Fernando Mendes is an architect, designer, and woodworker. Born in São Paulo and currently residing in Rio de Janeiro, he works mainly from his atelier in Vale das Videiras, in the mountains surrounding Rio de Janeiro. His work is produced in a contemporary carpentry shop that uses hand tools and artisanal techniques for the production of furniture and objects designed by himself, as well as some pieces originally designed by the Brazilian furniture master Sergio Rodrigues, with whom he worked closely for over thirty years.
Having worked in the design carpentry segment for twenty-two years, Fernando Mendes is a contemporary creator who uses wood as his main means of creation. He respects traditional carpentry techniques, but often breaks from traditional techniques to introduce contemporary processes.
Mendes embraces chance and imperfections. His process involves engineering and sensibility, which together incorporate the aesthetics of nature, exposed textures, knots and peculiarities of the wood in each piece. More than their timeless design, the quality and durability of his creations reveal the natural beauty of the materials and true authenticity of form.
He has received several awards for his unique work, such as If design, Design preis Deutschland and the Museu da Casa Brasileira Award. In addition to directing his Atelier, he is currently president of the Sergio Rodrigues Institute.
1. Where were you born and where are you from ?
I am Brazilian, I was born in the city of São Paulo, and I have lived in Rio de Janeiro for 40 years.
2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?
My very first memory with art must have been connected with music, listenig to Bach, Vivaldi, Chico Buarque etc. But with visual arts, it was in MoMA, when I was dragged into the Van Gohg ́s The Starry Night painting. When entering the room where the painting was displayed, I couldn ́t see it at a first glance, but somehow I was pulled by some force that has put me in front of the painting and it was amazing, I got deeply emotional and I cried.
3. Have you always worked in the art/design field, and what led you to the design creation ?
Yes, from the beginning, and always with a connection with doing things on my own.
4. What led you to the design creation ?
Beautiful objects, the magic of imagining something, turning an idea into a drawing, and then the drawing into an object. At first, I wanted to create automotive design. I had a pile of these car drawings from my teenage years. They never became concrete objects. But later, this experience inspired me to create some details in my furniture design.
5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?
I’ve been a doodler since I was little, so creating has always been about drawing. Everything I do in design or architecture involves sketching. I always keep a sketchbook nearby.
6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?
I wake up early wherever I am. When I’m in Rio, I go to the Atelier, the larger shop, and work on the computer or walk around the shop supervising and explaining the work to be done. There’s also the upholstery workshop, where I usually develop the patterns and templates for the sewing workshop. When I’m in Vale das Videiras (inland Rio de Janeiro), where I have a small but fully equipped carpentry shop, I usually go straight to the bench after breakfast and work all day with wood. This is my favorite place to be.
7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?
With a hammer, some nails and scraps, you can make something out of wood. If you’re a skilled woodworker, you can make beautiful, sophisticated objects out of wood. You can use high-tech machines, but you can also do wonderful work using hand tools. Whether you’re a beginner or a master craftsman, wood is a profoundly generous material to work with.
8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?
Drawing and a solid knowledge of geometry are the starting point. Since I am also a woodworker, every idea printed on paper has an immediate and direct connection to the prototype that will be built later. For me, design and fine woodworking are inseparable parts of a larger knowledge.
9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?
Use a sheet of paper to explore what your imagination can come up with in any kind of design, and use your hands to transform those initial ideas into three-dimensional objects. With card paper and a few wooden rods, you can explore model shapes before trying to use computer devices. You don’t have to be a craftsman to be a designer, but any experience with materials and your hands can enhance and expand your imagination.
10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?
Arts and Crafts.
11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?
Santos Dumont, Sergio Rodrigues, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Hans Wegner.
12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?
My fellow designers and woodworkers:
Morito Ebine, Ricardo Graham, and Julia Krantz
13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?
Music: Lalo Schifrin, Henrik Schwarz, Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Aaron Parks, Zaz, Namika, Céline Dessberg
Photographer: Walter Carvalho
Visual Artist: Daniel Senise
14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?
From sketch to varnish.
15. Is there anything you would like to add ?
Look for anything that makes you feel in awe, full of desire to do something, and go for it.
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?
Being satisfied, it’s enough.
2. What is your greatest fear?
Turn blind.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Unfocused sometimes.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Vanity.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
Noam Chomsky, Aylton Krenak.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Have my own tiny house built by myself.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Unquiet.
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Kindness.
9. What is the quality you most like in a man ?
Temperance.
10. What is the quality you most like in a woman ?
Intuition.
11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Breathe.
12. Which talent would you most like to have?
Play piano.
13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would learn to fly.
14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Have fun with my work.
15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
An octopus.
16. Where would you most like to live?
In my country house in the mountains.
17. What is your most treasured possession?
My handtool chest.
18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Feeling hungry, homeless.
19. What is your favorite occupation?
Woodworking.
20. What is your most marked characteristic?
Loyalty.
21. What do you most value in your friends?
Open mind.
22. Who are your favorite writers?
André Comte-Sponville, Ayton Krenak, José Angelo Gaiarsa, Amyr Klink.
23. Who is your hero of fiction?
Batman.
24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Santos Dumont.
25. Who are your heroes in real life?
My mother and my aunt.
26. What are your favorite names?
Pedro, my son’s name; Maria Thereza, my aunt’s name
27. What is it that you most dislike?
Dishonesty.
28. What is your greatest regret?
Not telling my mother how much I admired her.
29. How would you like to die?
Sleeping.
30. What is your motto?
Trust in your hands.
