Concessa Colaço (Lisboa, Portugal, 1929)
She is a Portuguese tapestry artist, naturalized Brazilian. The daughter of Thomaz Ribeiro Colaço, a Portuguese lawyer and poet, and Madeleine Colaço, Concessa inherited her mother's talent for tapestry. Her parents came to Brazil in 1940 and settled in the Maricá area (RJ). In Brazil, Madeleine created the first Brazilian tapestry technique, which became known as the “ponto brasileiro” [Brazilian stitch].
Concessa took up tapestry in the late 1960s, expanding her mother's workshop and, like her mother, she also created a new stitch, the “corrido” [running stitch], inspired by the 11th-century tapestries of Queen Matilda of France. Her works use natural wools and silks, never synthetic materials.
Her works enjoy wide national and international recognition and have been sold to numerous world celebrities, such as Queen Fabiola of Belgium and the socialite Lourdes Catão, among many others. Tapestries by Concessa Colaço are also part of the decoration of the Palácio da Alvorada, the official residence of the President of Brazil.
Also devoting herself, in parallel and sporadically, to music, Concessa Colaço even had a samba of her own - “A Verdade da Vida” [The Truth of Life] - recorded by Elizeth Cardoso.
Sources:
https://www.arrematearte.com.br/artistas/concessa-colaco-1929
https://casavogue.globo.com/Interiores/casas/noticia/2016/08/conheca-o-palacio-da-alvorada.html
https://arnaldochieus.blogspot.com/2015/07/concessa-colaco-mestra-tapeceira.html
