Argentina

Manuel Rapoport
Age: 34

My Job Title
Designer and Founder of DESIGNO - Patagonia
www.designopatagonia.com.ar

Design Field
Product design and sustainability

My Education
Industrial Design, National University of Córdoba, Argentina (1999)

My Work
"A friend and I started DESIGNO-Patagonia in 2002 in San Carlos de Bariloche, Patagonia (my hometown), as a design and production studio for furniture, decorative accessories, lighting and toys. A key part of the company's objectives is the production of innovative objects with a strong local identity, using local natural resources as materials and local handicraft. My responsibilities include a variety of activities - from creative work to production management and sales - given that our company is a micro-enterprise, with four employees, there are a variety of entrepreneurial tasks to carry out."

Issues in the design sector in my country
"After an initial design boom in post-crisis Argentina, boosted by exchange rates that made imports expensive, the market scope has now decreased and is assuming its real dimensions. What matters now is product quality and good design. It's on these lines that DESIGNO-Patagonia works, trying to define ourselves in terms of our local identity and how to demonstrate our differential identity.

Although globalization has meant difficulties in competing in the global market (in terms of mass production), it has also set forth a renewal of Argentinean local values. This 'creative rebirth' has renewed the rise in craftwork, to a more humane business approach and environmental awareness in production. It is in this new context that I see a chance for Argentinean designers to take the lead.

Innovative design trends from Argentina
"The Banquito Matero is one of our most symbolic products. Its design stems from the very Argentine tradition of people sitting in a circle while drinking. It has been made out of the local lenga beech tree and goat leather produced by socially and environmentally responsible families in the Patagonian steppe. It is soft, comfortable, stackable, and has a neat appearance."

You can find out more about the national competition in Argentina on the British Council website in Argentina

The information above is taken from the application form completed by the finalist in early 2007. Things may have changed since this information was provided and we recommend that you should not rely upon this information as a definitive statement of current fact. Click here to contact the finalist.