Direct from Market: Brazil's House and Gift Fair South America
By Maitreyee Angelo -- Gifts and Dec, 9/10/2008 3:53:00 PM
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Flavor, fragrance and festivity are replete in these room fresheners and ornaments from R.P.P. Commercial Ltda. fashioned from spices and natural seeds, including open and closed cotton bolls, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, coffee beans, cotton pods and the red seeds of the tropical pao flower. |
São Paolo, Brazil — Clear blue skies and balmy temperatures welcomed the more than 900 exhibitors and 50,000 buyers, both international and from across South America, to the 37th House and Gift Fair South America at São Paolo’s Expo Center Norte from August 16–19. Organized by Grafite Feiras e Promoções, the fair was divided into six specialized pavilions: Eletro House, Textil House, Utility House, In Domus, Linea Domus, and World of Gifts; these pavilions showcased the latest in decorative accessories, lighting, furniture, textiles, serveware, floor furnishings and household appliances in an area of 46,000 square meters. Glass, ceramics and metal ware comprised the largest segment, followed by housewares, tabletop and textile-based home furnishings. The stage was set by the presentation of 15 Prêmio House & Gift de Design Awards. The awards, now in their eighth year, have done much to encourage innovation and creativity among established designers, entrepreneurs, upcoming design students and small businesses.
Metalwares
| hobnob@hobnob.com.br |
| From Elza Kahnne, a serving tray is made of cast in aluminum with a beaten, highly polished finish and curved bone handles encased in aluminum. Square vases have a highly textured, polished finish and painted grooves. The salad servers and banana leaf platter are of beaten, polished copper; fretted leaf plate to the right is sectioned off at the reticulations, highly textured, and the stem is tipped in bone. |
The popularity of metal décor was evident. Elza Kahnne showed nature-inspired designs in wrought iron, cast aluminum, wood and resin. Three trays were unusual: one of haphazardly woven fine iron wire that looked like fiber strings, the second with a rope-like twisted handle of iron, and the third fashioned from vari-sized polished aluminum rings. A platter of beaten metal with a bronzed finish and bone handles, a delicate looking bowl made from flattened, curved and joined metal leaves, and an ochre-painted cast aluminum candleholder of flat metal strips curving upward like delicate sea kelp were of particular interest. Several of Elza Kahnne’s wall décor designs were inspired by the surrealist and De Stijl art movements, and artists like Piet Mondrian and Joan Miro.
Roncali Décor displayed a wonderful collection of wall art in mixed media – metal, acrylic, wood, mirrors, ceramic, chrome, glass and curved woods in abstract, geometric, contemporary and nature-inspired designs.
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| Polished aluminum tops and lids lend a touch of class to these bottles, boxes, wine bottle cases and vases of certified wood from Aluminarte Atelier de Decorações Ltda. |
Aluminarte Atelier’s beaten, hand-embossed pictures of aluminum featured beautiful contemporary, juvenile, graphic fruits and floral designs in an array of fancy frames and creative matting. Also seen were serveware, boxes, jewelry and flatware cases of aluminum combined with fabric, wood and various fibers.
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| Bottle buckets on pedestals from Forma are formed in 18/10 polished stainless steel with brushed interiors. Removable ringed stainless steel inserts hold bottles upright. In the background are prize-winning ice buckets by Brazilian designer, Gértri Bodini. |
Forma, a 25-year old Brazilian brand, whose forte is stainless steel, displayed sleek cutlery, organizers, barware, fondue sets and serving platters elegantly combined with certified lypthos wood, glass mixed with resin, and porcelain. Forma won two Prêmio awards, one for a stainless steel and wood set for slicing herbs and spices, designed by Gértri Bodini. Based on Oriental minimalism and origami, the slicing board has a concave undercut in the wood to hold the food during slicing. The knife, with its innovative blade and ergonomic handle, allows one to use just one hand.
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| Marizza Prado amidst her collection of steel and faux crystal decorative accessories, iron chandeliers and ceramic home décor. |
Marizza Prado, a former ceramic teacher who started a small factory in São José in 1992 with $500, now has 65 employees, her own brand, several retail stores and exports her wrought iron products to more than eight countries. She combines gold and silver leaf patinas, bronze and antique finishes with clear or opaque acrylic in jewel colors in a variety of different items including intricate chandeliers; large, elegant fruit and decorative trays of polished, iron mesh accented with acrylic crystals; exotic birds; planters of flattened, painted wrought iron leaves; garden décor and other gift items.
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| Recycled steel is put to unusual use in these delicate looking lights from Helizart Objetos. |
Helizart Objetos displayed several creative lighting designs in recycled steel combined with glass, crystal, ceramic and recycled wood. Among them were an intricate “bird” nest chandelier of recycled steel wire accented with square crystals; a chrome-based table lamp topped with an exquisite shade of fine hand-crocheted steel wire interspersed and tipped with platinum crystals; and a cylindrical light suspended on 5-ft. long chrome chains whose tips culminated in 2-inch long tear-drop crystals or circular discs of bone in yellow, black and white.
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| Taking center stage are four pieces of mouth-blown high-temperature fired glass from Molinari’s new Black and Red vase collection. |
Tabletop and Home Decor
Molinari debuted 15 new lines of gorgeously blown glass decorative accessories. Also on view were pieces from its limited-edition lines, which fire only 15 pieces for each edition. Studium Ki’s tall white samurai vase, and another bordered horizontal one featuring a multilayered vandyke pattern with gold accents and a high gloss glaze were resplendent in their colors and contemporary style. Anamaria’s collection of ceramics in a textured “sand finish” accented with chrome, and its sandblasted ceramics coupled with cracked glass caught the eye.
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Scalla’s modular ceramic serving pieces are an interesting interplay of shapes and sizes. |
Scalla, Brazil’s largest manufacturer of ceramics for over 23 years, had a huge display of formal, everyday and juvenile tabletop and serveware in classic white, vibrant colors and pastels, which exemplified the company’s focus on quality and practical, trendy, sleek design.
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| A hot-seller, chrome and opaque black acrylic-resin combine in this contemporary orchid vase from TUPY. |
TUPY, renowned for its resin products, celebrated its 50th year in business with a scintillating display of style in its new red, black and white decorative accessories, as well as clear and opaque serveware and lamps in sleek contemporary designs and unbelievable colors.
Sleek molded polypropylene in easy-care and affordable tableware and home goods is the hot new trend in Brazil. Martiplast, which has more than 250 products under its brand name of for the residential and hospitality markets, showed “Vitra,” a premium line of clear serveware and “Fusion,” with smart exteriors in black, red, green or orange and sparkling white interiors.
COZA displayed several lines of homewares, kitchen, outdoor serving and utility items including a fabulous range of lighting and distinctive carry bags.
Accent Furniture and Woodenwares
Several companies exhibited products made from “certified wood” grown specifically to be cut down for manufacturing to deter the relentless deforestation of the past few years. Natureza had interesting furniture made from Amazonian wood banded together with cane.
Helizart Objetos had a beautiful display of accent furniture fabricated from natural wood with unique designs inherent in their age — whorls, colorations and textures.
Parko showed two products — height-adjustable bar stools and a table lamp with an integrated wood shade — fabricated from single pieces of pine whose distinctive geometric designs were naturally achieved by a patented turning process.
The Amazon forest being her inspiration, Mari Bueno’s trays, coasters, boxes and bins are made from wood fiber pulp from Amazonian trees, decorated with its flora and fauna, and accented with natural fiber cords and seed beads such as abaceba, burriti, paxiu, acai and goiabinha do mato.
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Handmade Christmas gift sack, wine bottle bags and mantel covers from DGD are made of velour with cotton and velvet patchwork and appliqué holiday motifs accented with embroidery, wired ribbon, gold braid, tiny brass bells, gold ties and silk tassels. |
Textiles
Barocca’s gorgeous cushions and throws in silk and polysilk with tropical floral and fauna were eye-catching. Traditional Latin American accessories like cake covers, bottle holders, breadbaskets, bag keepers and tea-cosies featured beautiful designs, off-beat themes and interesting surface treatments. Great detail and superb embroidery set apart Laco de Fita’s bread, shoe and garbage bag cases in cotton.
An array of door and draft stoppers in woven hessian from Empório dos Bordados was dressed up with patchwork, appliqué, embroidery and crochet.
DGD had a great line of Christmas décor and large gift sacks elaborately decorated with Santas in felt, embroidery, sequins, beads, velvet and battery-powered lights!
Historically, prohibitive tariffs, several layers of taxes, high labor costs and bureaucratic red tape have prompted many Brazilian companies to co-brand or import from India, China, the Far East, Portugal, and Argentina and, to a smaller extent, the United States. With recent increases in global trade, more companies are turning to manufacturing, and with its GDP of over US$1 trillion, Brazil is now the most important market in South America and considered one of the world’s 10 largest economies.
We appreciate the reference of our company in its magazine.
The correct address of our site is:
www.emporiodosbordados.com.br
Regards,
Fulvia Arruda Jacobsen
Director of Creation
FULVIA ARRUDA JACOBSEN - 2008-09-11 15:26:00 EDT
The correct address of our site is:
www.emporiodosbordados.com.br
Regards,
Fulvia Arruda Jacobsen
Director of Creation
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