MOURA, M.; HENRIQUES, F.; BORGES, A. Adélia Borges, Doutora Honoris Causa, Design FAAC – UNESP, 2021: reconhecimento e valorização do design brasileiro (Adélia Borges, Honoris Causa Doctor, Design FAAC – UNESP, 2021: Recognition and Appreciation of Brazilian design). In: Ensaios em design: ensino, pesquisa e sociedade [e-book]. 1. ed. Bauru, SP: Canal 6, 2022. p. 191–238. 2022. p. 191–238. ISBN 978-65-86030-89-1, DOI 10.52050/978658603089.

https://ensaiosemdesign.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/09_08.pdf

Frederico Duarte, designer and critic from Portugal, 2016

“I was able to gather all catalogs of the Brazilian Biennial of Design. After I read them thoroughly, as they deserve to be read, I would like to tell you that the 2010 edition catalog actually has no comparison. Not only due to the scale of your ‘nuclear’ exhibition in the biennial but also due to the selection of projects and above all—which is for me the most important—the writing of the texts/captions for each selected project. They are a true and rare feat of clarity, synthesis, and knowing exactly what matters to be said when we talk about design. I congratulate you one more time. And I thank you for your example and inspiration.”

Carlos Alcantarino, designer, 2016

“I visited CRAB and loved the exhibition. It was curated with awesome precision. I had never seen or craft as well placed and, at the same time, with such an all-encompassing view of Brazil. With your regard, you put our crafts on a level that makes us proud. Congratulations.”

Luciana de Moraes, 2016

“I am a reader of your column in Bamboo and I want to thank you for the content you offer us every month. Congratulations on your work.”

Sonia Quintella de Carvalho, President of ArteSol – Artesanato Solidário, 2016

“The most spectacular exhibition ever to be put together in Brazil.”

Heloísa Crocco, designer, 2016

“After having worked with Sebrae since the late 1980s in the design and craft area, today we celebrate the birth of CRAB in Rio de Janeiro downtown. The opening exhibition is spectacular! It is amazing to see what was gathered in the exhibition space. Curators Adélia Borges and Jair de Souza present a panorama that brings us joy and makes us understand the potential of this sector, its diversity, plus the possibility of bringing Brazilian culture to visitors who come and can buy our artisanal products. The importance of this effort comes following a series of interventions of artisanal products in many different Brazilian communities. Congratulations CRAB! Congratulations Brazilian craft!”

Gabriel Patrocinio, designer, 2016

“The Vegetal Origin exhibition is breathtaking! Congratulations to all involved!”

Zoy Anastassakis, Director of Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (ESDI), 2016

“The opening show at CRAB sharply organizes Brazil’s today’s craft production, pointing to still latent powers among materials and their production processes. Thus, the exhibition points to a possible, promising future in which Brazilian design finds its place precisely where all these things created both with plenty and with want throughout Brazil acquire form.”

Giancarlo Latorraca, architect, 2015

“The Cerâmicas do Brasil (Ceramics of Brazil) exhibition presents a wonderful, sharp synthesis!”

Paulo Dias e Vanúsia Assis, Cachuera! group, 2015

“Congratulations on the concept of this small, however all-encompassing exhibition with high aesthetic quality and a non-hierarchic stand bringing many different Brazils into perspective. An idea to be followed!” (About the Ceramics of Brazil exhibition)

Antonio Gonçalves Filho, O Estado de São Paulo newspaper, August 11, 2015

“These pieces put together reiterate not only the link between ancient cultures and contemporaneity as it eliminates the divide between craft and art.” (About the Ceramics of Brazil exhibition)

Maria Angélica Santi, 2015

“Although small in relation to the ceramics production we have, the Cerâmicas do Brasil (Ceramics of Brazil) exhibition presents an interesting selection of ceramists who have inherited traditional techniques in parallel to contemporary ceramists. I enjoyed the videos very much; in addition to cover technical aspects, they also give life to the displayed works.”

Celso Fioravante, Critic, 2015

“I visited the ceramics show and enjoyed it thoroughly. Tiny, but beautiful and very delicate. I obviously liked the Native People’s creations the most, particularly those by the Suruís, although the Mehinakos’ large pan and form were really awing and fantastic. Among the contemporaries, I cast my vote to Heloísa Galvão!”

John Thackara, 2012

It is not just the bags, published on May 13, 2012 in http://thackara.com/place-bioregion/its-not-just-the-bags/ 

Mara Gama, Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, January 30, 2012

“Craft + Design: The Brazilian Path is an original and exciting book, full of information never before gathered, forming a live cut on the material culture of Brazil.”

Walter Sebastião, Estado de Minas newspaper, February 10, 2012

“If you don’t know Adélia’s books, you have no idea about what you’re missing. She is virtually the only person in Brazil writing about design without being presumptuous, too technical, or with market-oriented bias—incorrigible bad habits regarding this subject. . . . Her beauty volume [the book Design + Craft], richly illustrated, presents wonders. Products that everybody loves but, curiously, no one observes them in detail to truly appreciate how smart their design is. She lays out essential aspects so we can appropriately consider—and respect—the deeper areas of Brazil. This is a creators’ country, despite so many hindrances.”

José Alberto Nemer, Belo Horizonte, 2012

“The [Design + Craft] book is wonderful and it makes me feel a sort of existential relief. It is wonderful to see that someone has—greatly—recorded all these experiences, victories, and unrest that are characteristics of this field. This book is already a reference and it was born with a great future ahead.”

Luján Cambariere, Pagina 12 newspaper, Buenos Aires, February 4, 2012

“Adélia Borge’s new book is a smart manifesto for a handmade, whole-hearted future. . . . Her simple, direct, sharp words . . . are written from experience.”

Maria Helena Estrada, writer, São Paulo, 2010

“Poetry, freedom, originality, multiple colors; it’s all ours. And the joy of seeing Brazil being represented. The titles for each section, beyond humor and pertinence—Sustainability: What Does it Have to Do With Me?; Who Is This For? —translate the meaning and intention of what is there to be seen. Congratulations to Adélia Borges and her team who gifted this Biennial to us.”

Jô Takahashi, Cultural Manager, São Paulo, 2010

“Design Biennial presents never-before-seen trends that elevate Brazilian design to a level of ultimate fine tuning, not only with to contemporary taste but particularly to new ethical world values of sustainability and environmental protection. This level of excellent curatorial work had not been seen in the exhibitions scene for quite a while.”

Nelson Petzold, Designer, Porto Alegre, 2010

“From a historical perspective I reckon myself to have acquired, I believe that the Biennial of Curitiba marked the beginning of design’s coming-to-age in our country.”

Zoy Anastassakis, Anthropologist and Designer, Rio de Janeiro, 2010

“I would like to congratulate São Paulo City’s effort, through secretary Augusto Calil, as well as the team who developed the project for the Pavilhão das Culturas Brasileiras [Pavillion of Brazilian Cultures], by congratulating Adélia Borges. I believe that all of us are cheering for this project to be realized in a wholesome manner, thus contributing to build multi-meaning perspectives of Brazilian culture that are presented her—no longer as singular, but now plural, as Brazilian cultures.”

Camila Molina, writer, O Estado de São Paulo newspaper, May 2, 2007

“Her leaving [as director of Museu da Casa Brasileira—Museum of the Brazilian Home] is marked by revitalization of this museum devoted to design and architecture. . . . Already on her first year on the board, Adélia Borges was able to greatly increase the number of visitors to MCB: for instance, in February 2003, 24 visitors were recorded; in February 2004, they were 3,973—in sum, between 2003 and 2006, the number of visitors increased 444 per cent.”

Marcelo Araújo, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo Director, 2007

“The project implemented by Adélia Borges and her team at Museu da Casa Brasileira (Museum of the Brazilian Home) greatly enhanced the status of that institution by defining architecture and design as priority heritage areas of action. All their actions regarding preservation and communication—exhibitions, debates, awards, educational and cultural programs—developed by the Museum in the period between 2003 and 2006 were fully articulated within these axes and were developed with the highest quality standards, turning the institution into a national and international reference center.”

Cyro del Nero, Set Designer, São Paulo, 2005

“I watched with great joy your interview on TV, whose theme was Chairs. You had that that real culture is capable of manifesting through fluidity, certitude, and grace. The many informative levels attained by what you said encompassed knowledge pertaining not only to design. Real knowledge is always anthropologic. And you offered this in such a short time. Please accept my moved hug for your words and your much generous image.”

José Alberto Nemer, Artist and Curator, Belo Horizonte, 2003

“I started to read Designer não é personal trainer and could not put it down. I come now to the end and I want more. Each article in the book goes beyond the boundaries of localized critic and becomes a wider, deeper analysis of everyday life. Each proposed idea awakens in readers a chain of other intellectually exciting, warmly sympathetic ideas. How many times, while I was reading, I could not help but stop to crack a smile of joy before findings and accuracies.”

Ana Luiza Escorel, Designer, “Jornal de Resenhas,” Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, 2003

“With fluency that is usual to professionals in her field, Adélia Borges dissertates about almost any theme that involves something we can understand as everyday culture, favoring design and its offshoots [in her book Designer não é personal trainer]. The author’s easy, charming writing is a quality that creates important links to unspecialized readers and widens the narrow strip of expression our country reserves to this activity.”

Daniel Piza, O Estado de São Paulo newspaper, June 30, 2002

Designer não é personal trainer by Adélia Borges (adorably published by Rosari) gathers columns she wrote for the “Fim de Semana” (Weekend) section at Gazeta Mercantil newspaper. I am happy to see how this book derives from that section I have edited in the past. Adélia let herself run free in her column, she showed that design is in everything, and called attention and debate to this subject like no one else had ever done.”

Walter Sebastião, Estado de Minas newspaper, October 22, 2002

“A promising exhibition: Novos alquimistas (New Alchemists). Not only because of its premise—design with everyday materials, industrial components dislocated from their conventional use or through recycling—but because the show is signed by one of the best curators in Brazil: Adélia Borges.”

Antonio Gonçalves Filho, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, November 26, 1999

“The [Novos alquimistas— New Alchemists] exhibition represents hope by inverting consumption’s circuit. Blankets made of plastic bottle threads converted into flakes, drapes made of corn straw and taboa (Typha tree) threads, clothes made of dehydrated fish scales, and lamps made from remains of civilization show that an emergency exit still exists in the hell of industrial society.”