Semi Function series - Tijolo Tapete (Brick Rug)
•2019 • Dimension Variable • Polyurethane Foam, astroturf •
My Fulbright grant was focused on researching gambiarra, a Brazilian Portuguese word signifying a spontaneous and makeshift style of problem-solving, and its relationship to materials, architecture, and design. My research, even in other materials, is guided by glass and its duality: hot and cold, fragile andstrong, hard and soft, malleable and stiff. In many ways, my understanding of gambiarra is also informed by these principles-the “hard” designed object or environment, contrasted with the “soft” human element. As I learned more from gambiarra, I began distinguishing how to describe temporary, instantaneous solutions while striving to encapsulate these moments through the permanency of materials. Through researching these contrasts I became infatuated with a specific style of brick called cobogó that I saw consistently around São Paulo. This form, with its open spaces and characteristic orange color, became the subject of my experiments between material and architecture, interior and exterior. These images are a series investigating the “wiggle” within the limitations of space, object, material, and architecture. By simply changing the material from clay to foam, the cobogó became an opportunity to subvert one’s experience with a familiar object. There is such a delight in the discovery when something is not what you expect it to be, or when something is not where you think it belongs.