Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

From the improvisation to the solution: the Design in the casual market of the city of Rio de Janeiro
structure with an adhesive tape. When money is not enough
to purchase a cooler more resistant, it is improvised with what
they have. That adhesive tape which in the industry is used for
sealing shipping boxes is used there to create a protective layer
on Styrofoam® box.
While the street vendors who sell beverages establish a fixed
place to stay during their working hours, there are those who
move through the city in search of a customer. As an example
we have the peanut sellers. Eating a roasted peanuts is one of
the options is to stave off hunger in streets of Rio. If the peanut
is hot it is even better. But what to expect from a product that
is far from the ovens of a fixed establishment as a bakery or a
coffee shop for instance? Those vendors know the importance
Figure 1. Support for peanuts, Lapa’s neighborhood, Rio de Janeiro (photo by
Camila Peres).
Figure 2. Support for peanuts, North Zone, Rio de Janeiro (photo by Camila Peres).
to provide a quality product and satisfy consumer’s needs. Thus,
they not just solve the problem of keeping the peanuts heated
but take it to various places on the streets where there are few
options of other appetizers. This kind of itinerant street vendor
carries an artifact that is both support and stove.
A simple and economical option is to support the use of a food
can. For the stove, a small can of oil serves to the purpose (Fig.
1). An example of this can be found with a seller that sometimes
settles into a fixed place of Lapa’s neighborhood. To get around
the neighborhood he only needs to hold the wire loop attached
to the support. To steady his point of sale, two wooden boxes -
those used to transport fruits or vegetables - are sufficient to
serve as a seat for the seller and as basis to display the peanuts.
Some may argue that the solution is good, but unfinished or that
looks dirty. So, we bring another example that can demystify
the idea that street vendors do not care about the visual of their
business.
Francisco is a peanut street vendor who walks every day from
the neighborhood of Madureira to Del Castilho, both located
in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro. He wears a white coat and
carries his goods on an artifact he built by himself using an aluminum
dairy. Surface clean and smooth, with devices for bracket
on the floor and handle well finished, besides a small pot serving
as a stove. We could even suppose that he had purchased the
artifact ready for its purpose (Fig. 2). But not, Francisco is just
another example of those anonymous people as the designers
who also does design.
So far we do not talk about how these sellers move to their local
of work. It may seem that we are turning aside the matter, but
design also has an impact on this aspect. Let’s see. With regard
to locomotion, the reality of the street vendors is adverse to the
employees who use the transportation benefits provided by their
employer. A great amount of street vendors, which is responsible
for its own profits and expenses, avoids the expense with transportation.
Some asks the bus driver for a ride, others go on their
foot and there are those who use their own means of transportation.
Not motorized means of transportation, but a bicycle. This
vehicle, free of fuel costs, is a good alternative to some street
vendors. Not only as a means of transportation, but as its point
of sale.
At a quick walk around the outskirts of ‘Norte Shopping’, one of
the largest malls in the city, located in the north zone, you can
find some examples of street vendors who use bicycles as an
important device for their business. We present here two of
them: José Alves Pereira and Ananias. José is an itinerant that
migrated from Ceará to Rio de Janeiro. Nowadays, he lives in
the neighborhood of his working place. José sells beverages
and snacks at a fixed place near to the mall. His customers are
people who work around there as taxi drivers. The beverages he
stores in two flasks. As for the snacks he uses a Styrofoam® box
customized by himself: brown adhesive tape to protect the out-
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 198