MADE IN BASKETRY SUMMER SCHOOL
OPEN CALL
APPLY UNTIL MAY 12TH 2024 (11:59pm WET)
OVERVIEW
This summer school is a fully funded 2 weeks intensive workshop taking place at Loulé Crtiativo in Loulé,, Portugal. Design, architecture and craft students are invited to explore with five traditional Portuguese basket weaving raw-materials and its techniques to co-create a series of new pieces with five Portuguese master craftspeople guided by two design mentors.
The objective is to push the boundaries of what these techniques can be used for in the twenty-first century in a beautiful, intelligent and compelling way.
The Summer School will be held in the context of the Made In Platform for Contemporary Crafts & Design EU project and the results will be shown in an exhibition in Loulé Criativo as well as in Lisbon at the end of 2024 in a place to be determined.
Summer school dates
22 July - 3 August 2024
(arrival on the 21st of July + departure on the 4th of August)
WHO CAN APPLY
— Over 18 years old at time of application that are Architecture, design or craftsmanship students or young graduates (less than a year since graduation)
— Good knowledge of English
— Be able to attend the whole course
— Live in Europe and be able to travel in Europe
basketry SUMMER SCHOOL DESCRIPTION
AIM
To bring innovation to basketry craft by uniting a younger generation with basket weavers and design mentors. The structure of the Summer School fosters the development of collaborative creative proposals by taking advantage of the aesthetic as well as functional characteristics of the different raw materials and techniques.
MINDSET
It is important to acknowledge that craftspeople are creative collaborators and teachers. They are experts and are involved in the creative process with the participants. This is an opportunity for both participants and craftspeople to dive into an informed collaborative experimentation.
Craftspeople and participants will be guided throughout the summer school by the design mentors who are also there to guarantee goals of excellence are achieved.
OUTCOMES
Participants have the opportunity to learn from craftspeople and design mentors, practice a collaborative design process and explore a series of techniques that will enrich the development of their practice. Craftspeople and participants will be able to look at their practice from different perspectives and absorb a wide range of inspirations, explorations and new experiences.
The final outcome is a series of completed exhibition quality pieces.
FUNDING
Scholarships will be awarded to successful candidates by Passa Ao Futuro and will cover tuition fee, accommodation and meals of selected participants. Each participant is responsible for their own travel to and from Loulé, Portugal.
TEAM
CRAFTSPEOPLE
CRISTINA FONSECA - SINTRA, Portugal
Cristina began as a self-taught artisan and has been working professionally since 1984, at a time when basketry practice wasn’t very open to new women.
The interest and admiration for the craft, combined with a sudden need to work from home, were the basic ingredients to take on this art. Since she was forced to basically start learning on her own, her approach to basketry is also quite free and experimental. She creates innovative objects, with a contemporary aesthetic, using bulrush, rush marrow, wicker, and chestnut wood, and mixing different fibers and techniques in one piece – be they of artistic or more utilitarian nature. The material follows the object. She divides her time between producing and selling her pieces, and training and carrying out hands-on workshops.
Isabel Martins - Malcata, Portugal
Isabel Martins was born in the interior of Portugal, and was away for many years. In 2014, she left an administration job when 55 years old without a plan, only certain that she needed a change and decided to return to her homeland, the small town in the mountains known as Malcata.
She enrolled in the bracejo coiled technique workshop, which she remembered from her childhood as one of the characteristic crafts in the area. She trained with Mrs.Arminda, the last living artisan of bracejo there, and fell in love with this craft. In addition to the traditional forms that were passed on to her, she quickly began to innovate and create new, more modern products. Isabel wild-harvests her own raw material locally and is very much in tune with the local nature. Her pieces can be found at craft fairs or online. In 2019 Isabel opened her own studio Brace’Arte, in her hometown.
ISIDORO RAMOS - ALTE, Portugal
Isidoro learned “empreita" in esparto 30 years ago with his grandmother and mother but has only fully dedicated himself to the craft about 4 years ago, after making a pre-retirement agreement with the telecommunications company he worked with, an area that occupied his professional life.
Since then, he is one of the very few to harvest this native plant that grows wildly in the mountainous lands of the interior of the Algarve and is very active in maintaining the art alive—be it in the former elementary school turned educational center in his small hometown of Paderne, where he gives training, or by participating often in other promotional activities. Besides the traditional techniques learned, he researches on the internet new forms of working and shares experiences with Spanish neighbors, who he says have invested more in innovating this craft. He is also currently training in weaving to find new ways of working with esparto or to combine other materials with it.
Nuno Henriques - Castanheira, Portugal
A Fine Arts graduate, Nuno Henriques founded TOINO ABEL in 2010, a workshop that specializes in the unique heritage of Portuguese soft-rush basketry, making it the first Portuguese basketry brand.
Inspired by his great-grandfather’s business – whom he never met -, Nuno Henriques learned the technique with the remaining local artisans and founded TOINO ABEL to preserve this tradition, introducing innovations that helped local artisans thrive, thus inspiring new producers. TOINO ABEL started producing in-house, offering dignified working conditions, breaking the piece-rate payment system, and today, thanks to the dedication to excellence, soft-rush basketry flourishes again. The brand’s emphasis on quality craftsmanship and meticulous attention to detail is apparent in every piece, and TOINO ABEL is committed to responsible waste management and ensuring dignified working conditions for its team of dedicated artisans.
Sónia Mendez - Loulé, Portugal
Sónia Mendez, born in Venezuela, came to Portugal when she was eight years old and, from an early age, a taste and interest in the arts awakened in her. “Handmade, made with the Heart" is what defines her work.
She creates modern pieces without forgetting ancestral techniques and valuing the finest materials. Sónia learned how to work with palm from her maternal grandmother between the ages of 8 and 15 and later, around the age of 17, she made this art her profession until today. Another passion is painting, which she does in different ways and on different materials, of which she likes to highlight painting on tiles, as well as painting on ceramics. Over the years, Sónia has trained in various areas of decorative arts, including porcelain painting, in which she was a trainer for around 7 years. More recently, she’s also combining clay and palm to create decorative and utilitarian pieces.
DESIGN mentors
ASTRID ROVISCO SUZANO - LISBON, PORTUGAL
After graduating in Architecture in 2006, in the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (Germany), Astrid embarked on a journey that led her to architecture offices in Rotterdam and Mexico City.
Following eight enriching years abroad, she returned to her hometown, Lisbon, in 2014 where in 2016, alongside Fatima Durkee, she co-founded Passa Ao Futuro.
Passa Ao Futuro is a research based non-profit association documenting to preserve and promote the intangible cultural heritage of Portuguese craftspeople. Activating this network through a series of collaborative and educational initiatives. Supporting the sustainability of the crafts through positive social and environmental impact programming rooted in design and systems thinking.
HENRIQUE RALHETA - LOULÉ, PORTUGAL
Henrique Ralheta holds a postgraduate degree in Design from the Lisbon School of Architecture. His work includes Product and Spatial Design, Curatorship and Scenography.
Ralheta is a lecturer in Spatial Design and Theater courses at ESAD in Caldas da Rainha.
The relationship with handicrafts began with the Designers of the Creative Loulé Residence, and he was later invited to set up the Loulé Design Lab whose focus is on the dynamization of traditional arts and the local economy, with Design as the engine.
He was a Creative Director in the area of Industrial Design and Environments in Brandia - brand design agency, and a regular collaborator with ExperimentaDesign and Miguel Vieira Baptista.
Ralheta's work is represented in the collection of the Museum of Design and Fashion (MUDE, Lisbon).
