support and develop produção pessoal.
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Produção pessoal as an open network involving designers, industries and prosumers (and other stakeholders), developing together education, applied research and promotion. The aim is to turn produção pessoal into an approach that can contribute to the sustainable development of a territory from an environmental, economic and social perspective. The idea is to create a structure equipped and organized in order to support education, applied research and promotion in the design field. To reach this aim, produção pessoal will be a key guide, as it is the approach that best embodies the three functions of such a design centre (design, production, communication), filling the current gap between self-production and enterprises. Moreover, the self-producer
is seen as “mediator of knowledge” able to connect diverse actors, contributing to economic competitiveness and aiming at the quality of the living environment. The local community of prosumers would be actively involved since the early problem setting and design phase in order to set briefs for mindful projects. Concerning the education sphere, it is important to encourage young designers to rescue the “endangered” culture of doing and enhance collaborations with traditional craftsmen to develop together design innovations. Primarily,
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it is necessary to spread the culture of produção pessoal, within the universities where young designers are trained. As Marinella Ferrara (2011) points out, nowadays, the Italian education system is experiencing a period of extreme difficulty (due to economic and political reasons). Such a situation could foster a radical change, inspired by successful international (especially Northern European) models, which give much more value to teaching of handicraft techniques. It is a contradiction that, despite its rich craft heritage, Italy has not embedded this sort of skills into educational fields and consequently handicraft is still often considered an obsolete activity. Therefore, practice and manual training has to be fostered, perhaps by enhancing courses and workshops in collaboration with local craftsmen to self-produce small production series and prototypes, financed through a virtual coin, a system of credits based on barter96. 96 Due to the economic crisis, small and medium-size companies suffer from a chronic shortage of liquidity. In order to meet this problem, after the successful experiences of Sardex (in Sardinia) and Sicanex (in Sicily), in april 2013 in Piedmont was born Piemex, a virtual commercial circuit which – working at regional scale - allows companies to exchange goods and services each other, without paying any euro. The system already involves fifty companies, but about one hundred of them are about to become part of the circuit. As Francesco Gelmi, one of the founders of the project, says, “It is a real help
Based on the principles of circular economy, the network would support designers in the search for materials, technologies and facilities, which would be shared among factories and designers, lowering the investments designers should make. The new digital fabrication technologies, management software and ICT would support new craftsmen to optimize their production, while also maintaining the manual flavour of the craft, creating a bridge between tradition and innovation. Within a peer-to-peer platform, designers would be able to share their projects with other actors of the projects and therefore have an International showcase for their projects. Suggestions from other actors of the process (designers, producers, endusers, and various stakeholders) could lead to progressive improvements of the projects. It would be an open innovation platform where prosumers could interact, by buying existing designs or customizing them according to their personal needs. By creating an International network, it would no longer be necessary to mass produce objects and transport them all over the world, but only 3D files would be delivered for local production on to small businesses which, in order to save up, often give up to all the expenses that are not essential” (FERRIGO, N. 2013. La piccolo impresa affronta la crisi tornando al baratto. In: La Stampa, 02/07/2013, p. 63).
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The Design Platform as a reaction to the limits of economy of scale in a mass production system. It enables designers, industries and prosumers to share and improve their projects towards a local produção pessoal on demand. demand. Finally, an online platform would support the distribution and the promotion of products, enlarging the action channel and reducing the costs for designers. Local markets strictly linked to the territory will be the target of such a production. In the communication sphere, cultural events, market-fairs and exhibitions will be supported aiming at a capillary diffusion of produção pessoal in the society. Periodic seminars and publications will be organized in order to understand the state of the art of produção pessoal, and feed an international debate to outline
the innovation path. Concerning promotion, it is important to develop communication devices able to effectively communicate the added value of such a complex project behind self-produced objects. According to Ferrara (2011), “a certain quality comes from the fact that there are people behind the product who, through their passion and skill, give a soul to it”. The value of such projects derives also for the local culture and the “spirit of the territory” embedded in the design process. The challenge of this multidisciplinary
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project is to create a shared sense of partnership and reach public commitment. The designers should act as facilitators fostering the creation of a local community, becoming a critical mass able to gain visibility and recognition at public institutions such as local Chamber of Commerce, Craftsmen, Industry and Design Associations, Design Associations, local Universities and international partners. Through active participation at higher levels it will be possible to implement best practices and design processes beneficial for the territory. Hence, the project intends to improve the design of the city, influencing the citizen’s daily experience of urban life in a sustainable way. Finally, databases or virtual archives collecting the experiences of produção pessoal already developed will be created and then shared on the basis of the creative common principles. This documentation centre will contribute to spread knowledge on the theme of social innovation and foster new researches. Focusing on participatory design, the platform for self-production would become a Living Lab (Marsh, 2008), a user-centred, open innovation ecosystem. Using this approach, future collaborative services would be developed to boost social innovation
and create new sustainable ways of life. It would be a physical and virtual platform with the aim to support and create relations among microeconomies, facilitating their access to the global market, which is likely a parallel, virtual economy. Different kinds of design platforms have already been created all around the world; thus, it is important to understand which is likely the most suitable to the territory. Design centres in strict sense97, centres based on design management and certification systems98, metropolitan design centres99, co-creation centres100, as well as incubators, science and technology parks, continuum contests are some of the possible path to be taken101. The idea is to launch the platform in 97 Cf. Barcelona Design Centre: www. bcd.es/en/ 98 Cf. Design Management Europe: www.designmanagementeurope.com 99 Cf. Bureau du Design Montréal (LACROIX, M.-J. 2005. New Design Cities. Montréal, Editions Pyramyd) 100
Cf. Enviu: www.enviu.org
101 This topic was widely debated at the conference “Torino Design Domani”, held in Turin, on 10/11/2012 during the Torino Design Week. In particular, in his presentation “Modelli Worldwide”, the author has showed the heterogeneity of design centre models (supported by several case studies) as a source of inspiration for a Turin-based project.
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the territory of Turin as a pilot project, where a favourable ground for this project has already been created. The conference “Torino Design Week” held in November 2012 during the Torino Design Week (at which the author has participated) has already created a fertile debate on this topic. The aim is to make Turin an effective Smart City, or better a “Design City”, following its strategic path towards sustainability and innovation. This challenge is made possible in Turin due to its long industrial background, the presence of renewed Design Universities (with International partners), the large number of students and professionals engaged in the fields of design and communication. After three years from when it was elected Torino World Design Capital in 2008, Turin has still many potential resources to be involved in design management, cultural and industrial goods. Turin has always been an innovation lab and the local institutions seem to be open and collaborative. The challenge is to put into system (design-oriented) enterprises, designers and institutions, based on the strategic dimension of design. The actual socio-economic crisis might be the input for a broad renovation among all the figures involved in, or affected by, design. The idea of a Turin Design Centre was born in 2008 due to the interest and investments of Politecnico di Torino,
City and Province of Turin, Piedmont Region and the Chamber of Commerce. It hosts a community of thousands of students who come from all over the world to attend the BSc in Design and the MSc in Ecodesign. The project of the Turin Design Centre has been set up around: a cluster of equipped laboratories, spaces suitable to flexible uses, education spaces, exhibition spaces, specialist expertise centres, design-oriented business incubators, as well as spaces for management, coordination, reception and public relations. Although the high ambitions of the project, it has been realized only partially. The project should be a modern centre which not only offers services to the design field, but it is also conceived to effectively interact with the educational needs and research applied to architecture and engineering. These diverse competencies share a common culture of project and the ability to interact with enterprises and the territorial institutions. Revitalize the existing project intends to be a good opportunity to give an authoritative basis for services of university-industry relationship that a territory in global competition such as the Piedmont cannot ignore. It is important to create a model of design platform which could be beneficial for the territory and then, test it on the
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international scene, creating worldwide partnerships to feed the network. The research “Analisi dell’offerta di Design in Piemonte” (in English, “Analysis of the Design offer in Piedmont”) conducted by the Design and Architecture Department of the Politecnico di Torino for the Chamber of Commerce (DE GIORGI, 2012) ends by saying: “The network of relationships of local design is vital: you would hope, for greater virtuosity, creation of a (physical and/or virtual) place deputed to make further evident these relationships” (Author’s translation). The road ahead is still very long, but a shared project – which actively involves on multiple levels all the actors of the design world, therefore communities, public institutions, universities, producers, distribution and communication platforms – will likely contribute to social innovation sustainable development of the territory.
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The structure of the Design Platform, including macro top-down support and fed by micro-bottom initiatives. 309
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10. CONCLUSION
Produção pessoal seems not to be an anachronistic situation, but an interesting opportunity, which addresses the increasing demand for flexible and diversified productions, even able to connect local realities with global markets. Such an approach seems to provide young designers with a viable opportunity to start from the bottom, from small business on their own to counter the current crisis of the work world. According to Marinella Ferrara, “it represents also a potential for countries like Italy and many other Mediterranean countries whose strength lies in their technical and 311
manual abilities as well as in the flexibility of the small businesses and craft shops that make up the dense productive system” (FERRARA, 2011). In order to make it happen, produção pessoal has to rescue its social and economic relevance. Design can be a key guide for transforming the current scenario into an “advanced crafts” or, as Andrea Branzi (1984) says, a “New Crafts”. Design should finally free itself from its aesthetic surplus meaning and foster a “slow” dimension, that develops research and experimentation towards social innovation. The future of produção pessoal appears
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to be successful to the extent that it may renew the relation between the design culture and a territory and react to the homogeneity of the design culture in the current era of globalization. Aware of this situation, designers and industries are moving towards a kind of digital craftsman, addressing the increasing demands for personalization, aesthetic freedom, flexibility and speed of the production processes. The future perspective of produção pessoal intends to overtake the limits of economies of scale in a mass production system and enable individuals (designers and users) to self-produce smart devices originating a sustainable industrial process, tailored to local or personal needs. The overall idea is to catalyze micro bottom-up initiatives, “small, local, open and connected” activities (Manzini, 2009). These initiatives, if spread in the territory, will likely affect institutions at a higher level and boost macro and top-down support. In this scenario, the idea is to guide and facilitate the interrelations between micro and macro initiatives in diverse fields (environment, mobility, economy, living, people, partnership), raising the awareness of the beneficial effects of creativity at both economic and social level.
The research has showed the need to foster research and development in the field of self-production. Services and facilities to support selfproducers should be designed, and the meeting between designers and craftsmen should be enhanced. Design-driven innovation in SME has to be fostered, contributing to the employment of design students (by integrating universities with small enterprises). An International network of stakeholders should be created and promotion in the field of produção pessoal should be boosted through cultural activities, conferences and publications. In order to make it happen, produção pessoal has to rescue its social and economic relevance. Design can be a key guide for transforming the current scenario into an “advanced crafts” or, as Andrea Branzi (1984) says, a “New Crafts”. Design should finally free itself from its aesthetic surplus meaning and foster a “slow” dimension, that develops research and experimentation towards social innovation and the sustainable development of a territory (from an economic, social and environmental standpoint).
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The main goals of the research: creating a platform of services to support produção pessoal (by means of researches, facilities, networks, innovation, promotion) and contribute to the sustainable development of a territory. 313
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In the next page, a palette of colors to represent the different paths that future researches may take. 314
11. FOLLOW-UP
Finally, during his abroad experiences, the student came into contact with many interesting realities beyond the focus of his studies. Although the richness of the panorama he drew, it has been decided not to include as case studies of this monograph all the design experiences he found, because of the need of a larger temporal detachment from events and increased maturation of the information gained. Still this broad panorama on Brazilian design and local indent can constitute the starting point for activating new design researches, implementing the mobility program PoliTO-UEMG. Hence, as follow-up of this research, the author has developed the maturity to propose new reflections 315
on the perspectives of development of Brazilian produção pessoal, between artisan community and local identity. ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH ON PERIPHERY DESIGN TO RESCUE MATERIAL CULTURE Street artistic expressions constitute a rich repertoire which has to be explored through ethnographic research, documented and revalued to rescue Brazilian material culture, especially in the North East of Brazil. According to Rosenbluth (1994), the reasons that led to such a rich informal production in Brazil are: the inability of the formal sector to fully employ the supply of workforce, the instability
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Cart for selling sweets in the street, by Jose Genesio Dos Santos, Alagoas. Source: Adélia Borges. of some occupational activities and the existence of economic spaces not covered by modernization that stimulate the development of new independent activities. Starting from this state of the art, it is interesting to analyze: - to what extent such vernacular objects represent the culture of a specific place; - following which processes the lack of resources stimulates creativity; - how design methodology can be applied to people who has never had any relation to academic design. As a result, it will be understood how such vernacular design, by reusing existing materials, can contribute to the development of design and to
sustainability.102
VERNACULAR TYPOGRAPHY AS URBAN MARK In all Brazil street advertising makes use
102 This kind of vernacular production has been documented, among others, by Lina Bo Bardi for first and then by Adélia Borges, who in 2013 organized the exhibition “Design da Periferia”, in Sao Paulo, a collection of pieces designed in the streets. Moreover, Maria Cristina Ibarra is developing her MSc thesis in Design, Culture and Society at the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, with the aim of rescue the creative richness of material culture in the streets of Belo Horizonte.
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The same shop using vernacular (left) and digital (right) advertising. Belo Horizonte. Photos by the author. of signs with vernacular typography. These are graphic solutions linked to local habits, produced out of the academic sphere. It is a spontaneous production, timeless expression of popular material culture. In big cities laws have been created to reduce the visual pollution; on the other hand, they have endangered the activity of vernacular typographists and let to the spread of low quality industrial printings. It is interesting to understand why such expressions of vernacular typography are not recognized as a form of art, but are understimed, and why industrial advertisings are realized without the quality of the vernacular productions. From these considerations, it emerges the need to explore, document and rescue vernacular typography as a source of inspiration for graphic design projects that invest the urban
iconography of Brazil.103 PATTERN DESIGN (CASE STUDY: HELOISA CROCCO) Design of patterns pervades the Brazilian urban landscape at all levels, from the undulating waves of the famous sidewalk of Copacabana (Rio de Janeiro) to the floor of the smallest artisan workshop. It is a rich but unexplored repertoire, which must be analyzed and recovered to give rise to local projects. The work of Heloisa Crocco, graphic design from Porto Alegre, can be used as a case study for the ability to explore the textures of the Amazonian plant species and to synthesize them in graphic patterns to 103 A reference for the study of vernacular typography is the PhD thesis developed by Marcelo Drummond (graphic designer and professor at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte).
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“Topomorfose” project by H. Crocco.
Estrada Real totem.
be applied on the surface of any product. Beyond the recognition of the value of Heloisa Crocco, which deserves to be deeply studied and documented, this ethnographic research can form the basis for designing the Brazilian urban iconography.
URBAN FURNITURE IN THE ESTRADA REAL CIRCUIT Within the Estrada Real project, it has emerged the need to design proper urban furniture as an urban sign to promote local identity. The choice to focus on an urban dimension aims at enhancing the idea of community, by designing aggregation spaces. Moreover, the lack of appropriate structures (benches, shelters for bus stops, road signs, commercial signs, public water fountains, etc) to receive tourists justifies the need of project of this sort.
FASHION AND “MINERIDADE” (CASE STUDY: RONALDO FRAGA) Fashion is one of the largest areas of expression of Brazilian produção pessoal. Therefore, it is important to analyze fashion as a social phenomenon, in search for the culture and values of a society. The work of the stylist Ronaldo Fraga, in Belo Horizonte, can be used as a remarkable case study of produção pessoal which interprets and expresses the identity of Minas Gerais.104 104 Cf. The MSc thesis in Design, Culture and Society by Bárbara Dias Lage (2012) “Moda e Cultura: um estudo da
CRAFT MERCHANDISING FOR BRAZILIAN INTERNATIONAL EVENTS The international sportive events which cultura em minas gerais a fim de levantar traços que marquem suas identidades na moda” developed at the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais.
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Fashion show “A Cobra: Ri” by Ronaldo Fraga. Source: Dias Lage, 2012, p. 133.
will take place in Brazil in the short term (the Word Cup in 2014 and the Olympiads in 2016) are undoubtedly a lever for tourism that Brazil cannot neglect. From the analysis of Brazilian craft production emerges a large space for the intervention of design with the aim of strengthening local identity, making use of local materials, technologies, traditions and artisans. From the collaboration of designers and artisans can be born a collection of mindful merchandising products and services that can enhance local crafts and contribute to the development of Brazilian economy.105 105 As a source of inspiration for such a project, it can be used “Materialmente”,
DESIGN & ACTIVISM (CASE STUDY: PRAIA DA ESTAÇÃO) The “Praia da Estação” (Beach of the Station) is a movement of reoccupation of the public space born in Belo Horizonte in 2010. Every Saturday, the citizens of the capital of Minas Gerais, dressing beachwear, transform the square of the local station in a big public “beach”. Starting from an amateur blog, a self-organized, horizontal (without leadership) movement was born as a protest against a municipal decree which prohibited any kind of manifestation in the station square. This public movement demonstrates the close link young activists create with their city. As Belo Horizonte is not washed by the sea, the station square is lived as people’s beach, a space for meeting, relationship, free expression and contact with nature. It is worth to analyze the power of social networks in public mobilization and in shaping the urban environment. Such a case study can be better studied and designed to become a stimulus for young people to care the public space
a similar research conducted within the Department of Architecture and Design of Piolitecnico di Torino (cf. BOZZOLA, DE GIORGI, et al. 2012).
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decoration, food, etc. As a result, a rich repertoire will be outlined, as a source of inspiration for territory-driven projects.
Praia da Estação, Belo Horizonte, 16/02/2013. Photo by: Pablo Bernardo. and organize occasions for exchange and dialogue for the development of sustainable lifestyles.106 ANALYSIS OF CARNIVAL TO RESCUE LOCAL IDENTITY Beyond its ludic aspects, the Carnival is certainly a rich expression of Brazilian material culture. Ethnographic research should be conducted in loco to explore and bring out the latent traits of Brazilian popular art, from music, dance, fashion, 106 The “Praia da Estação” movement has been documented by “Imagina na Copa”, a bottom-up activist community created to foster projects of change in Brazilian life towards the World Cup in 2014. (cf. http:// imaginanacopa.com.br/).
SELF-PRODUCED GRAPHIC DESIGN: BRAZIL VS. ITALY Analyzing Brazilian design, it has emerged the great importance that graphic design plays, in comparison to product design. As a matter of fact, communication is a field which does not require large investments in terms of materials and technologies and it is a viable way to face with the lack of contact with industry to start produção pessoal experiences. Hence, it is spontaneous to wonder which are the reasons for which in Italy graphic design is not the privileged area of activity for young selfproducers who, instead, continue to deal with more difficult sectors such as furniture. The aim of the research is to compare the historical development of Brazilian and Italian graphic design and understand in which terms this sector can be better explored as an alternative path to face the current crisis of the work world. DIGITAL FABRICATION APPLIED TO SELF-CONSTRUCTION This research line regards the potentialities of digital fabrication to be applied to the field of self-construction for the development of quick, easy to assemble components for architecture in emergency conditions. It aims to
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enfranchise digital fabrication from its trendy label and retrieve the value of social and environmental sustainability. PLATFORM OF SERVICES FOR PRODUÇÃO PESSOAL Finally, as widely expressed in the ninth chapter of this monograph, it has emerged the need to design a platform of services to support produção pessoal. Starting from the state of the art outlined and the guidelines defined in this research, it is necessary to develop a practice project for effectively realize such a platform. It is necessary to understand which business model to apply, design its vision, mission and strategies, then its structure and plan its activities, aiming at the sustainable development of a territory.
Self-construction of bamboo structure.
Co-design process. Source: Vinyets, 2012. 321
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12. APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR DUTCH THEORISTS 1. How is self-production called and conceived in the Netherlands? Which are its peculiarities with regard to Dutch material culture and identity? 2. Which are the main sectors (furniture, product, graphics, fashion, service‌) in which self-production is better expressed in the Netherlands? 3. Can Droog design’s products be defined as self-produced? How does Droog support and promote self-production? 4. Can you briefly trace the historical path that lead to the development of self-production in the Netherlands? And which are the reasons that lead contemporary Dutch designers to act as self-producers? 5. Why are digital fabrication technologies and Do-It-Yourself so relevant in the Dutch design scene? How do you think they can be properly and effectively applied to self-production? 6. Self-produced design often consists in objects produced in limited edition and at high price. Do you think it can be a limit for Dutch customers? Which could be the ideal market for self-produced design? 7. Briefly, which are the advantages and disadvantages of self-production in the Netherlands? 8. Which benefits can Dutch self-production lead to its territory in economic, social and environmental terms?
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9. In which terms can Cradle to Cradle be applied and optimize self-production? 10. Briefly, which future do you imagine for self-production in the Netherlands? In your opinion, how could the self-production process (in the design, production, distribution, communication phases…) be optimized?
COMPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS 11. If you do not know these territories, you can ignore this question. 12. Finally, would you like to suggest me any source (books, websites, exhibitions, designers, theorists, institutions, researches) relevant for Dutch self-production, please?
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR BRAZILIAN THEORISTS 1. How is self-production called and conceived in Brazil? And which are its peculiarities with regard to Brazilian material culture and identity? 2. Which are the main sectors (furniture, product, graphics, fashion, service…) in which self-production is better expressed in Brazil? 3. Can you briefly trace the historical path that lead to the development of self-production in Brazil? And which are the reasons that lead contemporary Brazilian designers to act as self-producers? 4. Why is the concept of community (artisanal creative communities) so relevant in the Brazilian design scene? 5. Self-produced design often consists in objects produced in limited edition and at high price. Do you think it can be a limit for Brazilian customers, who might prefer industrial products? Which could be the ideal market for self-produced design (locally and internationally)? 6. Briefly, which are the advantages and disadvantages of self-production in Brazil? 7. Which benefits can Brazilian self-production lead to its territory in economic, social and environmental terms? 8. Briefly, which future do you imagine for self-production in Brazil? In your opinion, how could the self-production process (in the design, production, distribution, communication phases…) be optimized?
COMPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS
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9. Which are the points of contact and difference between self-production in the territories I am analyzing (Brazil, Italy and the North Europe)? If you do not know these territories, you can ignore this question. 10. Finally, would you like to suggest me any source (books, websites, exhibitions, designers, theorists, institutions, researches) relevant for Brazilian self-production, please?
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ITALIAN THEORISTS 1. How do you define social innovation and which design processes can contribute to innovation in this sense? 2. Why is small and micro enterprise so diffuse in Italy? What has to be done to enhance the relation between designer and MSME? 3. How can self-production (here defined as “produção pessoal”) contribute to human-centred design processes? In your opinion, how is conceived this produção pessoal process in Italy and which are its peculiarities in respect to other territories? 4. Which are the reasons that lead contemporary Italian designers to establish strict relationship with artisans? 5. In which sectors of “produção pessoal” can Systemic Design better contribute? 6. Which is the role of the public subject, the consumer and small producers-artisans within this social innovation process? 7. Produção pessoal often consists in limited edition at high cost and inaccessible, instead of bringing the project closer to the man. How do you think this limit can be overcome to stimulate a “produção pessoal” which would relaunch local market? 8. In Italy “produção pessoal” seems to move at the turn of analogical technologies (manual know-how of the craftsman) and digital ones (production flexibility of the new makers). What do you think about it? 9. How do you judge digital fabrication realities such as FabLab, Arduino and the Open Source? How can these be correctly and effectively applied to “produção pessoal”? 10. Which benefits can “produção pessoal” lead to the territory in economic, social and environmental terms? Which processes should be carried out in order to bring “produção pessoal” back to its original social value?
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QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SELF-PRODUCER DESIGNER - Name (designer/studio): - Origin: - (Average) age / Years of experience: - Background (Studies, professional influences…): - Sector (furniture, personal accessories, fashion, graphics, services, other…): - Structure (Individual/Company/Community…):
1. In which terms do you define your work as “self-produced design”? Briefly, which are the characteristics of your design process? 2. Which are the reasons that lead you to act as self-producer designer? 3. Do you collaborate with anyone (co-designers, users, craftsmen, factories, sellers, communicators…) within your self-production process? For producing your projects, which processes do you use? MANUAL CRAFT INDUSTRIAL MIX 4. Where do you produce your objects? Do you have a production laboratory on your own? PERSONAL WORKSHOP RENTED WORKSHOP DUCE
INDUSTRY NO PRO-
5. How much time do you generally spend on producing an object? 1 week
1-2 months
3-6 months
1 year
6. How many items do you generally produce on average? More than 1 a day 1 a day
1 a week
1 a month
Other …..
7. How much do your products cost (to consumer) on average? 326
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Up to 30 €
30-80 €
80-150 €
150-300 €
more than 300 €
8. Self-produced design often consists in objects produced in limited edition and at high price. How do you think it is possible to overcome this “limit”? Which could be the ideal market for self-produced design? 9. How do you manage the selling of your products? (personal shop / other shop / online / events / other…) 10. Why does self-production rarely access traditional selling channels? Which are the main problems that you, as self-producer designer, experience while selling your products? 11. Which role do digital technologies play on the production and distribution of your self-produced objects? Which are the limits of these digital fabrication tools? 12. How do you manage the communication of your products? (website/events/ word of mouth…) 13. Which are the advantages and disadvantages of your self-production process? 14. Which services would you need in order to optimize your self-production process (in the design, production, distribution, communication phases…)? 15. How is developed self-production in your territory? Do you know any designer, university, institution dealing with this field? 16. How does the context in which you work influence your work? 17. How do you think your self-production could benefit ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC sustainability of your territory? 18. Briefly, which future do you imagine for your self-production work?
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EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CCG ARTISANS
FINAL EVALUATIONE QUESTIONNAIRE WORKSHOP OF CREATIVE PROCESSES 2012 Full Name:......... Family income: ( 0 ) Up to 1 salary1 / ( 8 ) 1 to 5/ ( 3 ) to 8 ( 0 ) / Above 8 salaries Are you the main responsibile your family subsistence? ( 2 ) Yes / ( 8 ) No How much of your family income come from craftsmanship? ( 2 ) Nothing / ( 6 ) Less than half / ( 2 ) half/ ( 1 ) More than half / ( 0 ) All How much time do you spend on crafts work?......... Do you have any helper or business partner? ( 1 ) Yes / ( 10 ) No If yes, how many? If not, which is the reason?......... Are you part of any artisan group? ( 10 ) Yes / ( 1 ) No If yes, which is/ are the group(s)?.......... For whichreason have you chosen to be part of the group? Kind of group: ( 0 ) Familiar / ( 6 ) Communitarian/ ( 3 ) Other, which?
1 According to the Decree 7.872/2012, valid from January 1st 2013, a minimum salary in Brazil corresponds to R$ 678,00.
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Character of group: ( 4 ) Production/ ( 9 ) Commercialization / ( 0 ) Other, which..?
Production place: ( 8 )House /( 3 )Workshop or atelie /( 0 )Cooperative /( 0 ) Association Which products are you developing nowadays (after the empowerment course)?......... Kind of products: ( 8 )Utilitarian/ ( 6 ) Decorative/( 0 ) Educative/ ( 0 )Religious/( 0 )Ludic /( 0 )Conceptual/( 4 )Other, which...? Which are your inspiration and reference sources nowadays? Do you use vegetable wastes in your production? ( 3 )Yes / ( 8 )No If yes, which ones? ( 3 )Leaves/ ( 2 )Seeds /( 2 ) trunks/ ( 1 )Other, which...? Do you use recyclable raw material (PET, pet, cardboard, etc.) in your production? ( 6 )Yes / ( 4 )No / Other ( 7 ) If yes, which ones?......... Do you reuse materials (production leftovers)? ( 11 )Yes /( 0 )No Do you worry about work without damaging the environment? ( 9 )Yes / ( 0 )No / Other ( 11 ) If yes, how?......... Does your product have got a packaging suitable for transportation? ( 1 )Yes / ( 9 )No / Other ( 0 ) If not, which is the reason?......... Does your product have got a gift packaging? ( 6 )Yes / ( 5 )No Which (please, describe it)?......... Have you changed the main materials used for your products? ( 1 )Yes / ( 10 )No If yes, which have been the main changes?......... 329
design processes for social innovation
Have you changed your products after the empowerment course? ( 11 )Yes / ( 0 )No If yes, which have been the main changes?......... Have you changed techniques, tools or equipments used for production? ( 4 ) Yes / ( 7 )No
If yes, which have been the main changes?......... Average amount of items produced per month: ( 1 ) 10 / ( 1 ) 15/ ( 5 ) 20/ ( 1 ) 30/ ( 1) 50/ ( 1 ) 100/ ( 1 ) 250 Average time spent on production per item:( 2 ) day / ( 1 ) 1h/ ( 1 ) 3h/ ( 1 ) 3hs/ ( 1) 4hs/ ( 1 ) 1h30minutes/ ( 1 ) 5-6h /( 1 ) 45minute Average cost of raw material per item:( 3 ) R$2,00 / ( 2 ) R$5,00/ ( 1 ) R$7,00/ ( 1 ) R$30 / ( 1) R$10,00/ ( 1 ) R$15,00/ ( 1 ) R$18,00 Where do you sell your products? ( 0 )Fixed fairs/( 7 )Word of mouth/ ( 0 )Bazaars /( 1 )Seasonal events /( 9 )Shops/ ( 8 )On demand/ ( 0 )Other, which...? Do you have any difficulty regarding the commercialization of your products? ( 9 )Yes / ( 8 )No If so, which are your difficulties?......... Average amount of items sold per month:( 1 ) 3 / ( 1 ) 5 / ( 1 ) 6 / ( 1 ) 7 / ( 2 ) 15 / ( 1 ) 30 / ( 1 ) 35 Do you consider fair the price of your products? ( 6 )Yes / ( 4 ) No / Other ( 4 ) If not, why?......... Do consumers perceive the value added by design to your product? 330
12. appendix
( 6 )Yes / ( 5 )No How do you manage the communication of your products?......... Which are the advantages and disadvantages which you identify in your production process?......... Which services would you need in order to improve your work, in the phases of design, production, distribution and communication?......... Has the empowerment course met your expectations? ( 10 )Yes / ( 1 )No If not, which are your remarks?.........
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ONLINE SURVEY FOR SÃO TIAGO’S COMMUNITY The following survey is part of a research project developed at the School of Design, UEMG. Its purpose is to collect information useful for develop a line of packaging for handmade cookies from São Tiago (MG). We kindly invite you to answer the questionnaire. We thank you for your time. 1. What is your age range?
4. How much are you willing to pay more for a package distinctive design?
2. What is your monthly income? 5. Which characteristics do you most appreciate in handmade cookies?
3. How much are you willing to pay for 1 kg of handmade biscuits?
6. What is the package size you usually buy?
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12. Do you think handmade biscuits are a good idea as a gift?
7. What do you eat cookies with...?
8. Where do you usually eat biscuits?
13. In which occasions would you give handmade cookies as a gift? 9. Do you prefer packs with ...
14. Do you know the city of S達o Tiago (MG) and its tradition of handmade biscuits (such as rosquinha de nata, casadinho de goiabada...)? 10. What features are important for a pack of handmade biscuits?
11. Do you think that handmade biscuits are a healthy snack for kids?
14. Which elements of Brazilian tradition do you link to associate to such cookies?
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334
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ROIZENBRUCH, T. 2009. O jogo das diferenças: design e arte popular no cenário multicultural brasileiro. MSc thesis in Design, Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, São Paulo ROMANELLI, M. 2010. Nuovi Maestri, Fernando & Humberto Campana. In: Inventario, tutto è progetto, 02. Mantova, Corraini ROSSO, C. A. 2011. Design autoprodotto e le potenzialità dell’approccio Open Source. Milano, Italy. MSc thesis in Product Design. Politecnico di Milano, 165 pp. Supervisor: CELASCHI, F. SCHNEIDER, B. 2010. Design - uma introdução: o design no contexto social, cultural e econômico. São Paulo, Blucher SCUDO, B. 2001. Appunti sull’autoproduzione. In: PASCA, V., TRAPANI, V. (edited by) 2001. Scenari del giovane design. Idee e progetti dall’Europa e dal mondo. Milano, Lupetti SCUDO, B., TRAPANI, V. 2001. Una mappa possibile. In: PASCA, V., TRAPANI, V. (edited by) 2001. Scenari del giovane design. Idee e progetti dall’Europa e dal mondo. Milano, Lupetti SEBRAE. 2004. Programa SEBRAE de Artesanato. Termo de Referência. Encontro Nacional do Programa SEBRAE de Artesanato. Araxá, SEBRAE SEBRAE, 2010. Atuação do Sistema SEBRAE no Artesanato. Available at: http://www.biblioteca.sebrae.com.br/bds/bds. nsf/4762969DAC2E2FBC8325770E005416FC/$File/NT00043F22.pdf. Looked up on: 15/05/2013 SENNET, R. 2008. L’uomo artigiano. Milano, Feltrinelli, p. 320 SOMMARIVA, E. 2010. Raccontare gli oggetti e il mestiere del designer. Domus online. STERLING, B.. 2005. Shaping Things, Cambridge, MIT Press TANGI, M. 2010. Open Design Company. Torino, Italy. MSc thesis in Ecoesign. Politecnico di Torino. Supervisor: VALPREDA, F. THACKARA, J. 2008. Plano B: O Design e as Alternativas Viáveis em um Mundo Complexo. São Paulo, Saraiva 341
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104 DIAS LAGE, B. 2012. Moda e Cultura: um estudo da cultura em minas gerais a fim de levantar traços que marquem suas identidades na moda. Belo Horizonte, Brazil. MSc thesis in Design, Cultura e Sociedade. Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais. Supervisor: ENGLER, R. FREITAS, A. L. 2011. Design e Artesanato: Uma Experiência de Inserção da Metodologia de Projeto de Produto. São Paulo: Blucher IRACE, F., FERRARI, F. 2006. Figure - ritratti dal professionismo milanese. Vico Magistretti, Milano, Mondadori Editore, pp. 200 KRUCKEN, L. 2009. Design e território: valorização de identidades e produtos locais. São Paulo, Nobel LACROIX, M.-J. 2005. New Design Cities. Montréal, Editions Pyramyd MARTINS, D. (edited by). 2009. Minas Raízes: Projeto de Capacitação em Produção Artesanal - Nova Lima 2009. Catálogo do Projeto Minas Raízes. Belo Horizonte MC GUIRK, J. 2009, July. Fabbers, Dabblers and Microstars. In: ICON 073 PAPANEK, V. 1971. Design for the real world: human ecology and social change. New York, Pantheon Books PERUCCIO, P. P. Il design della rinascita: 1945-69. In: RAMPELLO, D. 2013. La Rinascita. Milano, Skira, pp. 125-143 PILLER, F., 2006. Mass customization. Gabler Verlag SEBRAE (edited by). 2006. Catalogo de Artesanato, Minas Gerais. SEBRAE SOCCO, M. 2004. Supra design focus : l’autoproduzione e l’autopromozione, il Salone di Milano, il design emergente torinese, visti dall’interno. Torino, Italy. BCs thesis in Industrial Design. Politecnico di Torino. Supervisor: DE GIORGI, C. VAN ABEL, B. 2011. Open Design Now. Why design cannot remain exclusive. Amsterdam, BIS publishers VON HIPPEL, E. 2005. Democratizing Innovation, Cambridge, MIT Press
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The thesis analyses how design processes can contribute to social innovation. Among these, self-production (hereafter defined with the Brazilian expression “produção pessoal”) is considered as the human-centred process held by the designer-maker who manages the entire process, from design, to production, distribution and communication. Despite the fashionable usage of the term self-production, the research goes back to the roots of the phenomenon, up to post-war self-construction, reaffirming the original social value of such a democratic design process. Through field research, worldwide approaches to produção pessoal are critically analysed, from Italian micro-entrepreneurship to Dutch digital fabrication to Brazilian artisans’ communities. Their strengths and weaknesses are outlined and design recommendations are defined. Produção pessoal seems to be an effective way to restart from the bottom and develop social micro-enterprises diffused on the territory. They are likely sustainable as they are local and flexible processes, tailored on human needs. Guidelines for the development of a platform (putting into system designers, producers and aware subjects) are defined, in order to make it contribute to the sustainable development of a territory, from an environmental, economic and social perspective.