MANA Recycled Jewelry hits NYC with TOUCH | NY
by Jill Fehrenbacher
Mana ‘Clasp’ necklace made of recycled hair pins and rubber
We first discovered the stunning recycled jewelry of MANA back in January. Brazilian eco designer Mana Bernardes works with a collective of young women in Rio De Janeiro to refashion bits of urban detritus - plastic bottles, circuit boards, hairpins, phone-cards - into gorgeously thought-provoking jewelry. Now the fabulously eco-chic Mana Collection is coming to NYC with the launch of the TOUCH | NY exhibit this weekend, and we can’t wait to check it out at the opening reception tonight.
TOUCH | NY: May 18th -20th
12 noon - 7pm
148 11th Avenue, NY, NY
Mana Collection’s ‘Spatial Necklace’
Zoë Melo, curator of TOUCH | NY, has worked with some of the most talented designers, photographers and art directors in fashion, art and product design. Folks all seem to agree that Zoë’s strength is in “the ability to identify and develop a one-image concept, to work with a variety of talent, and to build successful teams for specific projects. She has built an extensive network of collaborators and friends from around the globe, some of them far away in remote indigenous tribes and locales where she finds inspiration in the honest lifestyles that blend aesthetics with eco-friendly philosophies.”
Mana bracelets made from recycled netting and buttons
Back in January we featured Mana Bernardes one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces made from recycled treasures from the streets of Brazil. Bernardes is a jewelry designer, poet, and visual artist from Rio de Janeiro who has actively joined forces with community education 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. Mana’s team refashions seemingly unusable materials such as PET bottles, phone cards, toothpicks, hair clips, plastic netting, pearls, silver, and gold into their handcrafted collection. If you are in the New York City area and want to check out the stunning Mana Collection yourself, head over to Chelsea in the next couple of days to check out the TOUCH | NEW YORK exhibit:
TOUCH | NY: May 18th -20th
12 noon - 7pm
148 11th Avenue, NY, NY
+ Mana Collection on Inhabitat
Mana Bernardes of Mana Design and young designers
Mana Collection PET Recycled Bottle/Bamboo Tooth Pick/Pearl
Silver Hooks
Mana Collection acetate necklace with Swarovski crystal bead
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its all a bit, well, dollar-store -ish
on the other hand, its better than the slavery used to get diamonds out of the ground, perhaps this is a craft of the future.
http://www.painfullback.com/