THE LOOK OF DESIGN ON NARRATIVE CERAMICS FROM GRUPO FLOR DO BARRO - CARUARU/PE O OLHAR DO DESIGN SOBRE A CERÂMICA NARRATIVA DO GRUPO FLOR DO BARRO – CARUARU/PE

The Alto do Moura, neighborhood of the city of Caruaru, is recognized for its crafts of figurative ceramic pieces with influence of Mestre Vitalino, among other artisans. Fruit of the ceramic tradition, since 2014, the Group Flor do Barro, formed by women artisans, meets with the common interest of visibility and recognition of their crafts. The present article presents the first results of an extension project of the Design Course of UFPE, directed to this group of artisan women, which seeks to bring design closer to local crafts. The research method adopted was the one proposed by the Design Laboratory O Imaginário/UFPE, based on five guiding axes: Design, Management, Production, Communication and Market. The results of the Group's diagnosis point to a creative process represented by the narrative of daily life, family memories and female empowerment; a rudimentary ceramic production sustained by manual modelling and firing in wood-fired ovens; the finishing of pieces by cold painting and commercialisation limited to tourist visits to the neighbourhood. At the same time that one perceives a politically organized group capable of being a vector for public actions for local crafts, the production process is individual. producing community about the place in which they live. As well as, the visitor's expectations about the tourist image of the visited space are surprising.


INTRODUCTION
The formation of the post-industrial society has broadened the way of thinking and discussing design, demanding an action that follows the complexity of contemporary ways of living. In this context, the following pages are dedicated to the understanding of the artifact, as a product of design, understanding of the artifact, as a product of design, understood not in isolation, but contextualized in the traditions of its producer and of its place of origin. Specifically, we refer to the handicrafts from Pernambuco produced by the artisan women of Alto do Moura.
Craftsmanship and the artisanal environment manifest a series of meanings, traditions and practices rooted in a place. For the architect from Pernambuco, Janete Costa, "a piece of popular handicraft has a double value", because in addition to being beautiful, it carries "within it a message of beauty, a beauty of tradition, which comes from the past, from their need to make things, from the way in which they do".
Alto do Moura is a neighborhood in the city of Caruaru in Pernambuco; situated approximately 7 km from the city center and 136 km from Recife-Pernambuco/Brazil. It houses one of the most important handicraft centers in the country and gained national notoriety from the projection of one of its most illustrious artists, Mestre Vitalino. The sale of handicrafts created and produced in Alto do Moura is carried out in the artisans' own homes and workshops, which makes it possible for the neighborhood to continue to be a permanent tourist spot.
In the past, clay production was intended for utilitarian products, such as: pots, cups, jars, vases, jugs and other household products. During the first half of the 20th century, handicraft production became increasingly a source of income for the family's subsistence. Even so, until the end of the 1940s, the economy of Alto do Moura basically depended on family subsistence agriculture.
Still alive, Vitalino Pereira dos Santos -Mestre Vitalino had the support of what the locals call disciples; artisans dedicated to continuing his art. Inspired by the works created by Mestre Vitalino, the themes reproduced by the artisans, who still follow his tradition today, are the folkloric motifs that portray the daily life of the sertanejo: the bumba-meu-boi, the maracatu, the fife bands, the drought migrants, the cangaço and the bandits: mainly the famous Lampião and Maria Bonita; the cowboy, the rodeo, the wedding, the burial in the countryside, and so on.
Today, at ABMAM -Association of Artisans in Clay and Residents of Alto do Moura, over 700 artisans are registered. However, the local handicrafts do not only represent the tradition inherited by Mestre Vitalino, on the contrary, most of them work producing all kinds of pieces; from utilitarian to dolls, including surrealist works that follow the aesthetics of Mestre Galdino, a contemporary of Mestre Vitalino.
According to SEBRAE -Brazilian Service of Support to Micro and Small Companies (2013), the characteristic profile of Brazilian artisans is formed by 77% of women. Many of them intersperse handicraft practice with other occupations, mainly domestic. Since 2017, the Secretary of Policies for Women -SPM, linked to the municipal government of Caruaru, has encouraged public policies for women in the city, with an emphasis on local handicrafts.
Grupo Flor do Barro (referred to only as Group in this article), formed in 2014 by 20 women artisans, emerged with the intention of greater recognition of female local handicrafts. The women that make up the Group are mostly daughters, sisters and granddaughters who make up the famous families of Mestre Vitalino and his disciples. The formation of the Group began with the first meetings that took place at each member's home. And for 2 years the Group has been headquartered at Espaço Cultural Flor do Barro, located at Rua Mestre Vitalino, 227, Caruaru-PE. Maria do Socorro Rodrigues da Silva and Cleonice Otília da Silva took on the leadership roles among their colleagues.
In an attempt to bring design closer to local handicrafts, through immersion in the reality of this ceramic group composed only of women, the Academic Extension Project was proposed: "Flores do Barro: mapping and ideation of the handicraft production chain." The general objective of the project is to propose, through design and its dialogic character, strategies for the valorization of resources for the production and commercialization of Grupo Flor do Barro do Alto do Moura in Caruaru. Inherent to the objective is the premise that from the tools of design it is possible to intervene in the process of sustainability, appreciation and visibility of Pernambuco handicrafts. FENEARTE is a successful action of the State of Pernambuco government that has been taking place in the city of Recife since 2000. This fair is considered the largest handicraft fair in Latin America, attracting an average audience of three hundred thousand people, each edition.
The SEBRAE Handicraft Program is another good example of a public policy carried out in the country for the development of handicrafts, which has contributed effectively to artisan communities. This program works in an integrated manner, supporting projects with the objective of increasing the generation of income and jobs, promoting the improvement of the quality of life of handicraft producing communities, respecting their different typologies and conserving their cultural values.
Another action to fight poverty in needy communities affected by the drought in the northeast region of Brazil is Artesanato Solidário -ArteSol, which is a non-profit organization that supports traditional artisan communities. Among the main actions of this initiative is the Rede ArteSol project, which is a virtual handicraft marketing platform and which also promotes the mapping and dissemination of cultural techniques and traditions.
All these actions go beyond the interests of Governments and assume the role of public action in all 26 states of Brazil for national handicrafts.
It is worth mentioning the public policy initiatives for professional qualification and female empowerment, self-esteem, leisure and quality of life for women, through handicrafts, led by the Secretary of Policies for Women -SPM in the city of Caruaru/PE.
In August 2020, the Casa da Mulher Artesã was delivered (Figure 1), designed to be a space for culture, exhibition and marketing of products developed by women artisans from the Alto do Moura community, under the management of Grupo Flor do Barro.

Alto do Moura handicrafts
According to Pereira (2004), Pernambuco is recognized for its tradition and vocation through the artisanal production centers spread across the state, among them is Alto do Moura neighborhood, located in the municipality of Caruaru, 126 km from Recife, capital of Pernambuco. Alto do Moura is named after a family of sertanejos surnamed "Moura", which settled in the region.
According to Andrade et al (2006), over time, the clay used in the region to produce utilitarian artifacts was of good quality, which made the village of Alto do Moura famous as a place for potters. It was only after the creations of Vitalino Pereira dos Santos, Mestre Vitalino, that the neighborhood became nationally recognized for its figurative craftsmanship.
According to data collected by Barbosa (2019), the clay pieces from Alto do Moura are the most present in the Centro de Artesanato de Pernambuco, the largest center of the segment in Brazil, where 16,000 pieces by 500 artisans from all over are sold. To the author: This is possibly due to the notion of tradition of artisanal production and the uniqueness of the piece with the original place, (...) the pieces modeled in Alto do Moura represent the imagination of a producing community about the place in which they live. As well as, the visitor's expectations about the tourist image of the visited space are surprising.
In the same way, the relevance of the commercialization of the handicrafts of Alto do Moura in FENEARTE can be observed. Since the neighborhood's clay production occupies most of the Alameda dos Mestres, the fair's entrance area dedicated to the most visible master craftsmen in the state of Pernambuco.
Currently, Alto do Moura distinguishes itself as a place of densification of artisans who continue the tradition of Mestre Vitalino. This characteristic of the place gives the artisan a brand that presupposes traditional memories and symbolism with visibility throughout the state. In the figurative pieces originating from the place, the relations of social representation between this original place and the history of handicrafts are perceived. However, we draw attention to the fact that among the masters in the region, female representation is a minority.

Social Hierarchies
The social classifications present in the artisan community of Alto do Moura, act as signs that result in appreciation and recognition of the produced pieces and, consequently, of their creators. Walking along the sidewalks of the neighborhood, it is possible to notice the existing power relations between the artisans. The houses-ateliers of some receive totems informing them of their place of work, in which it is already specified whether the artisan mentioned is a master or not. For example, on one of these totems it says: "Atelier Mestra Marliete Rodrigues"; and on the other: "Atelier Elias Vitalino".
We realize, as Rocha (2014), that there are three categories used by the community: the masters, the almost masters and the artisans. The three categories listed by the author are the terms used in the speeches of the artisans, including the "almost masters". However, references to Mestre Vitalino as sovereign are inherent in the narratives. And the indication of the master's first disciples as responsible for the continuation of the art.
As described by Barbosa (2019), in the speech of artisans, one of the criteria for occupying certain prominent places is belonging to the family of a master artisan. The author characterizes this hierarchical relationship as follows: Mestre Vitalino as sovereign and his first disciples as responsible for perpetuating art. Thus, the contemporary masters are the descendants of the first disciples and the "almost masters" and artisans who aspire to the title of masters ( Figure  2).

Figure 02 -Social hierarchies
Source: Barbosa (2019) Still in the analysis of social relations, we realize that in the niche of disciples, few authors who report the story of Mestre Vitalino mention Mestra Dona Ernestina. Ismael and Cunha (2018) highlight Mestra Dona Ernestina as the only woman who, at the time, reproduced Mestre Vitalino's regionalism and is recognized for being the first woman to mold figurative art in clay.
Historically, the title of master was associated with men and currently, in addition to Mestra Dona Ernestina (In Memoriam), two more women are recognized with this title: Mestra Marliete Rodrigues and Mestra Terezinha Gonzaga.

RESEARCH METHOD
This research is part of the field of qualitative research, which considers social actors with active and modifying participation in social structures. Andrade (2015), as a researcher at the UFPE Design Laboratório -O Imaginário, sought in her doctoral studies a design management model suited to the reality of handcraft-producing communities, and for that purpose she outlined an overview of handicrafts in Brazil, reporting the different opinions between the conciliation of design and craftsmanship.
Those who are reactive to the design-crafts approach "defend the preservation of the object and its ways of making", understanding that traditional handicrafts reflect a past that must not suffer new and/or external intrusion (ANDRADE; 2015, p.34). On the other hand, others understand the perception of design as a strategic tool for competitive power and strengthening of artisan groups in Brazil.
An artifact can be understood as a cultural product revealing itself in its materiality: values, meanings and techniques; referring to the place and time in which it was produced. This understanding has broadened the way of thinking and discussing design. The issue addressed here proposes to study its producer in addition to the product, therefore, design works as a tool to understand the narrative intrinsic to the production of handicrafts. Barbosa (2019) contributes to the theme by pointing out that from the point of view of the producers, the designer can systematize the production processes and identify the values of handicrafts. It is a meeting of mutual and circular interest.
In order to fulfill the objective of this research work, the multidisciplinary method developed by the Laboratório O Imaginário was chosen, due to the actions with the artisan communities and their products. The design intervention model in handicrafts is supported by a transdisciplinary and participatory methodology, with five axes of action: Design, Management, Production, Communication and Market.

The
Design Laboratório O Imaginário -UFPE: Handcrafted Approach For almost two decades, the UFPE Design Laboratório O Imaginário, formed by professors, students and technicians from different areas of knowledge, has been working in teaching, research and extension activities with an emphasis on design at the service of sustainability, both in industrial and artisanal production environments (ANDRADE e CAVALCANTI, 2020).
The artisanal approach of the laboratory aims to bring academia and society closer, highlighting handicrafts as a sustainable way of life. The focus of the intervention is the artisan community and its product, for that the method seeks to understand the interaction between the artisan community with different actors: local authorities, partners, University and market, from the following aspects: technical, social, environmental, cultural and political. The figure 3 below represents the model of the artisanal laboratory approach. In the model, the practice of the Design axis highlights popular traditions, the skills of artisans and the appropriate use of materials, resulting in a joint creation, designer and artisan, respecting cultural and social parameters of the communities.
In the Production axis, the proposal is to improve production processes and benefit working conditions and the sustainable use of natural resources. The praxis of the Management axis aims at the formation, articulation and consolidation of groups. The actions of the Communication axis aim to promote strategic information for the relevance of handicrafts and the value of its creators. Finally, the Market axis leads the communities' production to specific segments, capable of verifying the added value to the product.
The research tools: Interviews, Observation and Documentation Analysis were applied in the Grupo Flor do Barro case study. The interviews were carried out orally both in person and through videoconference with the women of the Group. Due to the sanitary restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the initial phase of the research, the technical field reconnaissance visits were hampered. Only the headquarters of the Group and two of the workshops were observed in an unsystematic way with photographic records, in order to obtain details about the living conditions and environment of the artisans. Finally, bibliographic surveys were carried out from the reports and publications on the Group.

RESULTS
Next, we present the main results as a diagnosis of Grupo Flor do Barro for the five axes of the model: Design, Management, Production, Communication and Market.

Design
Most of the artisans of the Group come from traditional pottery families from Alto do Moura. In this first moment of the research, it was possible to recognize the characteristics of the creative process of the twelve artisans participating in the Group and their family representations. The analysis tool of the semiotic dimension of design and tourist culture proposed by Barbosa (2019) was applied to characterize the production of women artisans from the Group.
In order to facilitate the understanding of the creative process of each artisan, a categorization by family branch was diagrammed, since the references and inspirations used in the process of creating the Group, in most cases, follow the identity characteristics of each family.
The artisans: Nerice, Teresa, Cícera and Nicinha are sisters of Mestre Zé Galego. The aesthetic characteristics of the family are rustic, with little use of colors, using only earth tones (Figure 4).  The artisans Elisvanda and Janaína are the sister and granddaughter of Mestra Ernestina and have a rustic aesthetic with a matte paint finish in earth tones ( Figure 6).  Finally, artisan Margarida, the daughter of farming parents, learned the art of clay with Grupo Flor do Barro, using warm-colored finishing in her pieces (Figure 8).
Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4, below, present a graphic synthesis with the aesthetic similarities of the individual reference piece of each artisan.
However, when analyzing the only collective work of the Group, in 2019 -a Christmas Tree composed with clay flowers produced by each artisan, it became evident that the traditional handicraft decorative style predominated in the pieces, however, covering up the understanding of their identity values.

Management
Grupo Flor do Barro began its activities in 2014, with the purpose of strengthening and mutual growth of women artisans, with commitment and responsibility to art and the community being the only requirements to participate in the Group.
The Group emerged from informal meetings in the participants' homes, and then meetings to consolidate the collective. It was only in 2019 that the Group acquired its fixed headquarters: Espaço Cultural Flor do Barro, located at Rua Mestre Vitalino, 227 -Alto do Moura, where they  Single piece, with matte paint finish.

IVONETE
It follows the aesthetics of Mestre Vitalino by representing figurative art through everyday scenes. It is characteristic of his works to paint in earthy tones.

MARGARIDA
Composes the decorative and utilitarian arts through liturgical representation Curved, sequential petals and finishing with warm colors.
Source: Authors (2021) meet to give workshops, exhibit their productions and hold events.
The maintenance cost of the Flor do Barro Cultural Space is shared by the Group participants. Cleonice Otília (Nicinha) and Socorro Rodrigues are the artisans who have a leadership profile and artisan Margarida is in charge of the interviews for the selection of new components as well as the Group's social networks.
The Group has the support of the City Hall of the city of Caruaru through the Secretariat of Policies for Women and the Foundation for Culture and Tourism. This demonstrates the Group's political nature through its format of action and collective speech in contrast to the individual productive behavior reported in the Production axis.

Production
Manual modeling is the predominant technique in the Group, using traditional tools such as: toothpick, comb and basin. The clay is removed from the deposits, extracted from the banks of the Ipojuca River and acquired already processed by a supplier in the region.
There is a wood-fired oven at the Flor do Barro Cultural Space, but with a decorative character, as the pieces are burned individually in the home of each artisan. Only the modeling and creation workbench is shared (Figure 8). The pieces are put to dry in the open air and the burning is carried out in wood-fired ovens. The final finishing of the pieces and the painting is done with synthetic oil-based enamel and acrylic paint. There is no ceramic technology for vitrifying the pieces with natural ceramic glazes in Alto do Moura.
We observe that there is a tradition in the production of figurative and decorative pieces of clay, modeled by hand and using rudimentary technologies. Another point to be considered is the waste of raw material during burning. Although the artisans belong to a group, their productive behavior follows the same individual pattern as the other artisans in the neighborhood. Since each artisan is responsible for their production and the other stages of the process.

Communication
The external communicational aspects of the Grupo Flor do Barro are carried out through social networks: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, but the publications only function as a disclosure and presentation of the Group. The authors of this research believe that the Group's social networks could be expanded for the exhibition and sale of the produced pieces, but in the Group's opinion, internet sales are not advantageous, due to the fragility of the clay pieces for transport.
The Group does not have a visual identity applied to the packaging, or even graphic material for identifying the pieces. The packaging is made using bookstore paper, bubble wrap and a transparent plastic bag, without any structural system for transporting the ceramic pieces.
The Group is part of the ArteSol Network and one of the participants, Cleonice Otília, was invited to participate in the TEDx Alto do Moura, narrating her trajectory with traditional ceramics in Alto do Moura and with the Group. Which was published on July 20, 2020 and is available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/cleonice_otilia_quan do_os_homens_sao_mestres_e_as_mulheres_artes as_jul_20_2020 ( Figure 09).

Market
The commercialization of the pieces by each artisan of Grupo Flor do Barro is done exclusively in their homes/ateliers. The pieces are not sold at the Flor do Barro Cultural Space, or at the Casa da Mulher Artesan in Caruaru. It is well known that sales become significant during any event. However, as a group, they never participated in FENEARTE together.
Traditional ceramic family artisans take advantage of the family spaces available at FENEARTE to sell their production. However, artisans from non-traditional ceramic families simply do not participate in FENEARTE. Only in the period of June festivities, June and July, when the city receives a greater number of tourists and collectors, the highest volumes of sales occur in the ateliers.
The pricing of the pieces varies according to: dimensions; production difficulty; the finish and the time of manufacture. But, there is no support tool in defining the value of the pieces.

CONCLUSION
The intervention model proposed by Laboratório O Imaginário was validated as a tool for understanding the artifact and for analyzing the artisanal production of Grupo Flor do Barro, even in the face of difficulties in experiencing the artisans' routine in person.
In summary, in the Design axis, the Group's handicrafts express the narratives of everyday life, memory and female empowerment. The artisans' individual creative process follows the references and identity characteristics of each family branch. However, when the production is collective, there was little expression of the aesthetic references of the family branch.
In terms of Management, the Group presents a format of action and collective discourse, but the artisans' conduct expresses an individualistic practice common to other artisans in the Alto do Moura neighborhood. The Group manages, jointly with SPM, the Casa da Mulher Artesã de Caruaru, but does not give up on maintaining and funding the Espaço Flor do Barro used for the Group's meetings and events. The most interesting thing is that both spaces are not adequate to meet the production and commercialization demands of the Group's ceramic pieces, which makes the artisans maintain the family custom of producing in their homes/ateliers.
In the Production axis, Grupo Flor do Barro lacks sustainable practices in the drying, burning and packaging stages of ceramic pieces. The acquisition of suitable equipment for the production of artistic ceramics is necessary, such as electric ovens and greenhouse. In terms of Communication, the creation of a visual identity for the Group to support the dissemination of the Group's products and actions is imminent. Finally, in the Market axis, what became more evident was the need to expand the Group's sales strategies, through the use of e-commerce digital tools.
Based on this diagnosis, an action plan was drawn up with short, medium and long-term activities.
For example: expansion of dissemination channels as a way to make it possible to direct the workshops to the virtual world and develop a visual identity. Also, in order to broaden and strengthen the Group's communication with the market. However, some emergency actions are already in progress, such as: creativity workshops to stimulate collective production, as well as meetings with the city hall of the city of Caruaru to establish agreements between the public authorities, private institutions and the association of artisans of Alto do Moura with a focus on collegiate management of the Public Equipment Casa da Mulher Artesan in Caruaru.
Finally, this project is yet another opportunity to bring the University and Society together, which is so necessary to stimulate new research and innovation in the area of Design and Handicraft and for student training, in fulfillment of the University's mission of contributing to the social transformation.