Banana Fibre Cushions and Cipo Furniture by Oficina Nomade
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 05. 5.06
Our featured Christian Ullmann, Oficina Nomade’s director, has hit us back with the latest productions of this unit dedicated to the development of products involving crafts communities from small Brazilian towns, promoting the recycling of industrial waste and the use of renewable and biodegradable resources. The first is the “Japanese line”, a series of puffs inspired in the sushi culture. It’s composed by a table and four cushions made from pranced banana fibre. All these were developed in a region called Vale do Ribeira, in the state of Sao Paulo, a region with an important Japanese colony which has influenced the local culture. Designer Tania de Paula developed this line fusing the two. The puffs were produced by a cooperative of women from Banarte (Miracatu, Sao Paulo).
The second line was developed by Ullmann and Sergio Fahrer, and is a group of benches and table from cipo lianas and cushions with a technique called Nhandutí (which consists on the knit of natural fibres). The project took place also in Vale do Ribeira, where the cipo was extracted by artisan families Lima Sebastiana and Gercino in a sustainable way. The families also made the prancing of the lianas. The cushions were produced by the Dois Corregos Artisan Asociation (Dois Corregos, Sao Paulo).
For more on these designs and the ways they were brought up, contact Christian Ullmann, from Oficina Nomade at maisdesignmenosresiduo at uol dot com dot br.
Photographs: Luis Macian.
