DAE alumnus Andrea Bandoni (graduated in 2009) presents the Objects of the forest. This project's core idea is to identify and disseminate design solutions that take into account the relationship between man and nature in sustainable ways. Brazilian designers Andrea Bandoni and Ana Paula Campos will make a one-month "experimental expedition" through the Amazon – the place in the world where the presence of nature is most intense and diverse.
In this trip, besides visiting a lot of cities, communities and research centers, the designers will also taught two free workshops for local designers. Back from the Amazon, they will organize an e-book with their registers, which will be available online for free download.
Most of the industrial production nowadays takes little account of the life cycle of materials (especially their disposal), and also doesn’t care about cultural relationships between individuals and objects, local traditions or habits. It is the designer’s role to imagine a new, post-industrial system, considering how materials can not only stop harming people and the environment, but also how they could have a positive impact. The professionals who design objects can get people to have more sustainable lives, helping to defuse the environmental crisis.
In the design field, new and more sustainable references are being missed. That is why, just as natural scientists, many young designers today are getting close to nature to identify opportunities and discover new materials, textures and processes, to rethink the use of resources and to produce artifacts more appropriate and representative of our times.
Within this international context, Brazil has a privileged position: natural resources are abundant here. Taking advantage of this situation, this project aims to lay foundations in order to enable the creation of ambitious design solutions for the future, which in fact reinvent the world we live in.
The applications for the workshops are open. The workshops are for free and they will happen in Manaus at MUSA | Museu da Amazônia and in Belém at SESC Boulevard.
Objects of the Forest is a project open to collaborations. If you would like to contribute in any way, please contact. Andrea and Ana will be arriving in the Amazon on April 7 2012.