Inhabitat


MANA COLLECTION: Stunning Recycled Jewelry by TOUCH

by Abigail Doan, 01/20/08

TOUCH Mana Collection, Mana Bernardes, recycled jewelry, accessories, re-use, sustainable style, Brazil, street fashion
Mana Collection ‘Spatial Card’ necklace made of Recycled Phone Cards and Plastic Magnet Latch

The Mana Collection by TOUCH features one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that cleverly string together social design and environmental responsibility, not to mention recycled treasures from the streets of Brazil. This LA based art/design collective recently introduced a stunning line of artisan made products including furniture, home décor items, ceramics, tableware, jewelry, and limited edition items. They wisely brought on board Mana Bernardes, a young jewelry designer, poet, and visual artist from Rio de Janeiro, to oversee their hip jewelry creations. Detritus and discarded plastics never looked so good, as the Mana Collection is proof that one (wo)man’s trash is another (wo)man’s treasure. These are, for sure, the eco-sparkly jewels of creative re-use.



TOUCH Mana Collection Mana Bernardes recycled jewelry accessories re-use sustainable style Brazil street fashion
Mana Collection ‘Clasp’ necklace made of Recycled Metal Clasps and Rubber

Multimedia artist and designer Mana Bernardes finds pure poetry in the flotsam of our lives and consequently is able to incorporate seemingly unusable materials such as PET bottles, phone cards, toothpicks, hair clips, plastic netting, pearls, silver, and gold into Mana’s handcrafted collection. She has also joined forces with community education social projects at the Museum of Rio de Janeiro and the European Design Institute of Sao Paulo, where she works with teenagers and students teaching jewelry making and entrepreneurial design skills.

TOUCH Mana Collection Mana Bernardes recycled jewelry accessories re-use sustainable style Brazil street fashion

With mention in the Dec/Jan 08 issue of Dwell and an upcoming launch with US retailers, TOUCH’s Mana Collection is slated to bring a bit of resourcefulness, humor, and doubletake to sustainable style wardrobes everywhere. We salute their team-based efforts!

+ TOUCH
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8 Responses to “MANA COLLECTION: Stunning Recycled Jewelry by TOUCH”

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Leozao Says:

Parabéns Mana!
Já conheço seu trabalho e sei que ele é Sensacional!
Mesmo assim fiquei surpreso e muito feliz de te ver aqui.
Voce vai longe.

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Yuli Says:

this is really beautiful!
it’s not just elegant but designed with big vision.
such an inspiring article for us in developing country.
thanks!

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brenna Says:

Wow, these are all very cool! I am very impressed by the quality of the pieces shown and the artist’s commitment to the environment and social projects.

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Cynthia Says:

Congratulations to Mana, we were togheter last Friday at a fashion show.
Will she read this message?
B e a u t i f u l work!!!

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riv Says:

Anyone know if there’s a connection between these people and the book “Fabulous Jewelry from Found Objects”?

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I just saw your “found item” jewelry, and they are stunning! I try my hand at designing and I never thought of using recyclables. Your jewelry is very simple and “clean”. I would love to see more of your art.

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[...] form of these fun pieces reflect the material’s origins, and take advantage of an often discarded resource. Harrison developed a special compound that combines the shells with injection molding to create [...]

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These pieces of jewellery are certainly a conversational piece. When I wore it people asked me – What is was made of and where did I get it?

 

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