6 8 Q A N TA S august 201 2

Caught in the network

IF NEW YORK NEVER SLEEPS, são Paulo never stops. the best way to enjoy the city is to give in to it. Helicopters buzz between miles of skyscrapers while poly-ethnic enclaves pulsate with fusion

restaurants and labyrinthine shopping centres below. there are 19 new millionaires created each day in Brazil according to Forbes maga-zine, and plenty of personality to boot.

são Paulo is bisected by the eight-lane avenida Paulista – the historic centre to the north and the upscale neighbourhoods of Jardins, Pinheiros and Vila Madalena to the south. a stroll down this gargantuan highway or a visit to Oscar Niemeyer’s Copan – a build-ing so large that it has its own postcode – tells us we are in no ordinary city. With its gloomy decades as a tropical third-world republic firmly in the past, Brazil is experiencing a renaissance. From revered architect Oscar

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Não Tenha Medo do Seu Corpo, 2012 (Don’t Be Afraid Of Your Body) by Ernesto Neto, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça until August 18; view from Altino Arantes (opposite)

As the South American giant shrugs off last century’s economic malaise, its modernist metropolis of São Paulo has decided it’s time to shine. Author Carmen Michael explores Brazil’s other big city.

Niemeyer – still going strong at 104 – and other established architects such as Isay Weinfeld, and furniture designer sergio Rodrigues, to the new generation of creatives such as fashion designers alexandre Herchcovitch and Pedro Lourenço (a favourite of Lady gaga), artist Beatriz Milhazes and the graffiti twins Os gêmeos, Brazil couldn’t get much hotter.

In são Paulo, an explosion of new galleries in the city’s bohemian quarter Vila Madalena, the elegant bairro of Pinheiros and, more recently, santa Cecilia, reflects the rising middle class. Openings such as the galeria Raquel arnaud and the deeply hip street-art gallery Choque Cultural show just how far this former coffee-trading town has come. But it’s not all palm trees and samba scenes. Lourenço’s geometric dresses are just as likely to portray Mount Fuji as Copacabana Beach, while Herchcovitch’s latest collection features golden dresses in leather and lace. When asked what drives são Paulo, Isay Weinfeld says it is a place where “absolutely anything is permitted”.

travellers won’t find a traditional rota of tourism sights in são Paulo. Favelas (slums) hang off the outskirts of the city while massive traffic jams can logjam the city’s roads. It can be exhausting, crowded and ugly. this is a city living in the

A taste of the future? Oscar Niemeyer’s 1950s National Museum in the federal capital of

Brasília, north of São Paulo

Alexandre Herchcovitch spring/summer 2012-2013 collection at São Paulo Fashion Week in JuneMural by Otavio & Gustavo

Pandolfo, aka Os Gêmeos, Cambuci district

Oscar Niemeyer’s Copan building

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CiTy guide SÃo PAulo

From top: MASP on Avenida Paulista; art works by Beatriz Milhazes at the Beyeler Foundation, Basel; auditorium by Oscar Niemeyer, Ibirapuera Park

present, not the past. Instead, the city’s charms are to be found in the everyday richness of design, experimental architecture and the sheer energy on the street. Walk around the modernist pavilions of Ibirapuera Park, visit a new gallery in Madalena or sample some Japanese Brazilian cuisine in Liberdade.

the city boasts excellent traditional European styles – Brazilian landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx once said, “the country is so baroque that one has the impression that the style was born here” – but Brazilian modernism is the real attraction of são Paulo. the simple lines, un-cluttered elegance and focus on structure, which is sometimes called tropical Modernism, evolved out of a century of experimentation with ideas such as constructivism and concretism.

arriving in the 1920s, modernism was taken up by the Brazilians with gusto. they had the natural flamboyance, large spaces and lack of urban control to interpret modernism almost ideologically, the most famous manifestation of which was Niemeyer’s “favela free” utopian city of Brasília, 874km north of são Paulo, in the 1950s. It was an era of enormous vision, but, as persistent economic problems gave rise to the inevitable favelas, of grandiosity, too. “Nothing dates faster than people’s fantasies about the future,” australian art critic Robert Hughes once said of Brasília, echoing a view shared by many Brazilians until the last decade when its econ-omy was finally put back on track.

However, if travel is about taking us out of the everyday, são Paulo does it better than most. travellers can take to the skies on the city’s buzz-

ing network of helicopters to view its endless skyscraper sprawl, or stroll through the teeming avenues to see architectural experimentation in action. Paulo Mendes da Rocha’s MuBE (Brazil-ian Museum of sculpture) and Lina Bo Bardi’s MasP (Museum of art) are both examples of Brazilian Brutalism, while the awe-inspiring monolith of Niemeyer’s Copan is pure 1950s Brazilian monumentalism. In the exclusive hills of Morumbi, design pilgrims visit the fabulous suspended glass house of Lina Bo Bardi.

Paulistanos like to claim that shopping malls are their beaches and, like Rio’s Copacabana, they won’t disappoint. Whether it’s a voyeuristic afternoon at the city’s luxury behemoth Daslu, which has a helipad entrance and created an uproar when it opened beside a favela, or a quiet browse through the cool boutiques of designers such as Humberto and Fernando Campana, evidence of flourishing local demand for art, design and fashion is everywhere.

Nor is são Paulo’s habit of free expression confined to the city’s elite. at street level, design flows uninhibited onto walls, park benches and urban sculptures. From engaging urban murals that document the city’s history to arts renewal projects such as Boamistura’s rainbow-coloured favelas, design seeps out of the city’s most ugly streets. Even the rune-like symbols of the city’s illegal pichação graffiti gangs have a subversive charm. traffic, inequality and sprawling favelas are enduring features of são Paulo and are often the subject of the pichação, to the chagrin of the authorities, who often respond with violent crackdowns. Yet in true são Paulo fashion, even the despised graffiti is being co-opted by the artistic elite. the work of Os gêmeos now appears in MasP, while the alleys of Beco do Batman are popular with the middle class.

são Paulo is a city that assimilates and absorbs, always churning out new ideas, forever expanding. Local chronicler Roberto Pompeu de toledo once called the megacity of 20 million an “urban labyrinth extending towards infinity”. simply being there is to experience a defining moment in Latin american history.

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CiTy guide SÃo PAulo

Rua gonçalo AfonsoRua Gonçalo Afonso, Pinheiros.behind the cemetery is the city’s open-air graffiti gallery beco do batman. created by art students in the 1980s, keen-eyed observers can catch some heritage os gêmeos as well as a wall by zezão, a graffiti artist famous for decorating the sewers of são paulo. afterwards, visit the city’s funkiest new gallery of street art, choque cultural, at nearby 99 rua João moura.

SHOPNoir, Le Lis2305 Rua Bela Cintra, Jardins. www.noirlelis.com.brthe brainchild of helena montanarini and actor matthew mcconaughey, noir, Le Lis offers everything the brazilian playboy needs, including a barber and a personal tailor in the flagship store.

John John789 Rua Oscar Freire, Cerqueira Cesar. www.johnjohndenim.comWhen it comes to jeans, brazilians are in a league of their own. seen

on actors such as zac Efron, John John jeans have been a global fashion success story. With sophisticated styles, rich detailing and limited-edition collections, clear your credit card for a visit to their shop on what is são paulo’s rodeo drive.

Francesca Romana dianaShopping Cidade Jardim, 12000 Avenue Magalhães de Castro, Marginal Pinheiros. francescaromanadiana.compopular with brazil’s soap stars, Italian designer Francesca romana diana combines colourful brazilian stones with materials such as wood, shells and raffia to create playful, bold designs.

MelissaGaleria Melissa, 827 Rua Oscar Freire, Cerqueira Cesar.www.melissa.com.brstep into the future with this ethical brazilian shoe brand. Its signature plastic shoes have been designed by the likes of Jean paul gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, zaha hadid, alexandre herchcovitch and the campana brothers.

Casa Triângulo77 Rua Pais de Araujo, Itaim Bibi. www.casatriangulo.comconsidered the springboard for emerging artists in são paulo, casa triângulo, in the exclusive Itaim bibi neighbourhood, holds a popular monthly exhibition.

Humberto & Fernando Campana219 Rua Barão de Tatui, Santa Cecilia. campanas.com.brslip in through the unmarked garage door to the colourful atelier of this dynamic duo, the first brazilian artists to be exhibited at moma in new york, and who are now working with shoe company melissa. Famous for their red chair, a messy scribble of flaming cotton rope fixed on metal legs, the brothers often utilise cheap materials to form a bridge between the artisan world and the industrial universe.

See & dOgaleria Fortes Vilaça 1500 Rua Fradique Coutinho, Pinheiros. fortesvilaca.com.brFeaturing heavyweights such as beatriz milhazes, Ernesto neto and os gêmeos, this is são paulo’s most renowned gallery of brazilian contemporary art. neto’s sculpturally sublime new solo show, Não Tenha Medo do Seu Corpo, runs until august 18.

Alameda gabriel Monteiro da SilvaPinheiros. design buffs should stroll along the alameda gabriel monteiro da silva, which showcases the best in new brazilian design. stop in at furniture boutique Firma casa (no.1487, firmacasa.com.br), dpot (no.1250, dpot.com.br) and luxury interiors boutique conceito Firma casa (no.1522, conceitofirmacasa.com.br).

Red Chair, Humberto & Fernando Campana;

Noir, Le Lis (left)

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CiTy guide SÃo PAulo

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location for a business lunch or to stretch an after-work drink into a deal-closing dinner.

Kinoshita405 Rua Jacques Félix, Vila Nova Conceição.restaurantekinoshita.com.brWith the biggest Japanese community outside Japan, são paulo offers some of the world’s finest sushi restaurants. the award-winning kappo cuisine of chef tsuyoshi murakami, combined with the acclaimed architecture of naoki otake, has made this a keen favourite of the paulistanos.

7 Molinos1914 Rua Alameda Lorena, Jardim Paulista. second to none for its bread, pastries and almond croissants. you’ll certainly get your fats and carbs intake at this French bakery.

STAyFasano88 Rua Vittorio Fasano, Jardins. www.fasano.com.brdesigner diane von Furstenberg once said, “there would be no brazil without Fasano” – the luxury

eATdOM 549 Rua Barão de Capanema, Jardim Paulista. www.domrestaurante.com.brnamed by Restaurant magazine as the fourth-best in the world, dom is a symbol of brazil’s arrival onto the world scene. chef alex atala sources new ingredients from the amazon and employs molecular gastronomy to create Latin america’s most innovative menu.

Mani210 Rua Joaquim Antunes, Pinheiros. manimanioca.com.braward-winning chef helena rizzo and her spanish husband, daniel redondo, create unusual organic cuisine, such as beetroot sorbet and feijoada spheres, in this gorgeous restaurant tucked away inside a walled garden.

Spot72 Alameda Ministro Rocha Azevedo, Bela Vista. restaurantespot.com.brthe place to be seen in the heart of the city business district, spot is set in a glass-enclosed room amid the skyscrapers. It’s the perfect

emiliano384 Rua Oscar Freire, Jardim Paulista. www.emiliano.com.brspill out of your hotel and into the shops of são paulo’s most exclusive shopping district. With a personal butler, pillow menus and a bar overlooking a hanging orchid garden, it’s the ultimate inner-city hideaway. From $736.

Tivoli São Paulo Mofarrej 1437 Alameda Santos, Jardim Paulista. www.tivolihotels.comIn exclusive Jardins, a block from where the big deals happen, this is the perfect choice for business or pleasure. newly renovated and boasting Latin america’s biggest presidential suite, tivoli does all the things you expect from a luxury hotel. From $329. c

hotel chain is synonymous with contemporary brazilian style. designed by acclaimed architects including Isay Weinfeld and marcio kogan, the wood-panelled, leather-furnished interior offers the ultimate home away from home. the lobby bar and in-house Italian restaurant are popular with well-heeled locals. From $716.

unique4700 Avenida Brigadeiro Luís Antônio, Jardim Paulista. www.hotelunique.com.brdesigned by the eclectic Japanese brazilian architect ruy ohtake, the dramatic half-moon-shaped unique lives up to its name. geometric forms, large open spaces and rooms with spectacularly curved floors make up this ultramodern hotel near parque Ibirapuera. Join the playboy set at the skye bar for a view of the city by night. From $457.

For airfares call Qantas on 13 13 13 or visit qantas.com For holiday packages to Brazil call Qantas Holidays on 13 14 15.

Ruy Ohtake’s Unique hotel

CBD favourite: Spot

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