Renato Imbroisi
Self-taught designer, Renato Imbroisi has a pioneering work in Brazil in the creation of handmade pieces in partnership with artisans, which he has been doing for over 40 years in all Brazilians states and in other corners of the world such as Japan, Portugal, Mozambique, São Tomé and
Príncipe, Italy, Chile and other countries.
He started researching Brazilian hand weaving in the 1980s and developed intuitively and in practice a working method, first with weavers from the South of the South East state of Minas Gerais, expanding the range of action to other artisan techniques over the years- defining himself, today, as a handicraft designer. His methodology is briefly described in the book Desenho de Fibra – Brazilian textile craft (Editora Senac, 2011), written by Imbroisi in partnership with Maria Emilia Kubrusly.
His workshops with artisan communities include rescuing traditional techniques and revitalization of craftsmanship already practised through appropriate innovations to local cultural identity and the profile of participants, as well as technical training, commercial management, production organization,
in addition to consulting for commercialization and creation of visual identity for digital and printed material. It’s not just about developing product collections, but empowering people and guiding them towards professional growth and independence – resulting in the creation and production of beautiful, innovative, and original handmade objects.
Since 2015, he has been developing creative workshops with indigenous groups from Center West state of Mato Grosso do Sul in the production of textiles with stamping and embroidery, in the Artesanato Ofayé project, carried out by the sustainability center of Fibria Papel e Celulose Company (currently Suzano). In 2018, held with Cristiana Pereira Barretto, training workshops in crafts and design for the creation and productionof a collection of textile objects for 50 inmates of the prison system of State of São Paulo, who based on this training formed the cooperative
Tereza Vale a Pena.
Renato ́s work is recognized in Brazil and abroad, a reference for designers, stylists, artisans, students in related areas, being a guest consultant for several institutions, national and international, such as the Foundation for Community Development, directed by Graça Machel, and the Aga Khan Foundation, both in Mozambique. He eventually acts as curator of exhibitions and other cultural events, he is a lecturer and also co-author of the book Lá e Cá – cultural exchanges between Brazil and Portuguese-speaking African countries (2013), by Editora Senac.
In 2018, he founded the IRI – Instituto Renato Imbroisi, based in the district of Muquém de São Lázaro, in the municipality of Carvalhos, in Minas Gerais, where he started his partnership with weavers in the 1980s. In 2021, the Institute received from the Municipality of Carvalhos the assignment of use of the public space of the Severo Batista Municipal School, located in Muquém, which became the headquarters of the Escola de Artesanato do Muquém (Muquém School of Arts and Crafts) a center focused on education, culture, art and craftsmanship, directed by Imbroisi.