Text: Maxi Media Communication
Image: Courtesy of Tucum
In 2025, the tucum Celebrating 12 years of a journey dedicated to valuing the art, knowledge, and cultures of indigenous peoples, the platform has been consolidating itself as the first indigenous marketplace in Brazil, with cultural curation, long-term relationships, and socio-environmental impact.
Tucum is one of the businesses in the portfolio of Amaz Impact Accelerator., This initiative, coordinated by Idesam, aims to foster startups with socio-environmental impact in the Amazon. The brand joined the acceleration program in 2019, while still in the business organization phase, and has since been expanding its structure, processes, and impact capacity. In addition to financial support, Tucum received customized mentoring and continues to be monitored as it consolidates itself as a B2C micro-enterprise, that is, a small business that sells directly to the end consumer.
“AMAZ’s support is defined according to the needs of the business. Balancing collective constructions with individual depth, the work with Tucum, from 2019 to 2025, reflects how much we must adapt our journey and portfolio management to the stage the business is in, generating strategic value, enabling connections and market access, according to its capacity, in constant expansion,” explains Gabriela Souza, leader of New Businesses at Idesam and of operations at Amaz.
Tucum's journey began in 2013, stemming from its founder, Amanda Santana's, experience with the Kayapó and Krahô peoples, an experience that transformed her vision of art, territory, and ancestry. This encounter gave rise to the idea of creating a business capable of bringing people and cultures closer together, sharing knowledge from the forest and recognizing Indigenous art as a technology of life, memory, and resistance.
Today, Tucum works in partnership with hundreds of indigenous communities across all regions of Brazil, mobilizing more than 2,500 artisans who find in Tucum's purpose a direct channel for commercialization, autonomy, and income generation. In the Amazon, this work encompasses nine states, 56 territories, and four conservation units.
This progress occurs in a context where measuring socio-environmental impact in the Amazon is a challenge shared by the entire ecosystem, due to the vastness of the territories and the time required for real change. Even so, AMAZ's portfolio already demonstrates significant results, with a total area of influence estimated at 6.4 million hectares and more than 1,959 families impacted. The accelerator's portfolio includes 16 businesses operating in the areas of tourism, cosmetics, fashion and art, food products and ingredients, agriculture and reforestation, and logistics.
Art and activism go hand in hand.
For Washamani Mehinako, a talented artist from the Kaupuna village – located in the Alto Xingu territory – inspiration comes from nature and the cultural traditions of his people. He learned from his uncle, Anapuatã Mehinako, how to make pieces inspired by animals, symbolizing the deep spiritual and cultural connection of the Mehinako people with nature. Furthermore, Washamani creates masks that represent the spirit of the blue macaw, guardian of the rivers and fish. The canvases are influenced by body paintings, with graphic designs and fish scales and fish eyes, symbols deeply rooted in Mehinako traditions, especially in festivals and rituals.
“Since I met Amanda, she has embraced my work and placed my paintings in the store. Tucum helps me not only with sales, but also with promotion, making my name reach further. It embraces the art of many peoples of Brazil, and I am in the middle of this network. I hope that the partnership remains strong, so that my works continue to travel and reach more people,” declared the artist.
Throughout these 12 years, the collections, exhibitions, experiences, and training processes developed by the company have been invitations to rethink consumption, aesthetics, and the very idea of development, placing indigenous peoples as protagonists in building more diverse, plural, and possible futures. Tucum holds the Origens seal and opened a physical store in Rio de Janeiro in 2024.
“For 12 years, Tucum has celebrated the Amazon daily, valuing and honoring the peoples who keep our great forest standing. At a time when climate change is becoming increasingly urgent, recognizing, listening to, and walking alongside the guardians of the forest is essential to mitigating its impacts. This is Tucum's mission, as we understand the importance of becoming allies of indigenous causes today,” said Amanda.
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