NÁIADE108

I believe in experimentation, in almost-planned risk, with its safety margins, but also attentive to the freedom to experiment.

I believe in a new kind of design functionality, one that reaches dreams while it reaches passions, without forgetting function.

The boat project by Finnish designer Hannu Vartiala goes through a reinterpretation, an adaptation to the Brazilian reality in terms of materials and sizing. Learning and hybridism between cultures in how the timber is set out and distributed, and in its function. Even in traditions this precise and ancestral, experimentation and adaptation are always proposed.

NÁIADE 108 is born, or the Náiade 108, a name that recalls the naiads of oceans and rivers, who enchanted men and led them into the depths, even worshipped in some cultures as water goddesses — and a clear tribute to my partner, Naia.

With a boat made entirely by hand, from hull to mast and rudder, the sail couldn't be any different. With a rethink of the design, reuse a sail from something else. So we adopted a 20-year-old abandoned paraglider wing, which has never let us down. A few adjustments were made, but it works fully!

The result is an extremely complex project, technically and culturally enriching. Interacting with the boat has already allowed contemplative outings, fishing, sailing, rowing on rivers, and recently we sailed in 20-knot winds on the Atlantic Ocean.

Náiade 108 is a stimulus and a provocation for design to leave the lightness of the digital or of paper and reach other levels that let humans interact, exercise and move beyond the possibilities of the rational.

Beyond that, to take on the care that falls to the purpose involved in the mission of being a designer.