This afternoon I received an e-mail from Charlie Smith, an American visitor of my blog that has a furniture store in the USA. He wrote in Portuguese, in which he was very well succeeded, apart from some misspellings, to ask for tips about Brazilian furniture producers. He will come to Brazil in a few weeks and he would like me to give him suggestions. He thought my blog focused on design, and it does not. But… Having a blog is interesting. If you open a window to the world, the world comes in. I will try to help my visitor.

Mr. Smith, I feel challenged and I accept your question. Though I am a great enthusiast of the contemporary design, I am far from being an expert on the Brazilian furniture market. I don’t know who has the best prices, who can be trusted, who cares for ethics, who is concerned about the preservation of the planet. These are things that make the difference when you give tips about this subject in a country that exports wood and furniture made of rare species.

My suggestions on Brazilian design

1- Go South: Rio Grande do Sul State concentrates most of the furniture industry.

2- Check the events: Brazilian industry promotes a lot of fairs, congresses, exhibitions. It debates strategies for the trade. I found an agenda at the Design Brasil website.

3- Prices: I myself feel very sorry for the high prices. Unfortunately most of the best works do not fit in my budget. Almost 99%, I must say.

4- Marcenaria Baraúna: I love when Brazilian traditions mix with minimalism and a contemporary approach. I admire Marcelo Ferraz and Francisco Fanucci for this. You can find the “caipira bench” (banquinho caipira) created by them at the Marcenaria Baraúna: www.barauna.com.br

5- Fernando Jaeger: www.fernandojaeger.com.br Besides being good and famous, his prices are still OK. I love Fernado Jaeger sofas and chairs.

6- Ecology: Amazon Forest is disappearing and I like the idea of furniture made of certified wood. I found Maurício Azeredo while goggling Brazilian designers: www.mauricioazeredo.com.br and I like his style. He recycles. He works with used and demolition wood in his projects.

7- Expensive and cool: Etel Carmona (in English): www.etelinteriores.com.br

8- For kids: Freso

9- Unconventional: Marcelo Rosenbaum: www.rosenbaum.com.br

10 - Sophisticated:Orro & Christensen (only certified wood, in English): www.ocdesign.com.br and Pedro Useche: www.useche.com.br

11- Other suggestions: Brazilian designers reviewed by Arcoweb (a very good on-line magazine about Architecture & Design): arcoweb.com.br/design

12- A website: Design Brasil (in English) - www.designbrasil.org.br

After his trip, I would love to hear from Charlie Smith what he found in Brazil.

Livro do Flickr chegou

The book “Introduce your Brazil to Flickr” has just arrived by mail. It was edited by Flickr Brazil to mark the beginning of activities of the Brazilian service.

It was pleasant to see my photo of this little crab (”Não solto as tiras) included in the selection. The photo was taken in Itacaré, in Bahia State: nice weather, nice little guy that loved my sandals.

There are many other fantastic images, like those from my friends Pescador, by André Passamani, Dona Coló, by Gleice Bueno, Rio Grande do Sul, by Franco Hoff and Mãos de Fé, de Mario Vitor Bastos.

I will give a workshop for public school teachers about Blogs during Campus Party, from 12th to 16th February. Campus Party is on its 30th edition in Spain and it will have its first edition in São Paulo. Over 2,500 geeks will camp during a week in a building, famous for the international art exhibition that takes place there every two years: Bienal of São Paulo, in the middle of the Ibirapuera Park.

I read this morning in the Campus Party Blog an advice to invite a friend to share your tent. I don plan to do it. I will come back home every day, I believe… There will be areas for astronomy, robotics, modding, games, music, programming, blogs, open source, a great variety of geek stuff.

It seems fun to be in this building, projected by Oscar Niemeyer, where there will so many persons camping, to find out how technology and education can work together. How teachers can use blogs as a tool in their classes. Not only blogs, but also photo blogs, video blogs, podcasts and social media. We will see how public schools can take the best from their computer labs.

I will work in this workshops with good friends: Luciana Terceiro, Juliano Spyer and Lúcia Freitas. They all know a lot about the subject.

I found some fantastic videos to start up our conversation with the teachers. I believe you have already seen this one in particular, Medieval Help Desk, but I love it. For me it exemplifies perfectly the way we react to new technologies.

El Ateneo

I am so pleased to know that The Guardian, one of the biggest British newspapers have chosen this photo for their feature about best bookshops in the world.

“Every booklover has their favourite shop, and while it’s true that many independents have been driven out of business by online sales and supermarket bestsellers, you still don’t have to look too hard to find one that’s thriving. To prove it, Sean Dodson chooses the 10 bookshops from around the world which he considers to be the fairest of them all

Friday January 11, 2008
Guardian Unlimited

The world’s best bookshops
Shopping around the globe … (clockwise from left) Livrario Lello in Porto, Hatchards in London, El Ateneo in Buenos Aires

2- El Ateneo in Buenos Aires

All the world’s a page at El Ateneo, a bookshop converted from an old theatre in downtown Buenos Aires. As you can see from this photomontage the El Ateneo has retained its former splendour, with high painted ceiling, original balconies and ornate carvings intact. Even the crimson stage curtains remain part of the show. Comfy chairs are scattered throughout, the stage is utilised as a reading area and café, and even better, the former theatre boxes are used as tiny reading rooms.

More photos : I have more photos from El Ateneo. One of them have been used in Wikipedia