Art and Fashion in Coopa-Roca

Sustainable Businesses, LEAD Brazil

Case: Art and Fashion in Coopa-Roca

Maria Teresa Leal, or Tetê, is an art teacher and a sociologist for the institute of Sociology and Social Sciences at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Tetê is a Fellow of cohort 5 of the LEAD International training programme, an Ashoka Social Entrepreneurs Fellow and an AVINA Foundation leader.

The Rocinha favela (shanty town), known as the biggest favela in Latin America, is located in the south of Rio de Janeiro and is home to between 150 – 500 thousand residents. The project started when Tetê observed how women from Rocinha, migrants from the North West of Brazil, developed cloth remnants into bedspread, curtains and crochet. This craft work brought about the idea to organise the first group of women and later on, in 1987, the cooperative. In 1998 they received a government loan which enabled them to establish a headquarters. Initially Coopa-Roca focused its activities on the organisation and qualification of women generating a small productive structure around the development of decorative craft products using traditional Brazilian techniques and its produce was directed towards art fairs and bazaars. The first turning point for Coopa-Roca came in 1995 when it started to gain prominence in some events of the Brazilian fashion calendar. Although this success permitted the increase in value of the art products and entry into a new market, this also meant a reformulation of its’ business plan. In accordance to this Coopa-Roca held the first edition f the REtalhar exhibition in 2000 with the objective of making plastic artists, designers, and stylists think about new creations using the craft techniques of Coopa-Roca as a starting point. The outcomes of REtalhar were outstanding: the extension of the rage of products of Coopa-Roca, the establishment of important partnerships and the increase the number of artisans from 20 to 50. In the second edition of REtalhar, in 2002, the cooperative grew to approximately 80 artisans which once again reaffirmed the necessity of partnerships with strong organisations. Today, in the world of Brazilian fashion, Coopa-Roca has the support of M.Officer, Osklen, Eliza Conde, Amazonlife and Dautore. Overseas its produce has already been linked with names such as Paul Smith (England), Ann Taylor (USA) and Le Bon Marche (France). In addition Coopa-Roca also works with art and design.

Currently Coopa-Roca is made up of around 100 artisans working from their own homes therefore contributing to their family budget. Although Tetê is the Executive Coordinator of the production and management sector of Coopa-Roca, the artisans manage their activities and all important decisions are made collectively. Recently a new headquarters project has been approved and the first stage of construction will begin in 2006.