Founder of MADE (Mercado, Arte e Design) talks about the specificities of the collectible design market in the country
Bruno Simões (São Paulo, 1982) has a plural role as a photographer, journalist, architect, designer, curator, educator and entrepreneur – building an international career in the creative economy cycle. A decade ago he founded Ateliê Bruno Simões and the MADE Fair (Mercado. Arte. Design), in which he is also responsible for curating and scenography. He is currently the official General Curator of Brazil for ApexBrasil – Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. Bruno serves as an Administrative Counselor at the UPC – Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (Lima) and at the Instituto Bardi/Casa de Vidro – body that preserves the legacy left by Lina Bo Bardi and Pietro Maria Bardi, in which he also serves as President of the Society of Bardi Friends .
Bruno Simões with the furniture collection Balance of 2019. Image: Reproduction.
Artsoul: To start the conversation, can you tell us a little about your work in the field of design? You have a degree in Architecture and Urbanism, in addition to Photography. At what point did authorial design become central in your professional life?
Bruno Simões: Already during college I saw architecture as a complete discipline and design was part of my interests, even though it was not something covered in the course. It was precisely this broader vision that allowed me to work at Triptyque, where this was raised to the tenth power because architectural thinking there was avant-garde and the furniture needed to follow this logic. At that moment, my interest in the area increased and I began to follow the vanguard of international design with great enthusiasm.
It was precisely this link that I naturally created between architecture and design that led me to accept the position of editor at Casa Vogue magazine, as I believed it would be a way to explore this symbiosis in greater depth – I was interested in the stories behind each creation and I never saw furniture from an aesthetic or functional point of view, for me it was a fascinating field of research into the creative and manufacturing process. I saw design as a behavioral tool.
So I think that was the period when I really immersed myself in the world of authorial design, as I had the chance to meet and interview characters from all over the world that excited me and whose stories I really wanted to share. It became an obsession and from then on I became more and more involved in projects aimed at the area.
Atelier Bruno Simões. Quina, 2013. Image: Reproduction.
Artsoul: The term “design” is a wildcard for many things. Can you tell us a little about which areas of design you are most focused on?
BS: My interest in design has always been for the character, I don’t believe in design that is disassociated from the creator. Precisely for this reason, I have always defended the use of the term authorial design and felt the need to educate the Brazilian market, which until then had not been concerned with this appreciation of the professional. An interesting drawing only emerges from this place of curiosity and investigation that is very close to the universe of the arts. In this sense, I also organized in Brazil the vanguard of the design-art or collectibles movement. My intention was to use this vast repertoire of the plastic arts market as a methodology for a design that moved people and provoked the desire to form collections, more than simply consuming on impulse of trends.
Artsoul: If we compare the Brazilian authorial design market with that of other countries, what would you highlight as special about the national production?
BS: There are many aspects that can be highlighted, but one in particular that I think is very relevant is our historical relationship with wood. Since the criminal exploitation of the colonial period (and its alarming reflection until today) our design has been connected to this raw material, precisely what led modern Brazilian design to extinguish the Jacarandá da Bahia. The material dictates the design and production.
So there is this complex context, but which over the decades has created an absolutely unique expertise that makes contemporary Brazilian woodworking the most interesting in the world. It is a mix between the different cultures that have been imposed on us and a rich biodiversity that gives us the possibility of being diverse, original. Even more today, as the improved techniques join the purpose of the conscious use of wood and its historical value, increasingly related to our pre-colonial origins – to the original peoples and their primordial use of the material with a balance between symbolism and functionality, two characteristics that are very present in current designs.
View of the 2023 MADE expography. Image: disclosure.
Artsoul: Are there points where this market can improve? Does MADE – Mercado Arte e Design have a mission in this regard?
BS: Ever! MADE was born precisely with this vocation of educating our market, showing that design should be consumed with critical involvement. That the public needs to know the author of what they buy and know their history – there is no such thing as an anonymous drawing. Creating this notion of authorship, both for those who buy and for those who sell, is how a solid Brazilian design market is formed. MADE was responsible for creating the Brazilian authorial movement, “forcing” brands and stores to re-educate themselves and sell more and more products valuing the designer’s name. The scenario 10 years ago was completely different, with space for very few voices.
View of the entrance to MADE 2023. Image: publicity.
Artsoul: How does MADE differ from other fairs in creative fields?
BS: MADE was the first collectible authorial design fair in Brazil and was born from a very genuine place, our desire has always been to value the creator and encourage the construction of an engaged design community. That’s why we always call our spaces “collectives”, not booths. We wanted to make it clear to participants that they are part of something bigger, a broader creative movement; we never provoke individualism or a sense of competition, on the contrary. In that sense, I think MADE is unique, as no other platform has managed to create this feeling of belonging and human relationship. Collaborative projects, partnerships, new brands emerge in it… All of this makes it today the main launch platform in the country, whether new names or new product and furniture ideas that will become a trend in the short term. The result of this is a constant renewal of our cast that is very organic, something difficult to find in sector fairs that always bet on the same names. But again, this comes from a very personal place, I am interested in human beings and what led them to create that work. I think of the fair above all as a genuine exercise in curatorship.
Diogo Barros is a curator, art educator and critic, graduated in Art History, Criticism and Curatorship from PUC SP.
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