Creating from natural materials: Huni Kuin material culture

Authors

  • Julia Teles da Silva Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
  • Jackeline Lima Farbiarz Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This article is part of a research about cooperative design with sustainable materials. The research on the indigenous design is based on a visit to a village of the huni kuin tribe in the Amazon and analyzes it in terms of Design methods and processes, materials and cooperation. The village is in an isolated place, difficult to reach, and many of their traditional practices have been preserved. What can these ancient practices teach us? What principles are present in their production that are similar to academic ideas about sustainable design? And what challenges do they face nowadays in their material production, with the progressive arrival of industrial goods? The article analyses the processes of pottery, house building and basketry, all traditionally done collectively using only materials and tools from the local forest.

Keywords: indigenous, material culture, natural materials, handicraft, Brazilian Amazon, conviviality, permaculture, pottery, sustainable design, ethnic design, bioarchitecture, basketry.

Author Biographies

Julia Teles da Silva, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

Julia Teles da Silva has a Master's and a PhD degree in Design by PUC-Rio and is currently a researcher at the same University. She does research on Design with natural materials and she also works as a designer.

Jackeline Lima Farbiarz, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

Jackeline has a PhD in Education by USP and is a professor and researcher at the PUC-Rio Design Department. She coordinates the LINC-Design Research Group (Laboratório de Linguagem, Interação e Construção de sentidos/Design)

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Published

2017-02-01

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2017): Jan/Apr

Section

Articles

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