Universe
Yankatu is a design, research and project development platform that combines ancestral and contemporary knowledge. It is also a gallery that presents artistic pieces, furniture and objects – made individually or in collaboration with artisans, bespoke or ready for delivery – that carry with them a cultural heritage from Brazil and the world.
The brand was created in 2014 from the desire of artist, designer and researcher Maria Fernanda Paes da Barros to translate the essence of Brazilian identity through art and unique and timeless design. Over time, the studies gained an international scope of research with artisans from around the world, always with the premise of rescuing the importance and value of artisanal traditions.
"There is a very deep dive into research into the ancestral culture of each people, community or group, respecting their identities, celebrating their stories and the relevance of their traditions for socio-environmental impact and economic development."
​
Through lectures, chats, trips, immersions, national and international fairs and exhibitions,
Yankatu aims to generate social and economic impact in all aspects of each project.
Manifest
From our soul, the heritage. From the hands that create, the design. From the intention, the art.
Taking slow steps through lands, peoples and cultures, we shape connections built through matter. Information, questioning and the beauty of craftsmanship printed between the lines of the pieces, the stories, the charms.
We are plural.
Just like people, we understand that each project carries a narrative and an identity achieved through the artisanal process. We have the responsibility to transcribe these stories, and we have multiple ways to tell them, draw them and get to know them.
We value traditions and cultural heritage through artistic, educational and social manifestations. We delve into the roots and wisdom of
legacies. We investigate creativity through the narrative told through the eyes of others, but also through the eyes of others.
We use design and art as tools for transformation. In addition to the material, we transform the people behind the production chains.
We understand life as an eternal sharing of knowledge, and we believe that only when we understand the value of this learning within each experience, will we live in a more beautiful world.
A better world.
We are all stories beyond matter.
Maria Fernanda Paes de Barros
.jpg)
Artist and creator
from Yankatu.
Maria Fernanda is passionate about cultural traditions. Crafts have always been a part of her life. Her mother was a music and arts teacher and always encouraged her to explore her creativity by building things with her own hands. Her father and mother also had a strong sense of caring for others. Her motivation comes from the soul.
​
With each project, he delves into a region, its crafts and traditions, and the lives of the people who make them.
Rigid research by eye, carried out with sensitivity, respecting the rhythm dictated by time.
Impact
Design and art are tools for transformation. They don't just transform materials into form, function and beauty, they transform lives.
We understand life as an eternal sharing of knowledge, and only when we understand the value of this learning within each experience, will we share in a more beautiful world, a better world. Yankatu impacts through the shaped and constructed connection, and transforms the people behind the production chains, as well as those who interact through the narratives developed through design and art.
we are all stories beyond matter.