[Designers of Brazil]: "Design is a total task of empathy", says Roberta Banqueri

_{Designer at the head of the PontoEu brand, Roberta Banqueri began her career at the age of 15 as an interior designer and later entered architecture. Over the years, she embraced the craft of product designer, through which she currently creates outstanding pieces of furniture based on ideas related to Brazilianness. Check out the exclusive interview with the professional for EXPO REVESTIR's Designers of Brazil series.}

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For architect and designer Roberta Banqueri, her craft is intrinsically associated with empathy. Conceiving environments and products for others requires attention to the demands of others - to the subtleties of their desires and expectations. It is an exercise in communication and sensitivity.

"I see that the design of everything we can see and pick up has to talk to the human being. Design comes to somehow fulfill human desires and needs. Understanding for whom it is intended and what it is intended for is a total task of empathy", said the professional in an interview with EXPO REVESTIR.

In addition to her work in architecture and interior design, Roberta has been building an outstanding track record in product design at the head of the PontoEu brand. Comfort, elegance, lightness and sophistication mark the designer's signature items, including sofas, armchairs, chaises and distinctive bar carts.

His previous experience began to have a direct impact on his work as a furniture designer. "I have a look that covers various sectors of creation as a result of lived and accumulated experiences, from analysing the comfort and ergonomics of a piece to the part of seeing the proportions in order to adjust a product", explains Roberta, who values the touch of Brazilianness in what she produces.

To EXPO REVESTIR, Roberta spoke about the change of professional route and the different nuances of the craft she has embraced as a primary passion, from the initial conception of the product to the choice of materials and their execution. Check out the full conversation below.

EXPO REVESTIR: I have always followed your work related to architecture and interior design. Suddenly, you emerged as a furniture designer. How was this transition? Is architecture no longer on your radar?

ROBERTA BANQUERI: At first I thought of taking both things, however I saw that to do the product part moving forward I needed a lot of dedication, and I was caught by the passion, the factory floor and product development. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to do something new. The transition was not easy, it was necessary to make choices and renounces, however I'm happy to see that we can give ourselves chances to change routes when there is the desire. Today architecture as an acting agent is slowing down and going to a pause. I want to feel what is just work with the product and have the head only focused on this.

EPRV: When did you realise that furniture design appealed to you more than architecture? Was it difficult to recalculate your route?

RB: Yes, not only difficult, but it brought me a lot of anguish and questioning. After all, making choices with renunciations is never easy, especially when you are in a comfort zone and harvests.

EPRV: What moves your thinking when you draw an object?

RB: First the understanding of what I want to do - this already guides a lot of things. I do some general research to line up ideas. It can be anything from the theme and I'm drafting, suddenly there's clarity about what I want to do.

EPRV: What are the essential concepts for PontoEu, your brand?

RB: The brand was born to support me at a time when I was in doubt of putting my name on it or not, I see that in a very real way I want to follow the concept of experimentation of styles, forms, languages etc. and I want to be able to allow myself to learn and deliver the evolution of the years and experiences as results in the products.

EPRV: Your furniture is very contemporary, but in some pieces, like the Régia bar cart, I perceive a sweet kiss in Brazilian modernism. Is this a correct or a mistaken perception?

RB: That's right, I am putting in my creations a little bit of everything I believe and like, therefore a little bit of each language, as I said, I want to experiment myself and not have a path as an absolute truth, I know that sometimes they expect a creator to have a strong identity to identify his creations, however it is part of my maturation to allow me to create and understand all my languages.

EPRV: You like to transit through adventures that involve different materials. What's the most challenging you've found to work with so far?

RB: It is part of this experimentation to test materials, I still do it in a shy way, I want to be able to do more of this with time, to help in the improvement and innovation of the sector, but I know that I need to learn a lot, soapstone is a product that we use in a differentiated way, as in side tables, to treat the surface to have resistance without interfering with the natural beauty of the stone, to understand that it is a less hard product and has its own particularities.

EPRV: The Arado Buffet comes with the handle created by twisting the wood itself. I can imagine the challenge of bringing such a specific bend to that material and how laborious it must have been. How long did it take to get to the tilt and bend that you considered perfect?

RB: Actually, I had to review the design in order to make it viable. After several studies and attempts to make the product viable, we verified that the torsion was significant and made the execution unfeasible, so we reviewed the design and remade the dies for the part forming, until we detected that it was also necessary to change the raw material to achieve the forming without the return of the part and deformation after a while. There are very complex products, and the Arado, despite its simplicity, had its development turned into a school for the whole team.

EPRV: To what extent has your repertoire in architecture and interior design impacted on your creations as a designer?

RB: It impacts on everything. I feel that all my vision and knowledge acquired over the years were a preparation for the current moment. I have a vision that covers various sectors of creation as a result of lived and accumulated experiences, from analysing the comfort and ergonomics of a piece of clothing to seeing the proportions to be able to adjust a product.

EPRV: Is design empathy?

RB: Always. I see that the design of everything we can see and pick up has to talk to the human being. Design comes to somehow fulfill human desires and needs, whether material or immaterial. Understanding who it is intended for and what it is intended for is a total task of empathy. Design is made to be used or admired by someone.

EPRV: From all your observation around the world of national and international design, what kind of design catches your eye and you make it a point to follow? And why?

RB: I pay attention to everything actually, if only to see that I don't like it and it doesn't make sense. I have my antennae open. Everything related to behavioural movements fascinates me, as it always guides me to want to understand where human longings will lead us. But I love the minimalist, modernist language, as well as the provocation of some contemporary designs that abuse form and don't need to have a commitment to function or human proportion.

EPRV: Buffets, bar carts, sofas, armchairs, coffee tables, chaise... What do you have yet to create and what do you really want?

RB: A lot of things. I really want to be able to allow myself to create everything from forks to appliances. I'm moving forward as opportunities arise and learning from them.

EPRV: Fabrics, seams and finishings. Creating a product requires a series of details that cannot go wrong, at the maximum penalty of losing a lot in quality. What does your check-list consist of?

RB: Overall quality of the product in presentation, the finishing details, comfort, durability of what was made... It is a set of many items. It takes a lot of persistence to ensure that all the processes have quality.

EPRV: Name five elements that you suggest people look at when they come across your creations.

RB: I work a lot with asymmetry and try to balance form with proportion. I am a detailist in this. The diversity of product languages and the history of the concept of each product, what it references, so, these are things that help us understand why it has the shape it has and/or the details it has.