Escola de Artes e Ofícios da COOPFER: estilos e influências presentes na produção moveleira

Abstract

The city of Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, was the largest railway junction in the south of Brazil, and this propitiate the foundation of the Cooperativa de Consumo dos Empregados da VFRGS (VFRGS worker’s consumption cooperative known as COOPFER), which became the largest consumer cooperative in Latin America. This cooperative had among its objectives, the professional education of the children of its associated, that materialized at the Escola de Artes e Ofícios (School of Arts and Crafts). This Study aims to identify the styles and influences present in the furniture production of COOPFER School of Arts and Crafts, using as methodology a qualitative applied research that uses bibliographical and documental research, which sought material in public and private collection, as well as interviews with subjects who experienced the universe of the Escola de Artes e Ofícios or that own furniture manufactured there. This research allowed the elaboration of a photographic and descriptive book of the furniture produced in this institution, preserving, thus, this important Cultural Heritage of the city of Santa Maria.