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Fernando Rodrigues dos Santos lives in the oldest house in the village of Ilha do Ferro, where he was born (1928) and brought up. That’s why he’s known as Fernando of Ilha do Ferro. He worked the land and went to school but learned very little. His knowledge is of a different kind and he’s proud of it. “I know every single tree in these parts. I was a hunter and know all the paths and all the places in the countryside.”
To him, things are ever changing. “I make pretty furniture, truly handmade. I’ve never made anything to be like something else. Things are never the same.” Some of his pieces have won awards in Brazil and abroad, and Fernando has often been called a designer. “I don’t design anything, the wood shows what it is going to be.” Today, dedicated to creating fantastic creatures, he is surrounded by a collection that includes ex-votos, insects, birds, poems and stories he asks his daughter to write down. The São Francisco River runs through his backyard. On one side is the state of Alagoas, on the other the state of Sergipe. “It’s like an island, but not really. It’s a sacred place, but nature is dying. That’s why everything I make has to come from inside the earth.” |
