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Carlos and Nishpara

"I am Carlos, and I was born in the São Paulo region. I lived my childhood close to nature. I rode my bike, bathed in the river, etc. I did all the things you do when you grow up in the countryside. I come from a family of doctors and my family life was just like any other's. My interest in art came about at an early age. My first works were done at school – I went to a school that had several art departments such as ceramics, copper, wood, and photography. I still remember how actively the school tried to stimulate an appreciation for art in their students. As I grew older, I became passionate about cinema, music, photography and other artistic manifestations, especially Brazilian folklore.

"Nishpara tells me about her childhood memories, growing up in the outskirts of Nova Iguaçu. She used to love playing, tracing designs on the ground, and sculpt from clay and other recyclable organic materials. As a teenager, she was part of a group that visited orphanages and retirement homes to teach various forms of art. Her brothers are also skilled artists that live for and from art.

"Neither Nishpara nor I have had a formal artistic instruction. It all started as a personal search in which our direct contact with nature fostered our sensibility to artistic forms. Art is our internal mirror. It reflects our sensibilities, madness, creativity and our nearest passage to the divine. It is the ultimate form of freedom.

"Only once did I take a crafts course, and one film course, given my interest in these art forms. To me, arts and crafts have the ability to be functional, not just as decorative accessories. I love beads because I consider their artistic impact to be quite expressive. I can make a wide variety of things with beads, including masks, pictures, belts, bracelets, embroidery, and more.

"Nishpara always says that art has given her the opportunity to be more in touch with herself, thus generating a profound self-knowledge. That's why she defends the notion that everyone should have a direct and intense contact with art, thus being the ultimate form of liberation.

"We tend to use Czech beads because we want our work to be of the highest quality.

"We feel optimistic about our relationship with Novica. We are quite proud to see that Novica considers our work to be on a par with their criteria of quality, originality and distinction. On top of that, they have offered us the opportunity to show our work to the rest of the world and this to us means that now more people will value our work."