Passionate about Rio de Janeiro, designer Emma Tamaoki, discusses her work before enthusiastically disembarking in this wondrous city
What attracts so many tourists to Rio de Janeiro? The fame of this wonder city lies besides the contrasting image of the continuing insecurity. It’s of our civil war that we know, very well. The “gringos” manage to ubiquitously portray this through cinema with the likes of Elite Squad, City of God, Last Stop 174 and worse still, the list continues. What would make a graphic designer, sort-of-Japanese looking, living in Australia, from Portuguese descendants decide to move to Brazil, anyhow?
Before she packed her bags, Rio was just a blur of image and thoughts. “I knew of the famous stereotypical cultural icons such as havaianas, ipanema, bossa nova, samba and Corcovado, to name a few. I also knew of the dangers of the socio economic problems with the favelas”, she says. Besides her own, she could count on the wise opinion of others. “What made me nervous was the fact that every visitor who I'd spoken to before my departure looked at me discerningly with furrowing brows, and disbelief that I was traveling with just one female friend, who spoke no Portuguese either. Everyone had a story about being mugged. I tried not to worry but I heard that even caipirinhas were dangerous because they make babies”, jokes Emma.
Despite all the risks, already predicted, the trip seems to have been very worthy, and literally changed Emma’s life. Rio de Janeiro started influencing her conduct, her work, and ultimately, her way of life. “Animal! (Meaning awesomely perfect in Brazilian) The breathtaking scenery of the rolling mountains framing the urban landscape, with bursts of tropical vegetation spilling onto the pavement. The alluring yet powerful force of the shore break at Ipanema. The exotic, foreign, wild, raw energy of Rio is extremely powerful and highly addictive. These clashing juxtapositions of the classes and colours, gives this cocktail of life enough layers to keep you guessing, and craving for more of the unknown”, justifies Emma very excited.
“I've wanted to move to a new continent with a new language for quite sometime, but wasn't sure where to go. It was a no-brainer as soon as soon as I caught a glimpse of that landscape as I flew into Rio . I felt something shift. An overwhelming sense of nostalgia washed over me. Whether I was Brazilian in my last life, I don't know? Basically my gut is telling me I need to be there, for one reason or another.”
After a road trip through Transcos - Búzios adding a few more weeks in Rio, Emma could already visualize her life very well, thanks to these inexplicable reasons. Carnival (the best party in the world), Larger than life personalities, deliciously quaint Joatinga beach, endlessly flowing music everywhere, ridiculously thirst quenching caipinrinhas, irresistibly hot Brazilieros, enticing fresh sucos de maracuja, mace, abacaxi” completes the artist, who illustrated our blog with all her expertise, creativity and kindness. Modesty aside, it looks pretty awesome!
The plan is for Emma to arrive in Rio , in the beginning of 2012. In her muse and inspirational city, she doesn’t hide her confidence in find her space in the marketplace, “I think Brazilians will understand me as, I myself am of mixed descent and have been influenced by many cultures as well. I will also be able to translate that roller coaster ride of culture shock I am no doubt, bound to experience. I am very sensitive to all my senses and try to explore all those avenues when creating my work. Hopefully I will be able to translate all of that into something cohesive!”
To those who are curious about knowing a little bit more about Emma’s Tamaoki creations, please visit her website. “Feedback is always welcomed”, she clearly announces (here too). http://www.emmatamaoki.com/
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