Design is for the poor, traditional. What they expose in the decoration magazines, is for the rich and modern powders.

Design is for the poor, traditional. What they expose in the decoration magazines, is for the rich and modern powders.

Pacard - Designer, Professor and Consultant since 1974*

Until 1997, I thought I was a Designer. Was not. I thought I knew how to design furniture for any economic standard of consumers. Did not know. I drew everything, and everything I drew, the joiners were able to do. I discovered that whoever designs anything that a good joiner can do is not a good designer. He's just a fine designer. Just it.

And how did I discover that I was not a good Designer in 1997? Because I was asked to create an entire line of products for a large furniture industry in Piauí. That's right: In Piauí! In Teresina, Brazil.

The director of the company went to Rio Grande do Sul, to visit a large furniture fair that happened there, and because of his friendship with great entrepreneurs in the region, he made a very specific request: "I wanted the best Designer in Rio Grande do Sul ! ", But it is logical that in Rio Grande do Sul there were many excellent Designers, to whom I consider great creative and technical qualities, and more than that, I never liked disputes regarding the profession of Designer, even because I never participated in contests. However, yes, there was a significant contingent of professionals, and possibly, I was among those trained to accept challenges, even because there is a maxim that says you are not good because you think you are good, but because others think you are. So, I am free from the sin of vanity, because the request was not made to me, but to people who, in addition to friendship, also respected what I was doing, and to my surprise, I was called to an emergency meeting with the businessman, on the same day. In short, I was hired, and embarked for Teresina, with a suitcase full of ideas and knowledge that I thought necessary to teach the Northeasterners to make furniture.

What a disappointment for me. I discovered that I didn't know how to design "furniture for the poor". This was the definition. I, who designed furniture in Gramado, where little cared about the price of a closet, discovered that I needed to design furniture for those who would pay, for the price of a bed, in Gramado, the entire furniture of one or two houses, there in the northeastern hinterland. . I learned that if in Gramado, a wardrobe closet is about 2.50m high, there in Santana de Parnaíba, the same wardrobe measures 1.85m at most, because it wouldn't fit in the house, if it was bigger than that. The biotope of Homem Nordestino is short, compared to the European biotype of the gaucho, which obeys the standards of Le Corbusier, and not of Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, the "Lampião".

I was taken to one of the then 130 stores (today there are more than 300 units) of the chain, to observe the behavior of the buyers, and I saw people in a payment queue, with a booklet in one hand, with the money already counted, and the leather hat, in the other, in an attitude of reverence for the environment where they were: the cashier. I was informed that this chain of stores does not use SPC, SERASA as a confidence limiter, because your confidence is in the person who makes the purchase. That's right. The sertanejo who pays a portion of R $ 5.00 on the booklet, and does not delay even once, because he needs to preserve honor and dignity, because he understands that the poor have nothing but their honor, which is their word, and if you lose that, your life is over.

There I learned to design furniture for the poor. I learned that the secret of the designer is not to let go of the hand, but to brake the hand, without losing style. I learned that to design a product, you don't need to understand technology (if you know it, it's easier), but understand people, people, know how to read the behavior and understand the look and steps of those who pay book in line. And pay on time.

Oh, I was forgetting to say that I am also a writer. If you click on the image below, you can read one of my 13 books already published (Portuguese Edition).