Alexandre Rocha*
alexandre.rocha@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Arab handicraft will feature in the second edition of the International Handicraft Fair (Art Mundi 2007), to be held from September 07th to 16th in the southeastern Brazilian city of São Paulo. According to the organisers, the fair will have products from Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Palestine, and Yemen, brought by seven exhibitors, two of them Brazilian and the remaining ones foreign.
Importer company Império Árabe, which also owns a store in Curitiba, capital of the southeastern Brazilian state of Paraná, will showcase products from Syria and Lebanon. According to the company owner, Carolina Raad, showcased products will include decoration items, gifts, textiles, marquetry furniture, narghiles, turbans, among others.
"We have owned the store for eight years, and we have also been attending events like this one across Brazil for eight years now," said Carolina, who is married to a Lebanese immigrant. The products are directly imported. The couple travels to Lebanon and Syria and chooses the goods, which are then shipped to Brazil. Império Árabe imports six containers of products per year, according to the businesswoman.
Another example is that of importer company El Baraka, which belongs to the Egyptian Amin Mohamed and his brother. They sell to Brazil products from Egypt and India, which are also purchased directly, as in the case of Império Árabe. Only the volume is greater. According to Mohamed, total imports are one container per month. The two companies participated in the first edition of the fair.
The products are supplied to five stores owned by the brothers in São Paulo, and also to outsourced points of sale. To the fair, Mohamed will take shishas – as narghiles are known in Egypt – and tobacco, table towels, pillow covers, costume jewellery, and other items. Mohamed has been in Brazil for 12 years, and his brother for 15 years. El Baraka, according to him, has existed for four years now.
According to the organisers at the fair, products will be showcased from 33 different countries in four continents, and from 22 Brazilian states, made by a total of 1,500 artisans. The fair will have 300 stands, spread across the 11,000 square metres of the East Pavilion at Anhembi, in the north side of São Paulo. The pieces will be available for wholesale and retail sales.
Service
Art Mundi 2007
September 07th to 16th
From 01:00 pm to 09:00 pm to the general public.
September 10th for shopkeepers only
Admittance:
People over 12 years of age – 12 Brazilian reais (US$ 6.18)
People over 60 years of age – half price
Children under 11 years old – free entrance
Additional information
Diretriz Empreendimentos
Telephone: (+55 41) 3075-1100
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
