Art

Art for me is an expression of the soul, a way of letting out myself, my feelings,  my thoughts, my desires. A way to overflow how I see the world and to share what I value, what I want to communicate with the aim of adding something valuable to the other person, to transform people. In my case, I want to convey the beauty, the nature, the wood, the transformational power of human being.

Art is not about being useful.  It’s not about pure and simple innovation. Many times it brings new things, but not as the main focus, innovation for innovation’s sake, just in order to do something different. Art has to be an innovation that comes with something else: a bit of soul and heart.

Art doesn’t take into account the viable, the trends or the saleable. The likelihood to be successful or the chances to be made. Art isn’t about industry or how machines will make it possible. In my experience, art is simply born out of me and it’s polished in the field of ideas. But the solutions to make it real are thought after inspiration has come up and after I have already fallen in love with it. Then, there’s no way out but to try hard and find out ways to make my dream come true.

For me art takes into consideration, more than anything else, the inner self, the truth, the intimate.  It arises in a conversation with myself, with my life experiences, perhaps inspired by the divine. And because art is so truthful and genuine, it connects with other people’s inner selves.
Art gives a sense of purpose to the artist’s life and the need to, first of all, delight himself, be moved and flow out feelings. Afterwards, the artist needs to accomplish his mission to touch and surprise other people. This is the reason for art to exist.

Trees

I have always loved trees. For their diversity, greatness, hardness, utility, beauty.  I feel small near them as if I bend over to their magnitude.  I am the kind of person who smells the wood, caresses the trunk, prizes the textures and when I am going to make a piece of furniture I myself choose each piece of timber for each part of the furniture.

I assess the color, the veins, the natural design and how each aspect of the wood can be highlighted in the piece of furniture I am creating.  I worship the wood for it is the core of my work.  And it’s a great fulfillment, a huge satisfaction, an incomparable emotion when the piece is born. Quoting one of my teachers whom I look up to “a tree takes 100 years to grow so I have an obligation to honor this existance and make furniture that lasts 100 years, too. Quality furniture is like a second life for the wood.”

 Man must never forget that one of his deepest debt is to the Trees.

Beauty

I feel that my art is a way of showing people the beauty of nature and wood. A gratitude to the centenary trees by transforming them into beautiful and lasting furniture. An acknowledgement to the richness of Brazilian nature for gifting us an amazing variety of woods.

A way of giving visibility to what human hands are capable of and that are often not reproduced by machines.
Men’s power and capacity.

Let’s highlight the role of beauty in our lives – the beauty that moves us, touches us deep inside.  Something that can’t be understood, something subjective.

We don’t need to like the same things. We don’t have to follow fads or what it is dictated by the outside.
Production by machines, with technology and on a scale has, of course, its advantages. But on the other hand, it can lead to a great impoverishment of beauty, because creations are limited to the capacity of machines, to what is easiest, straight strokes, minimalist and, as a result, several aspects that contribute to beauty are discarded, such as details, or peculiarities that ‘handmade’ makes possible.

It’s important to open an inner dialogue – what do YOU REALLY want? What’s beautiful to you? What brings you well-being?

Home

The house should be the main refuge for a person, a family. Your safe haven, a cozy and welcoming environment. An admirable space that makes you feel proud of, that expresses your personality, your identity, your values.
Not a home that can be anyone’s. But YOUR home, one that fits into you. The kind of place you like to look at, feel, admire, share.
It’s got to be beautiful to your eyes – we enjoy being in a nice place.  In this sense, beauty brings well-being, too.

I make artistic furniture and lamps bearing this in mind… they have to be unique, original, one of a kind so that they awaken your desire for contemplation. Contemplate….we devote very little time to this in today’s busy lives.  How nice it is when we can watch the sunrise or the sunset, children playing, the loved one sleeping, the sea,  the green on trees,  wonderful flowers,  colorful butterflies,  birds flying….life….in short,  everything that seems beautiful to us.
The power of contemplation has a very close relationship with the feeling of gratitude.  They are both achievements of the human being

Creation

From inside of me comes a desire to make a specific piece of furniture, for example, a lamp. I start searching for images, photos, things that can be inspiring. Then I dive into a mental and emotional state, attentive to what touches me, to what mobilizes and moves me. Next there is a moment when everything clicks and I say to myself – “that’s it!” and the piece of furniture becomes a dreamed object.

I often say that first I fall in love with the creation and the object. It has to be something that I personally consider wonderful, something that thrills me. 
Only then I will see how to make the object feasible, how to make it.  The challenges start here. The dream becomes a goal.  Not until I get the solutions sorted out I will relax. I put carpentry and its techniques at the service of inspiration and ideas.