BEI's stool collection was formed over the last fifteen years and today covers more than 200 wooden benches produced by by more than 26 ethnic groups and 32 artists, members of indigenous tribes from different parts of Brazil. The collection includes works by people living in the Xingu Indigenous Park and in different regions of the Amazon. The style, methods and uses are extremely variable, while all banks are carved in wood as unique pieces-many of which reveal myths about the origin of the ethnic community and take the form of animals traditionally found in the Brazilian forests. Others have conventional banks format, decorated with intricate artwork, which are hand-painted or carved. Written with the collaboration of experts in several areas, such as the designer Claudia Moreira Salles; artist Sergio Fingermann; the curator and design consultant in Brussels, Giovanna Massoni and Cristiana Barreto, an archaeologist at the University of São Paulo. "This collection of indigenous stools shows here represent an interest that goes far beyond anthropology. For the artist and beauty lovers, these pieces (which are often collected by them), reveal a creative power, with a look at nature, for what surrounds them, with invention, synthesis, formal lyricism. "--Sergio Fingermann Bancos indígenas: entre arte e artefato / Cristiana Barreto.