About the project
Born in 1980 in the Azores. She has a degree in Equipment Design from FBAUL.
She was distinguished in competitions: Young Designer ICEP 2000, 2001 and 2002, Young Creators 2002, Renault Clio Limited Series, Design Wise 2.0, V Formica Creativa Competition, Massimo Dutti Design Award and National Prize for Creative Industries Unicer/Serralves.
She was a designer at Farame, monitor at the Design Workshop of FBAUL, designer at the ID department of Castelhano e Ferreira and manages 3 own brands: Confeitaria da mala, CUT furniture and Cuco Toys.
FAZ com as tuas mãos (DO IT with your hands) is a participatory process to produce furniture pieces. Marian Costa e Silva has designed easy to make furnishings, with available materials and basic tools and teaches people how to make them.
Maybe furniture doesn’t have to be made by industry, woodworking doesn’t have to be joinery, nor about wood composites with “perfect” finishes. Maybe if we just go a step back and take a modest and simpler approach, we can make something new: democratize access to furniture made by users.
FAZ challenge is to produce locally, with whatever is available nearby, prefer renewable, biodegradable, low carbon footprint and/or from circular materials, use basic and generalized use tools, empower people to do it themselves and share designs. In this sense, she designed a chair, a stool, a bench, a table, children’s chair and table, and playground objects that balance functionality and aesthetics with self-building values. Each piece is made of: 2 or 3 different references of local pine wood; used palettes and any raw or reclaimed planks; standard worldwide retailer cut wood; or just free growing twigs of invasive species.
