By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The fourth edition of O Cluster, an arts, music, fashion and food fair, will be held today from 1PM to 9M in Botafogo. The free event will bring together Rio’s promising creators of fashion, design, art, music, and food to showcase their works to the public.
Created by Carolina Herszenhut, the designer behind Branchée, and independent content producer Camila Félix, O Cluster held its first edition in November of last year.
Herszenhut, who worked in the fashion industry for 14 years before creating Branchée, told The Rio Times that the fair is designed to help keep people up-to-date with what’s new and fresh in town.
“One day I realized that everyone asked me for cool and new things, that were going on in Rio. I knew many people who had amazing work but were missing a good place where they could showcase it in a nice format, with good music and cool people.”
Herszhenhut and Félix, with the help of others, put an end to that by creating O Cluster, which will now be a bimonthly event.
Designers showcased in this edition include: Carbon; the art and Jewelry of Flow and Joialerismo, designer scarves by Benta, skateboards and more from Itsu, eyeware from Notiluca and many more.
Cuisine will again be on display as “Gastronomia O Cluster” (Cluster Gastronomy) returns after its successful debut in the third edition. The expanded section will now feature seven chefs serving food for under R$20.
“Also, for the first time we will have a mini-fair with cartoonists and comics, giving a place for the independent publishing market, which has few spaces to publish their work,” said Herszenhut.
Representing that group will be Diego Sanchez, editor of “Trapezistas de Estrada,” Joppa Moraes from the independent publication Beleléu, and Isabella Amaral and Renato Lima, creators of Pocket Comix.
“The initiative of Carol, Camila and all of the girls to gather the names from several new areas in a free event is worthy of all the applause,” Renato Lima told The Rio Times. “And it is gratifying to see the comic stands engage in a dialogue with fashion, art and design. […] O Cluster is an opportunity for each of us to expand the reach of our stories.”
Additionally, the works of Rio-based graffiti artists Airá OCrespo and Marcelo Ment will be on display to the public. Artist Augusto Mauilbuisson will exhibit his collages and Felipe Diniz will show off his work as a concert and event photographer. Luiza Condé will also be painting her creations that combine poetry with drawings live for the public to see.
To round out the event, DJs Marcello MBGroove, Ícaro dos Santos, Andrei Yurievitch and Felipe Guga will provide the appropriate soundtrack to this artsy event.
“We have no claim to be a MEGA event, because what is cooler is that the event has the feel of a party at the home of friends,” said Herszenhut, adding that “the most interesting part of the event is that it’s space to publicize the work of the new agents of the Carioca (Rio resident) creative industry. They often do not have space to show their work and in this city. O Cluster is important because it makes people who live here see and know these works.”
What: O Cluster
Where: 35 Rua das Palmeiras, Botafogo
When: Sunday, September 1st, 2013 – 1PM until 9 PM
Entrance: FREE
Read more (in Portuguese).
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