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Maria Fernanda Paes de Barros is a designer, artist, passionate researcher of Brazilian cultural traditions and founder of Yankatu. With a degree in Business Administration and specialization in interior design and furniture design, she has developed several projects and collections in collaboration with artisans from different parts of Brazil and recently from around the world.

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Maria Fernanda has developed her own methodology based on sensitivity, careful listening and learning from years of immersive travel and living in rural cities, riverside communities and indigenous villages. On the other hand, born and raised in São Paulo and a world traveler, she has a keen and comprehensive perspective that, combined with technical knowledge, gives her the experience needed to develop projects that align ethics, impact and sophistication.

Courses,
Experiences &
Lectures

Courses

Crafts are increasingly gaining ground, with their value and uniqueness being recognized, which is extremely important, but it is important to remember that they involve lives. Working with craftsmen and women cannot be seen as a passing trend or a new luxury. On the contrary, it is a commitment that demands a lot of responsibility and sensitivity. Our courses aim to broaden the perspective beyond crafts as a product, technique and tradition, encompassing the community and the human beings who keep them alive and who, among many other things, are also craftsmen and women.

Experiences

Based on the same premise as the lectures, the aim of the experiences is to deepen the participants' involvement, encouraging them to reflect on the themes presented, put into practice the learning of horizontal relationships and understand the possibilities of their professional and personal application. The experiences open windows to unknown places or places that simply need to be (re)known, providing participants with a new way of looking at the world that makes them capable of seeing beyond.

Lectures

For companies, architecture offices, universities, schools, institutions and other initiatives that wish to bring collaborative work, design, appreciation of cultural heritage and social, cultural and environmental impact into focus. With ethics and responsibility, Maria Fernanda shares her knowledge, experiences and learnings to develop collaborative work, sharpening listening, rescuing identities and bringing together those involved around a common objective.

Development of
Projects

We develop projects and carry out dialogue between companies, institutions, architectural, fashion and creative offices in general with artisans (indigenous and non-indigenous), always respecting the local culture and biome and involving a social contribution to the community in question. We use our own methodology created over nine years of experience working in different parts of Brazil with the most diverse Brazilian craft traditions and the countless diversity of materials they use.

Considering that each of us is always unique and based on the premise of design with soul, Yankatu offers the possibility of creating personalized lectures, experiences and workshops, according to the client's focus and the needs of the participants.

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