Design e artesanato: Uma avaliação de ações de fomento em associações de artesãs na Paraíba.

Abstract

Although they have similar origins, design and handicrafts have followed different economic and cultural path in Brazil since 1960s. Traces of the distance between the two activities can be seen until today. Since the 1990s, with the movement to revitalize handicrafts encouraged by the implementation of public policies and social inclusion actions by the Federal Government, the relationship between design and handicrafts has once again become attractive to the economic and cultural sector in the country. Based on the assumption that handicraft activity is benefited by design interventions to generate income and cultural appreciation, this research analyzes the consequences of associativism in groups of artisans in the state of Paraíba, from the perspective of collaboration between designer and artisan, recognizing the social, cultural and economic dimensions that involve design and handicrafts in the state. Therefore, we sought to understand the postintervention design context of four associations of artisans benefited by government programs and public policies through a multiple case study. The research reveals a practice of assistentialist and productivist design along with Paraíba handicrafts, whose relations are established asymmetrically between designer and artisan. Resulting from hierarchical models guided by the development of an entrepreneurial craft and of little cultural value, the relationships between social actors show an explicit differentiation of value between technical knowledge and tacit knowledge, justifying the unsustainability of design actions throughout Paraíba. However, despite the current unfavorable diagnosis, design interventions in Paraíba handicrafts can be reestablished in a horizontal and collaborative way. In these terms, the use of collaborative processes in the relationship between design and handicraft is effective in providing collective learning and exchange of knowledge between all the actors involved, in a balanced and respectful manner.