S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 They have won over markets such as Germany, Argentina, Canada, Spain, the United States, Italy and Portugal with their creations. Straight from the rural zone of Maria da F\u00e9, in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais \u2013 485 kilometres away from the state capital Belo Horizonte and 225 kilometres away from the capital of the state of S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013, a group of 35 artisans is making progress domestically and internationally. They make baskets, mandalas, adornments, lighting fixtures, purses, dolls and various accessories using banana tree fibre and recycled paper. The artisans are members of Oficina Gente de Fibra (People of Fibre Workshop), a group within Cooperativa Mariense de Artesanato (Handicraft Coooperative of Maria da F\u00e9).<\/p>\n
Oficina currently produces 500 items per month. Apart from the creativity and talent of its members, the brand\u2019s expansion in Brazil and overseas is linked to the use of eco-friendly materials. The group boasts the Institute of Sustainable Quality (IQS, in the Portuguese acronym) label awarded by Central M\u00e3o de Minas, an artisan association based in the state. \u201cIt has opened a lot of doors to us abroad,\u201d explains the chairman of Cooperativa Mariense de Artesanato, Luiz Ant\u00f4nio Braga.<\/p>\n
The doors Braga is referring to started to be opened eight years ago. \u201cSome people on trips to Brazil saw the items and took some with them to the United States,\u201d he recollects. \u201cEver since, we have joined the Sebrae Handicraft Programme (of the Micro and Small Business Support Programme) and gone to an average of five domestic and foreign fairs each year. That has helped increase our sales,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
Another important international action was the production of 450 items for the opening of a shop for Natura (a Brazilian cosmetics company) in Paris, France. \u201cWe made baskets so that they could have their soaps and creams on display,\u201c says Braga.<\/p>\n
Over the next few years, the aim is to invest in more markets in and out of Brazil, including the Brazilian North and Northeast and the Arab countries. \u201cWe know we can close good deals in those regions,\u201d he says. \u201cThe Middle East interests us a lot,\u201d says Braga.<\/p>\n
In 2011, according to the Cooperative chairman, there are fairs scheduled in the states of Minas Gerais, Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro, and another event has already been attended in Porto Alegre, the capital of the state Rio Grande do Sul. \u201cWe go to at least five fairs each year,\u201d says Braga.<\/p>\n
Contact <\/b><\/p>\n
Cooperativa Mariense de Artesanato<\/p>\n
Telephone: (+55 35) 3662-2386 <\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Artisans from Maria da F\u00e9, in the state of Minas Gerais, are taking items made of recycled paper and raw material from the banana tree to seven different countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-economy"},"wps_subtitle":"Artisans from Maria da F\u00e9, in the state of Minas Gerais, are taking items made of recycled paper and raw material from the banana tree to seven different countries.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}