Amazonian riverside craftsman is finalist for the prestigious Casa Vogue Design Award 2021

Mencius Melo – From Cenarium Magazine

The riverside craftsman Manoel Garrido is one of the finalists of the Casa Vogue Design Award 2021. Manoel is a resident of the Tumbira community, in the state of Amazonas. The artist competes with the art of the ‘Tumbira Collection’, from the ‘Esse Dito Bicho’ experience, an initiative that has the partnership of architects Marcelo Rosenbaum and Fernanda Marques.

The piece created and produced by the artisan is composed of five vases and three bowls. The creation is the result of the “Amazonas Sustentável” project and was built with support from Petrobras, Instituto A Gente Transforma, and Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS).

The project uses wood residues from forest management, apparently without any commercial value. With creativity and support, the waste is transformed into products of forest origin with added value.

“I am happy and very grateful to everyone who helped me to have this recognition. Being a finalist, for me, is already a great victory”, celebrated Manoel Garrido. The artisan comes from a family of tradition in the carpentry art of building boats in the Amazon region. Interrupted by hundreds of rivers, Amazonian geography requires the ability to navigate and even more to build boats.

From father to son

Garrido inherited from his father the workshop and the ability to work with wood. Over time, he transformed the space into carpentry and later, a studio. The artist’s inseparable ally is a lathe. The instrument is a “machine tool” that makes it easier to shape an object. The contraption was conceived from a truck engine and it was Manoel Garrido himself who invented the lathe.

“Being part of the list of finalists for the Casa Vogue Award brings recognition to great artists, who still live and guard our Amazon forest, showing that it is possible to maintain this great harmony between people and nature,” said Gil Moraes Lima, coordinator of FAS projects.

In addition to gaining visibility and the possibility of valuing your name in the Brazilian market. Manoel Garrido can also become an example and a source of inspiration for other talents in the forest. As important as that is the fact that your art is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 1 – poverty eradication; 8 – decent work and economic growth; 12 – responsible consumption and production; 13 – action against global climate change.

The collection

The inspiration to invest in the art of Manoel Garrido, to produce a collection, came during a visit to the RDS of the Negro River, by architect Marcelo Rosenbaum and architect Fernanda Marques. There, the two learned of Garrido’s work and decided to meet the artisan.

As soon as they met, Marcelo invited Garrido to collaborate with the Instituto A Gente Transforma, a project by Marcelo Rosenbaum that uses design to expose the soul of the Brazilian people. The architect’s idea is to propose an anthropological dive into the experience of knowing the culture of the peoples that make up Brazil.

As a result of the contact between the architects and the riverside craftsman, there are the simple yet elegant pieces that today compete for the Casa Vogue Design Award 2021. In addition to the lightness of the design, Manoel Garrido’s creation has a vibrant color and features that make the pieces so unique. To design the work, Garrido used management wood.The species “Roxinho”, also known by other names such as: “Amarante”, “Coataquiçaua”, or “Pau-Roxo.

The Casa Vogue Award

The fifth edition of the Casa Vogue Design Award, which annually recognizes the main launches of Brazilian national design, highlights 55 finalists distributed in 11 categories. The winners are chosen by a jury of experts and by popular vote, which is being held until March 30, through the website https://glo.bo/2OJQcx0.