Uncovering the Hidden Treasures of the Amazon

Meet Brazil’s Female Indiana Jones, the incredible Fernanda Trombino Figuereido de Assis, founder of Xapuri Crafts

Arianna Meschia
The Nopo Magazine

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This year’s carnival celebrations might have come and gone in a bit of a damper, but here at The Nopo, we are fans of keeping traditions alive! While you won’t see us dancing around wearing flamboyant costumes and feathered headdresses, we have instead decided to pay homage to Carnival by bringing Brazil straight to your homes.

In search of Brazil’s most beautiful crafts, we were fortunate to meet the inspiring Fernanda Trombino Figuereido de Assis, founder of Xapuri Crafts, and hear her incredible story, taken straight out of an Indiana Jones’ movie.

Xapuri is a family-run business selling beautiful crafts from their concept store and restaurant in Belo Horizonte in southeast Brazil. We took a rollercoaster tour of their shop a few weeks ago and it’s fair to say we stepped into an otherworldly place: ceramics, sculptures, vases, hammocks, bio-jewelry made of Amazonian seeds, and bags carved from coconut wood…It was a real treasure trove!

The history of Xapuri itself is as old as its collection is varied. Today the business is headed by Fernanda, but Xapuri was actually started by her father over forty…

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