NexDay Magazine | Renata Rubim

We are a family owned and operated business.

We are a family owned and operated business.

“IF EVERYTHING HAS SURFACE AND COLOR, THEN ALL THAT WE HAVE TO DO IS TO IMPROVE THE TACT AND TO MAKE THE LOOK ABOUT THEM.”
Renata Rubim

Until the late 1980s, the design developed for fabrics, papers and ceramics was not understood as a unique science. Each area dealt with its projects in isolation, considering only its peculiarities. Until Renata Rubim disembarked in Porto Alegre, in 1986, after a little over a year at the secular Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), in the United States. “There, I went to the Surface Design department, and then I discovered the name. Eureka! That was what it was supposed to be! ”Reveals the designer, who was awarded one of the ten scholarships offered to Brazil at the time. And it implanted, in the country, the concept that any product can be transformed into aesthetic innovation, considering the study of volume, textiles and materials.
The “treasure” that this Carioca has been living in Porto Alegre since she was eleven years old brought in the suitcase was a unique methodology, which she soon started to share. “It is based on the creative method that enables you to create yourself always; in critical evaluations of the production performed; and in the respect that people have for the individual's design and competence. It is of immense wealth ”, he considers. Since then, he has taught a hundred workshops, lectures, courses, short courses and inaugural classes at institutions across the country, including extension courses at almost all universities in Rio Grande do Sul and many others in other states. And, also, in his studio at Renata Rubim Design & Cores, founded in 1987, the year in which he completed two decades of diploma, at the Instituto de Artes Decorativas (IADE).
“I have always been passionate about design. As the emphasis of the course was on graphic design, when I realized the greatness and importance of this area, I deduced that, really, my objective was different ”, he confesses.
The company's first customers were Artex, Tabacow and TokStok, companies for which it was already providing services independently. The textile segment has always prevailed in her career, due to Renata's experience in this area and her special passion for carpets, as shown by her childhood drawings. “Before studying in São Paulo, I went to learn manual weaving at Artesanato Gramadense, in the Serra Gaúcha, the first of its kind in the region. Later, after the course, I returned to Grama¬do, where I worked for twelve years on a large series of rugs that were exposed in Brazil and abroad ”, he says. In his professional career, he has consulted on colors and creations for bedding, sandals, stationery, T-shirts, porcelain, ceramic tiles, and much more, with dozens of individual and collective exhibitions; the publication of the first book on the subject in the country - "Drawing the Surface" (Ed. Rosari. São Paulo / SP; 2005); and national and international awards, including three trophies at the “Oscar do Design”, the iF Design Award, with coverings produced in partnership with Solarium. “International awards made me very happy, but it is more proof that living abroad in design should be easier than in Brazil. The highlight of my career may have been never giving up ”, he reflects.