IN SEARCH OF THE ESSENTIAL

Design - or rather - industrial design, minimalist not only in form, but also in conception. Using international experience but inspired by Brazilian reality, Guto Indio da Costa develops his projects making the maximum use of constructive simplicity.

Winnie Bastian
“Working with the minimum is part of Brazilian design”. With this statement, the Rio designer Guto Indio da Costa sums up the essence of his work that combines good design and ecology in creating objects in which, frequently, the economy of means is the thread running through the project.
After receiving his degree in 1993 from the Art Center College of Design, Switzerland, Indio da Costa worked in large design offices in Germany, France and in Denmark. Since his return to Brazil five years ago, he has developed products as varied as a thermos bottle and a bus shelter, an underwater diver's gun and a fan.
The Alladin Futura thermos bottle is probably his best-known product. Ecological (the capsule can be substituted, because the casing is merely fitted), simple and low-cost, has already sold over two million units and received awards both in Brazil and abroad.
His most recent project, the Spirit fan – developed together with the designer Martin Birtel –, was also conceived on a simplistic base. Really, it was the quest for the essential that produced Spirit's principal innovation: it has only two blades, which distinguishes it from all the other fans on the Brazilian market. While simultaneously seeking to economize on material and make the fan lighter, plus improve its performance, the designers “stripped” the product of any unnecessary elements. On the basis of this minimalist exercise, they were able to design a fan, which was comprised of only four parts.
A curious fact: while doing the research to develop the Spirit, they discovered that airplanes during the First World War period had single engine with two blade propellers and, further, the use of two blades rather than three gave better aerodynamic performance for low-powered engines. Spirit’s performance confirms this claim: the wind flow it produces can be 30% greater than in conventional appliances. But the propeller designer was also essential in this regard. Eight prototypes were made before arriving at the most efficient design, a feat that was possible thanks to the rapid prototyping process used in this and other Indio da Costa work. The drawings are detailed in 3-D modeling and prototypes are generated from this file.



Executed completely in plastic, the Spirit is presented in two versions: translucent colors (in polycarbonate) or solid white (in a polypropylene). Depending on the colors chosen, the fan may “disappear” on the ceiling, such is the cleanness of its design. A truly minimalist product, not only in form but also conceptually.
The simplicity with which Guto Indio da Costa usually conceives his designs is also shown in the urban fittings created in 1995 for the district of Leblon, in Rio de Janeiro – which is an integral part of the first stage of the Rio City project.
The Leblon urban fittings unites a marked identity with constructional modulation: the majority of the proposed pieces of equipment are linked to a post, the basic elements. In illumination, developed together with Esther Stiller, the lighting designer, there is a surprise: in addition to the traditional lighting used in Oakland public spaces, the use of indirect lighting was produced. This resource allowed a strong identity to be created for the district, by means of two factors: the definition of a hierarchy in thoroughfares (direct light for the roadways and indirect light for the sidewalks) and the creation of a striking form for the diffused street lamp. Apart from this, the presence of indirect light creates a much more agreeable atmosphere, softer and which does not blind pedestrians vision.
The modulation, in turn, is in line with two basic necessities, that of productive viability and organization of “chaos” present until then – some corners had up to six posts to provide the various functions, such as lighting, wiring, stop signs, traffic signaling and the names of roads.
The impact of this project was so big that the designer was invited to develop another line of urban fittings, this time for the French company JC Decaux. What caught their attention? The Rio de Janeiro accent of products having international quality.