'Banquinho Bo', child's bench with giraffe back
“For me popular art is non-existent. Out of necessity people do things that are related to life” – With this sentence, said by the Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi, Studio MK27 described the idea behind their exhibition of furniture at this year’s INTERIEUR in Kortrijk. The showcased furniture were designed and created by Brazilian civil construction laborers with residual building materials. All of them were used at the construction sites. Some of the pieces underwent some small interventions, realized in a precise and artisan manner.
'Banco Chamego', benches joined together by a carbon fiber plate
“On every day and at every site these workers improvised, producing “ingenuities” of every type: to sit, to rest, to heat food, to hang and dry clothing and to re-use the remnants and the rests of material that the very project discarded. The main characteristic of these pieces are the bricolage, the spontaneous design, the re-using of materials [...]
These pieces illustrate the convergence of a series of themes: the possibility of using products for a longer period of time, without their deterioration; the diversity in re-using materials and products; the discarding and the imaginative force of spontaneous design in the answers and solutions in the quotidian of these civil construction laborers”, Maria Cecilia Loschiavo, philosopher and associate professor of Design at the School of Architecture and Urbanism at University of São Paulo writes about the project.
'Mesa Alumiada', table-bench with a copper luminary and carbon filament light-bulb
“Popular design in the XXI century has suffered in the midst of the accelerated urbanization and globalization of the capitals. The folkloric object, as well as the local know-how itself, has been swallowed by a torrent of information in the contemporary world. Among the glimmer of exceptions which have quickly disappeared, still alive is the nostalgic imaginary existence of a popular urban culture. More than just the mystification of an autonomous production, there exists the theoretical desire to formulate an authentically national design, a Brazilian design”, Gabriel Kogan from Studio MK27 explains.
'Banco Luizao Quinze', bench-table with night-lamp
'Mesa Abuletada' table for the dining room with a glass table-top
'Mesa Abuletada'
'Mesa Quereres', table-bench with a wooden jewelry box in red synthetic enamel
'Mesa Quereres'
'Mesa Raiola', bench-table with iPod dock
'Bar Trilili', accessory box with stainless steel strip and industrial castors
'Cabideiro Vai te mundo', hat stand with metallic suspenders
'Banco Amostrado'
'Mesa Dá Hora' bench-table with a valve-numbered clock
'Mesa Luzlino', bench-table with night-lamp
'Mesa Escambau', low table with a mirrored-drawer finish
'Porta guarda chuva Toró', wooden basket with chromium-plated metallic finish
