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A few years back, the term BRIC came to the fore as the way to describe the emerging powerhouse economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

In the last few years, China has become the dominant story with the rise of Brazil ignored by most in the mainstream media.

One of the reasons for this is that Brazil’s rise to economic power is based on its massive base of natural resources and sophisticated agricultural systems, rather than the services of Indian or the powerful industrial transformation that’s sweeping through China.

In addition, the rise of Brazilian agriculture is not without controversy, especially with  the potential depletion of other natural resources, like the Amazon which is a contentious and symbolic of the powerful negative forces of globalization.

If you are a Brazilian furniture company, you have quite a lot of issues to contend with; you’ve got a lack of recognition of Brazilian design and all the environmental questions.

Brastilo is one such company that’s trying to meet these two challenges head on.

Its distinctive and unique furniture is inspired by the legacy of great Brazilian design and created by a highly talented team.

However, it’s Brastilo environmental policy that helps them to stand apart from other competitors in the space.

Its products are made from a sustainable wood called Taeda Pine produced in small batches in the North of Brazil. These sustainable forests mix native and  sustainable trees and leave the wildlife uneffected. The company also encourages its employees are to get involved with recycling and tree planting.

In addition, Brastilo parent company, Irani, is one of Brazil’s most progressive on the  environmental front, winning a host of local prizes for its efforts in 2007 and is only the second company in the world to receive carbon credits according to the Kyoto Protocol.

With Brazil’s rise as an economic powerhouse, we are going to see more and more of their brands make it to the US and Europe. When they export to these markets, it's  going to be critical for the brands to explain and translate the idea of what it means to be “Made in Brazil and its obvious that environmental stewardship needs to be a key part of the story.

 

Posted by Ed Cotton