"When Tupinambá went into the forest, he saw Jacarandá. If he had gone to Ipanema, he would have seen Sergio Rodrigues. Sergio is a noble, metamorphic hardwood. He embodies the Rio de Janeiro we all desire. An inspiration for those who seek excellence", Ivan Rezende once said, celebrating Sergio Rodrigues.
This quote, referencing Sergio Rodrigues (1927-2014), helps us to understand the immense impact he had on Brazil. It was Sergio who truly delved into answering what makes us genuinely ourselves, what defines us as Brazilians. This near-impossible mission, the million-cruzado question, was answered release after release over six decades.
When I speak of a release, it might sound fleeting to many, but Sergio wasn´t like that, his humor and involvement made him averse to dogmatism. He believed in the new, but not in the rush for innovation that we´re accustomed to nowadays. It was from this life philosophy that I began to see the intersections between him and Handred.
In 1955, when he opened the doors of Oca, the provocatively named establishment, alluding to that which is genuinely elemental and, therefore, Brazilian, we found more common ground between the past, present, and future. These elements came together to give shape to this project and bring the collection to life.
"Everything is a sign for those who are attentive", my mother always repeated. This superstition has meaning here as well. In 1957, when he gave life to the iconic Poltrona Mole (Soft Armchair), the world was in a state of transformation and fantasy. The
Sputnik spacecraft was taking Laika the dog into low orbit. Meanwhile, on solid ground, artists like Amílcar de Castro, Geraldo de Barros, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, Willys de Castro, Hélio Oiticica, and, of course, Sergio, proposed other new universes.
I sketched the first words in this newspaper which is now in your hands, coincidentally, on a Poltrona Mole. It embraces me, receives me, and allows me to sprawl freely. This equation is also felt in the clothes proposed by André Namitala, the project’s creative
director. There is fluidity, an invitation, and functionality, all coexisting in harmony.
These are universes that don´t collide, but rather, orbit one another, just as the moon mysteriously governs the tides of the sea. The codes of Sergio and André establish a dialogue, unlikely and intimate. Who would have thought that wood, silk, linen, and shantung would receive the same touch? Something that only those who understand manual craftsmanship can see, or rather, feel.
This partnership celebrated in the Handred Sergio Rodrigues Collection is not just about clothing, but about identification, legacy, and craftsmanship. There is an intoxicating scent of nostalgia in the air, movements that capture the eye, and prints that bring smiles to faces. Modernism stripped of the past and dressed in freedom, in its broadest
sense.
According to Sergio, wood represented the "precarious, the provisional", causing us Latinos to have prejudice against it, something that happens in a similar way with fashion, which, albeit seasonal and supposedly impulsive, can make us desire that which is forever, which stays, which is permanent.
From the Institute to the ateliers that joined forces and exchanged secrets and learnings over the past two years, we see that this launch is not just about releasing, but mainly about celebrating connections and finding, in coincidences, the possibilities that unite our most intimate desires. It´s about the interior and what lies beyond the door. Welcome.
By Vinicius Alencar.
