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Since he was a boy Roque Pereira has looked at the branches and trunks of trees and seen things. “I really did see things. Why is it that tables have to be all straight, with sharp angles or perfectly round? Just to waste wood and make corners that might hurt children and adults.”
Born in Pirenópolis, Roque is a bit of a hermit. He goes into the cerrado to collect any kind of wood he comes across laying on the ground. “Everyone knows me around here and if they cut down a tree at home or on a farm they bring it to me. I’ve been making furniture for over 15 years and I use everything. The details on my work are not for decoration, they make the pieces safer.”
That’s how he started the project Pau de Lenho (“Firewood”), a permanent workshop for environmental education and ecological preservation. “I have a group of apprentices, and together we learn to respect whatever nature places in our hands. The sawdust on the floor is used to enrich the soil and even for other kinds of art, such as pictures and panels. The hollow pieces of wood come to us like that, insects have eaten the inside and then it’s our turn to use them. We store some of the wood outside and time, the sun and the rain help us with the work.” |
