Karl P. Platt on tue 18 jun 96
Sauducoes Para Criciuma, SC, Brasil, where the whole world revolves around clay
-- certainly for the next few days. Here we sit at the Apolo XIV Hotel and I'm
trying to remember what the significance of Apolo 16 was. Hmmmm. Was that the
one where the guy walked on the moon? Acho que sim --- para ultima vez.
More to the point, here in Criciuma is where the 40th Brasilian Ceramic congress
is being held. It is also in conjunction with the 1st. Exposition of claymaking
gear that has a name I honestly don't remember. Honestly.
I cruised the exposition last night and saw briefly a number of interesting
appliances. The tile industry here is big on serigraphy and the vendors had a
lot of things to offer. Especially intriguing was the offset-type printing
machinery. There are also kilnmakers. One group has a fiber-lined shuttle kiln
set-up. It's pretty, but I have doubts about the seals, which are ceramic fiber
and will be abraded by the movement of the car.
Today my friend Alexandre will be demonstrating his laser printing system at
CTC. CTC is the Ceramic Technology Center here in Criciuma. We were only there
briefly yesterday to drop off the lasers, but I was _very_ impressed by the
facilities. The organization serves 2 roles. !. to train technicians for the
many local tile works and 2. to perform quality testing for those same tile
works. International hoohah, like ISO 9000000000, is a big deal here and the
certer supports these aims. Their equipment is quite state-of-the-art. Indeed,
there were a couple of guys from netzch there setting-up and out of the box
DTA/TGA and dilatometer.
This is all sort of secondary to interests here, however. What is important to
note is that there is a substantial ART Ceramics presence here. At the opening
ceremony yesterday there was a large sculpture at the entrance and all of the
(too many) dignitaries that spoke at the opening made mention not only of the
industry, but the long tradition of ceramic art and the fact that Design had a
key role in the development of the industry. Artist designers aren't left out
in the cold.
Entao, gente, os colegos meus estao esperando pelo churrasco. Precisa ir.
Abracos de 27 graus sul.
KPP --
Replies, if anyone is interested, must be sent direct as I've not yet set my
account to Mail. This will change soon. Tenho saudades de Clayart.
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