Brazil: Global Community Fashion Design Partnership
Under the leadership of Renee Harding, Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts College of Art in Fashion Design, a small team of advanced students will be offered the opportunity to live and work with the artisans of Terra Prometida, a community of 250 families in the outskirts of Fortaleza, Brazil. Terra Prometida began in 1990 when a group of homeless and unemployed families joined together to create a self-sufficient and healthy community. Since then, they have built homes, acquired electricity and running water, built a library and bakery, and started dance and literacy classes and a community school. However, they are still struggling to achieve sustainable employment and just compensation for a majority of their members, along with quality health and education.The groundwork for this exchange is the work of a non-profit organization, Fairloom, based in Westport, MA. Fairloom was started by Annie Doran in 2004 specifically to help Terra Prometida in its goals of community economic, educational and health development. The ultimate goal of the international sales of the textile items is to return profit for community education programs. To date, small grants, income from fund-raising events have been combined with volunteer efforts to lay the foundation for an on-going partnership between Fairloom and Terra Prometida. To learn more about Fairloom, please visit www.fairloom.org.
The Design Partnership will directly address the goal of sustainable employment for a group of women who are perfecting their skills focusing on renda de bilro or Brazilian Bobbin-Lace. The challenge is to find products that can be marketed at high-end boutiques in the United States, yielding enough of an income for the women to support themselves as well as continue to support their on-going business endeavor.
Design students will be able to appreciate the craft of the lace as well as be able to find common ground with the women as they are still learning their skills in garment design. Students will have projects to complete on their own as well as participate in the required workings of a small fashion/ textile business. The first half of the trip will be spent finding inspiration in the surroundings, keeping a sketchbook to express ideas and document colors, textures, design ideas, local culture, landscape, architecture etc. Along with starting the design process of their own concepts, students will help the women with some production elements involved in a small business. The second half of the trip will be used to collaborate with the women on design ideas for garments and accessories.
The Brazilian culture is a particularly rich one including indigenous, African, Portuguese and Dutch influences. The Fortaleza area has a wealth of museums, art centers and other music venues to explore. Terra Prometida is about 20 minutes from the city center by public transportation. It is an impoverished but cohesive community with spare but adequate resources. The community leaders are vigilant in their oversight of visitors, teaching them how to be appropriately careful where the disparities in perceived wealth can contribute to trouble if visitors don’t understand them. The real privilege of this situation is being invited into a community so different and yet with such shared values and interests.
Faculty
- Renee Harding
- Renee Harding is a full time faculty member in the Fashion Design Department at MassArt. She has traveled to Brazil in hopes to extend her apparel knowledge to the artisans in Fortaleza. In Brazil she conducted workshops to introduce clothing construction and help inspire local women in design development of saleable products. Her goal is to help fashion and design reach beyond the typical fashion meccas and aid a struggling community in their quest for self improvement and sustainable income.
- Annie Doran
- Annie Doran is the founder and director of Fairloom. In 2002 she met the community of Terra Prometida while studying in Northeast Brazil. Over the course of living with them for a month Annie came to admire their ability to educate their youth with very little resources, she recognized their weakness for creating economic opportunities, and was drawn to their determination and spirit. Since founding Fairloom in 2004, Annie has led numerous students, interns, professors, and professionals to Terra Prometida where they have worked and learned with the women and families of the community. Annie has a BS in Early Childhood Education with a concentration in Race and Culture from the University of Vermont. She now lives in Westport, MA and makes frequent trips to her home and adopted community in Terra Prometida.
- Fairloom
- Fairloom is a U.S. based non-profit whose mission is to create a learning community where young people in the United States and Brazil can work together to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to foster social justice as they build sustainable education and economic foundation for the community of Terra Prometida, Brazil.