S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Recycle, reuse and reinvent are verbs often used by small businesses in Brazil that invest in sustainability to develop products that do not harm the environment. This week, the city of S\u00e3o Paulo hosted "Mostra Acess\u00f3rios" (Accessories Exhibition), a trade fair showcasing the work of designers from across the country, and visited by over 5,000 people from Brazil and abroad.<\/p>\n
Among the 76 exhibitors present at the fair, there were many people concerned with working in an ecologically correct manner. Canvas for lorries, wood scraps, patches of cloth, plastic scraps, rubber and PET bottles are turned into purses, belts, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and lighting fixtures.<\/p>\n
One of the ‘green’ designers was Raquel Salmar, a nurse who made a career change four years ago when she established company Salmar Sustent\u00e1vel, in the city of Campinas, in the interior of the state of S\u00e3o Paulo, and has basically worked designing purses and belts using canvas for lorries ever since. \u201cWorking with canvas is fantastic. I buy the raw material from a man who fixes lorry canvases, with patches and everything. My concept is to keep the flaws so as to ensure that each item will be unique. I wash, clean and treat the canvas, but do not use chemicals,\u201d says Raquel.<\/p>\n
Later on, in another entirely handmade process, the canvas is turned into purses and belts that receive padding made of cloth scraps, embroidery, and some hand-painted drawings. \u201cThe world needs care and it is urgent. I have become aware of the importance of small actions, and I try to do my part,\u201d explains Raquel.<\/p>\n
In order to promote her work, the designer participates in handicraft fairs and sells her items at "Caf\u00e9 e Arte," in Campinas. She is already negotiating a store in S\u00e3o Paulo and in the future she intends to take her creations abroad.<\/p>\n
In the city of Campina Grande, in the state of Para\u00edba, the organic cotton that comprises the clothing and accessories by brand Natural Fashion is already born colourful. A small sample of the monthly 5,000-item-output was shown to visitors at the fair. The brand is part of Coopnatural, a cooperative founded in 2003. The work benefits an entire chain, comprising 250 farmers, 250 artisans, and another 150 employees at a textile mill. \u201cThings started happening and leading the company down the path of sustainability,\u201d says coordinator Maysa Motta Gadelha.<\/p>\n
Presently, 40% of Natural Fashion’s production is exported to 11 countries: Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, the United States and Japan.<\/p>\n
Elis Reis and Ziza Crepaldi, from S\u00e3o Paulo, are the owners of Vila Honorata Atelier, where they manufacture women’s purses using natural yarn such as jute, rustic silk and cotton canvas. \u201cOur raw material is rustic and we only use naturally dyed fabrics,\u201d says Elis. The handloom, which gives each item a special touch, is made by the duo, which is also in charge of development, modelling and cutting. Only the sewing is outsourced. \u201cWe are extremely careful about retaining the exclusive features of each item,\u201d says the designer.<\/p>\n
The silk yarn comes from a cooperative in the state of Paran\u00e1 named ‘O Casulo Feliz’ (The Happy Cocoon), which was born in 1988 with only one wooden wool-making machine and the notion that silk yarn can be made manually, using cocoons that were discarded by the industry, taking into consideration that the northeast region of the state of Paran\u00e1 houses a large number of silkworm cocoons.<\/p>\n
"The cooperative works with 100% natural products, including fibre and dye, so as not to harm the environment nor the people who live in it," says Ziza. Despite being less than one year old, the Vila Honorata Atelier has already exported its first batch of items to Japan.<\/p>\n
Sustainable family <\/b><\/p>\n
Biologist C\u00edntia Shigihara learned to care and respect nature from her parents. In college, her environmental awareness increased and she decided to do something, besides sorting and recycling the family’s garbage. \u201cI enjoyed doing handcraft work, particularly costume jewellery, and I realized that it was possible to make good-looking and functional items, reusing what would otherwise be discarded into the environment,\u201d she claims. <\/p>\n
C\u00edntia received full support from her mother Laura, who is an architect, and her father Jairo, a businessman, and together they established Microcosmos, which processes old newspapers and magazines, recycled paper and PET bottles into costume jewellery, lighting fixtures and packaging. \u201cWe also work with seed from fruit such as assai and handmade recycled paper, made of residue from sugarcane, rice, and banana and bamboo fibre,\u201d says the biologist. \u201cThe power of change that we have is incredible, and so are the countless options that we have in terms of reusing materials,\u201d says C\u00edntia.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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