In this article, I'd like to tell you about a few Brazilian folk crafts.
First, there are things like wooden animal ornaments, accessories, accessory containers, and so on. During the rainy season, a lot of trees in the Amazon fall down. In the neighboring state of Pará, they make all sorts of ornaments out of that wood. Wood from the same type of tree can vary in color tone, so you might get colors from light brown to red, and although simple, there are items with designs that highlight the colors of the wood.
“Capim dourado” means "golden grass." It originally comes from the Jalapão region of Tocantins State in central Brazil. This lightweight, gleaming gold grass is woven into earrings, bracelets, small containers, hats, and larger items like bags. They have a stylish, natural sheen. These folk crafts are sent all across the world, so maybe you already know about them.
European immigrants to Brazil's northeast regions brought various lace-making techniques with them. Lace is called “renda” in Portuguese. I really love “renda renascença” (Renaissance lace). It got that name because lacemaking flourished in Europe in the 16th century. This lace is extremely fine, and large pieces involving several people can take months to complete. It's a very delicate lace.
There is also “renda filé” lace. "Filet" meaning “net” in French, this kind of lace has this name because the needlework is done on a mesh base. Some of them are made entirely in white, while there are also colorful ones, and they are all beautiful. Some are even made from straw.
“Renda de bilros” is “bobbin lace.” This technique involves placing a paper pattern on a special kind of cushion, putting pins into the pattern, and braiding and twisting the threads, which are wound onto bobbins. They mainly use fine cotton thread, which gives the finished lace a transparent feel.
There are also a lot of bracelets and necklaces made from seeds. Many of the designs owe a lot to the indigenous peoples. To those peoples, seeds mean the proliferation of life and are used with great care. The seeds most often used for accessories include açaí, moriche palm, and jarina seeds. Recently, I found a necklace made from seeds of the morototo tree at a shop.
Decorative objects reflecting the culture and customs of northeastern Brazil are made of clay. There are also a lot of wood carvings of the birds and animals that live in the Pantanal region.
There is even a folk craft shop in São Paulo city with folk crafts gathered from all over Brazil. This shop sells pieces I haven’t seen for sale in their place of origin, so it really gets me excited. The elaborate pieces, the colorful ones, the cute ones, and so on, are really very interesting.
The folk crafts I’ve told you about in this article are only a very few of them. There are a whole lot more folk crafts made out of natural materials that come from the earth in Brazil. They have sustained the lives of many people since long ago. When I think about things like the techniques that have been refined through the passage of time and the ideas of the people who created them, I get the feeling that folk crafts have great value.
