São Paulo – The artisan Daniele Drummond, from the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, already has a few foreign customers. Now, she wants to increase her exports. For about ten years now, she has been making ceramic items such as decorative utensils, salad bowls and sink bowls. Her emphasis is on colour and beauty and on combining form and function. “My motto is ‘welcome with art.’ The fact that an object can be used gives it more value. In addition to being decorative, all of my items are utilitarian,” the artisan says.
Late last September, Drummond and other artisans participated in a buyer project sponsored by the Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) in Minas Gerais, the Entrepreneur Training and Support Centre Institute and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil). They had meetings with clients from the United States and Europe. This was not the first time she got in touch with buyers from other countries. She has been to exhibitions in Paris and New York. “At this time, the bulk of my foreign demand comes from New York, which accounts for 10% of my revenues.”
Now, she wants to increase her overseas sales, but to this end she needs to do prospecting work and meet more foreign buyers. According to the artisan, these buyers appreciate artisanal production and attention to detail. She claims the best potential market right now is Europe.
Drummond was born in São Paulo and lived in Rio de Janeiro before settling in Belo Horizonte, where she says she was able to dedicate herself exclusively to her craft and open her studio. Currently, she has one regular employee and outsources production duties when demand becomes too much.
Most of her customers are Brazilian and foreign storeowners who buy and resell her items. She sells each item for R$ 200 (US$ 79), on average, but is not aware of the price at which they are sold abroad. Drummond began exporting her products on her own, but says one needs experience when it comes to negotiating with importers and effecting the actual transactions. Thus, Drummond now works in partnership with the non-profit organization Mãos de Minas (Hands from Minas), which assists its approximately 7,000 associates in establishing their projects and marketing their products in Brazil and abroad.
Service
Daniele Drummond
http://www.danieledrummond.com/
Telephone: +55 31 9773-7057
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
