PROSA was created in 2021 by the couple Júlia Rovigo and Gabriel Pesca. An architect and a woodworker, respectively, this project emerged from their desire to combine their experiences and translate them into the design and execution of furniture.

PROSA is dedicated to extensive research and investigation of wood as a material. The studio revives knowledge and techniques from classic naval carpentry for the execution of its works, where strength and durability meet organic curves and forms.

All of their creations incorporate experimental elements in handling wood, seeking new ways to understand and explore its natural characteristics. Their products are made with a focus on nature, the people who inhabit it, and the future of the interaction between the two.

1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

Júlia: Joinville, Santa Catarina.

Gabriel: Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (both from southern Brazil).

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

Júlia: Sowing class as a kid.

Gabriel: Ceramics at the cultural centre as a kid.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field, and what led you to the design creation ?

Júlia: Started as an architect.

Gabriel: Started as a surfboard shaper.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

Júlia: A dear urge to work together with Gabriel, merge our talents and having my own business.

Gabriel: Hands-on work has always felt intuitive to me, and I consistently find myself drawn back to it.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

Our creative process is guided by honest inspiration, careful observation, deep reflection, and a strong care for sensitivity

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

Our shop is at the riverside of Itajai river at an old shipyard, it has a red gate that leads to an empty old stone street where no one passes through, there we have our plants and native beehives. We open the gate, make coffee, talk about everything we need to talk and than we dive into our own individual tasks. From time to time we’ll sit again for a couple minutes to talk and have more coffee. Work is frenetic but at a very slowpaced ambient.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

Because we believe wood is the most important material to work with, the most sustainable, and the most versatile. We don’t get attached only to wood, but we do give it its proper place in the pyramid of material priorities.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

We observe the role of the material in nature and explore translating these natural properties for creation. We try to bring form to these properties and give them protagonism in the composition of our works.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

Be true to your drawings, avoid research too much references, and master technique.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

We see our work as deeply Brazilian and influenced by the nature that surrounds us, and also having a big focus on handcraft and material technique. We don’t fit into old movements. Maybe something craft, something bio, maybe we will find a word for it someday.

11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?

The Campana brothers.

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

The Campana brothers.

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

Jaume plensa, Eduardo Chillida.

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

Flow.

PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Júlia: Be with my family.

Gabriel: At the beach with my daughter.

2. What is your greatest fear?

Júlia: Lose someone I love.

Gabriel: Waste my time.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Júlia: My controlling nature.

Gabriel: I complain too much.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Júlia: Disrespect.

Gabriel: Egoism.

5. Which living person do you most admire?

Júlia: Gabriel.

Gabriel: Júlia.

6. What is your greatest extravagance?

Júlia: Running shoes.

Gabriel: Skipping work for surfing.

7. What is your current state of mind?

Júlia: Overwhelmed.

Gabriel: Exausted.

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Júlia: Politeness.

Gabriel: Temperance.

9. What is the quality you most like in a man ?

Júlia: Respect.

Gabriel: Vulnerability.

10. What is the quality you most like in a woman ?

Júlia: Attitude.

Gabriel: Courage.

11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Júlia: I’ll find a way.

Gabriel: Let’s do it.

12. Which talent would you most like to have?

Júlia: To sing.

Gabriel: To sleep.

13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Júlia: My controlling nature.

Gabriel: That I complain too much.

14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Júlia: My family.

Gabriel: Family unity.

15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

Júlia: Singer.

Gabriel: Straydog.

16. Where would you most like to live?

Júlia: Where I am.

Gabriel: Where I am.

17. What is your most treasured possession?

Júlia: Health.

Gabriel: Time.

18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Júlia: Sickness.

Gabriel: Hunger.

19. What is your favorite occupation?

Júlia: Running.

Gabriel: Woodwork.

20. What is your most marked characteristic?

Júlia: Easy Smile.

Gabriel: Exaggerated.

21. What do you most value in your friends?

Júlia: Presence.

Gabriel: Care.

22. Who are your favorite writers?

Júlia: Italo Calvino.

Gabriel: Anton Chekhov.

23. Who is your hero of fiction?

Júlia: Mulan.

Gabriel: Trinity.

24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Júlia: Joana D’arc.

Gabriel: Marco Polo.

25. Who are your heroes in real life?

Júlia: My parents.

Gabriel: Julia.

26. What are your favorite names?

Júlia: Beatriz.

Gabriel: Beatriz.

27. What is it that you most dislike?

Júlia: Bureaucracy.

Gabriel: Hot weather.

28. What is your greatest regret?

–

29. How would you like to die?

Júlia: Sleeping.

Gabriel: Airplane crash.

30. What is your motto?

Júlia: You only live once.

Gabriel: Vamo dale pa não tomale (let’s do it to not get done).