Arriving I expected to find a chaotic, dangerous and gray metropolis. Instead, I was more than surprised to find a colorful, dynamic and vibrant city. These same qualities are uniquely evident in Brazilian design. For those of you who may not know, IDEA/Brazil is the Brazilian version of the IDEA Awards. Now in its third year, IDEA/Brazil is promoted by the design organization Objeto Brasil and led by Joice Joppert Leal, who according to my friend, Helen Walters of BusinessWeek, is “a force of nature.” After a week with Joice, I couldn’t agree more!

"Is Brazil Design's Next Superpower?", by John Barrat @Fast Company

In 2008, Brazil made history with 12 award wins in the U.S., a feat never achieved by any South American country. This secured the third position among participants, trailing only the U.S. with 114 podiums, and South Korea with 19. Last year, two Brazilian projects, including the Havaianas store in São Paulo, won IDEA gold. Design work competed in 18 categories, including one exclusive to Brazil: jewelry. Industrial products, personal accessories, home living, environments, eco-design, packaging, transportation and student projects, among others, were awarded [...]

via Is Brazil Design’s Next Superpower? | Fast Company.

Read Also:

• Business Week’s Bruce Nussbaum talk about the “Best Design From Brazil”
• CLIO honors Marcello Serpa with “Lifetime Achievement” award
• Brazilian Design at the New York’s MoMA Store
• Brazilian CG artist nominated to Autodesk’s “Master Awards”
• Daytripper is a stunning one way ticket to Brazilian stories, lifestyle and souls

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"Asian Graphics Now", by Julius Wiedeman and Bruno Porto

Taschen editor-in-charge Julius Wiedemann and co-author Bruno Porto showcased the upcoming 430 page book “Asian Graphics NOW!” at the German Consulate General in Shanghai, on September 15th 2010. The Pre-launch talk was attended by 120 local (Chinese and foreigners) designers, artists and journalists, and it was translated to Chinese by Ms Karen Xu.

Both Wiedemann and Porto were born and raised in Rio de Janeiro and respectively attended the Marketing and Design courses of Rio’s Faculdade da Cidade in the early 1990s.

Julius Wiedemann, Karen Xu & Bruno Porto by Mowfak Galy

The book is a collaboration between them, Taschen art editor Daniel Siciliano-Bretas (born in Rio de Janeiro, currently living in Köln, Germany) and Japanese design specialist Marcos Sadao Maekawa (born in São Paulo, currently living in Tokyo, Japan), and presents a wide selection of design projects from China (mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao), Japan, Korea, India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam etc, divided in five sections – Advertising, Branding, Editorial, Non-Commercial and Packaging. It also features articles by Huang Li, editor of Package & Design Magazine, and Wang Min, Design Director of the Beijing Olympics 2008.

The first 100 pages of “Asian Graphics NOW!” can be leafed in http://www.taschen.com/lookinside/04440/index.htm

Read Also:

• 9th Brazilian Graphic Design Biennial in China
• 9th Brazilian Graphic Design Biennial goes to China
• Business Week’s Bruce Nussbaum talk about the “Best Design From Brazil”
• Chinese design magazines will publish over 200 pages of Brazilian graphic arts in 2010
• Brazilian illustration festival in China

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"Corallo Chair", by Humberto and Fernando Campana, 2004

The Museum of Modern Art’s Design Store has been running regionally-sourced collections in their retails shops and online. Currently they’ve got an excellent array of products from Korea, and next up they’ll be bringing work from Brazil.

Spanning time periods, there’s also a mix of old and new, including the classic Mocho Stool from Sergio Rodrigues. The 1954 design interprets the traditional milkmaid’s stool used throughout Brazil, using the same local eucalyptus wood of the original. Representing Brazil’s contemporary national identity, the Campana Brothers‘ keep it modern with their new sushi bowl, a kaleidoscope of colors and materials rolled together in a manner implied by the name.

Playing to Brazil’s strengths, the exclusive collection is heavy on handmade objects that take advantage of indigenous natural resources, such as this centipede-inspired fruit bowl composed of coconut fibers, sugar cane and wood.

The Brazil collection will be available for a limited time via the MoMA Design Store website and brick-and-mortar shop or at MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires).A short preview of the collection follows as a slideshow.

via Brazilian Design at the MoMA Store – Products – Dwell and MoMA Design Store Destination: Brazil

Read Also:

• Premiere Brazil Film Exhibition at MoMA, New York
• “Brazilian Design Classics”, according to UK’s the Guardian
• Roots: Gilvan Samico (1928 – )
• Brazil highlighted as “Design’s Next Superpower” by Fast Company Magazine
• Roots: Oiticica, Hélio (1937 – 1980)

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In 2008, the Industrial Designers Society of America ran a new contest in Brazil and some of the winners were included in this year’s Top International Design Excellence Awards. Amazing design and innovation is taking place in Brazil and this slideshow of winners (Brazil placed third behind the US and Korea in the number of IDEA awards in 2008) shows the wide range of activity. We tend to focus on design coming out of China, Korea, India or Japan these days, as well of Europe of course, but Brazil is booming and so is its design. Brazilians are designing sophisticated medical equipment, autos, clothes and jets. São Paulo is home is some great design consultancies that US, European and Asia companies should be tapping (many already are).

via BusinessWeek

Read Also:

• Brazil highlighted as “Design’s Next Superpower” by Fast Company Magazine
• A Brazilian talk about Asian design
• Brazil outsourcing industry featured in Design Council Magazine’s “The Latin American renaissance” article
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná featured on the “World’s Best Design Programs” list by BusinessWeek magazine
• The launching of Guarana Jesus new can wins the Gold Medal from IDSA IDEA 2010 Awards

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