My Visit to Lisbon Design Week

Hello friends. Today I want to share with you the events and venues of Lisbon Design Week that I visited recently. This is the fourth edition. I missed the last one, so I decided to catch up. We started our journey at the Aires Mateus archive. Aires Mateus is a well known architecture firm. We visited their gallery space where they opened an exhibition titled Design Feito à Mão, which means Handmade Design. Actually I know that Portuguese design is above all built on craft and handiwork. Here participants were asked to draw inspiration from the pitcher or jug typology. So they took inspiration and created their own versions of pitchers or rather vases using Portugal's famous traditional hand techniques like relief, ceramics, basketry and straw weaving from various materials. There were even pieces woven from ceramic.

What I liked the most were the objects made of cork, which is a super traditional material for Portugal. The pitchers and vases made using felted wool also looked amazing and some even used eggshells. Marble looks great too and Portugal is famous for its marble, having its own quarries and local varieties. They look quite impressive and vibrant in terms of textures and color tones. Their styles vary as well. Some are more craft oriented, while others are more geometric. The minimalist glasswork also looks very convincing.

We moved on to the Basilica of Estrela, one of the grand late 18th century monuments in Lisbon. It is a church built in Baroque and Neoclassical styles. There was a very interesting space here hosting an exhibition titled Integrity of Form organized by Luzo Collective. Luzo Collective is a platform that brings together designers working with collectible design. The team is quite international, featuring not only Portuguese artists but also designers of different nationalities who have settled in Lisbon.

There were a few pieces I really liked. The lamp by Violaine D'Harcourt, a diamond or polyhedral form suspended right in the middle of the space. The venue itself creates a fantastic contrast for this collectible design. The screen signed by Zoe Volpato, a work I had also seen at Maison&Objet.The console where weld seams are used as decoration, a technique you do not see very often.

Here too, Portugal's famous traditional crafts such as marble and metalwork are at the forefront. The main idea uniting all the works is the exploration of the integrity of form.

Right across in the Estrela Garden, was the Rethinking Arraiolos exhibition. Arraiolos is a small town in Portugal known for its traditional rug weaving and embroidery. Various designers reinterpreted this traditional technique to design stools. It was not just the final products on display but also sketches, the embroidery process and how the final result came to life. The exhibition takes place in the garden pavilion where Portugal's first kindergarten opened in 1882. The garden itself is laid out in an English romantic style and is one of the charming parks in Lisbon.

If you are wondering who the most famous designer in Portugal is, I think the answer is Daciano da Costa. Daciano da Costa was one of the pioneers of Portuguese design active in the second half of the 20th century. He passed away in 2005, but his legacy is kept alive by his daughter. As part of Lisbon Design Week, they were exhibiting three reissued chairs. Osaka, designed for the Portuguese Pavilion at the 1970 World Expo, which also took part in the expo in Osaka last year 55 years later. Alvor, designed for the Alvor Praia hotel in Algarve in the early 1970s. And Quadratura, another model designed in the 1970s and reissued this year.

All pieces are still produced in Portugal. The metal chairs are manufactured by the famous company Adico, which produces the original bica chairs that are the symbol of street cafes. In the studio, it is also possible to see other iconic works of the master that entered museum collections such as Vitra and Pompidou. Daciano da Costa was also involved in graphic design and designed the corporate identity of TAP airlines at the time.

Two steps away is the interior design studio Quite Studios. Partnering with Barcuda Interiors, a 20th century classic furniture galery, they present a project called In Between.

There were two separate installations at the Serralves showroom. Mersa by Joana Teixeira, an inquiry into reality, an attempt to treat the interior space not as a set of physical objects but as visual poetry. And works by Sofia de Francesco, unique lighting and furniture designs created by applying paper pulp over metal mesh to provide light translucency. This work is proof that collectible design can also be used in real living spaces.

The multistory space in the center of Chiado became one of my favorites. The exhibition was titled SOTAQUE, which translates to Accent. A Portuguese accent reveals which former Portuguese colony a person comes from. Curated by Brazilian architect Gustar Kena, the exhibition brings together contemporary works by designers from countries like Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe who are living in Portugal.

MONO, an art space in the Graça neighborhood, is an independent art colective and workshop space located in a closed parking garage. The Contemplation of Form exhibition here features two French artists. Ceramicist Maude Téphany and carpenter Rodolphe Renne, who learned wood joinery techniques from Japanese masters. Their works present a fascinating dialogue where ceramics and woodcraft meet.

Also, the Lisbon by Design event held at Palácio Gomes Freire tripled its area this year, presenting a massive collection with combinations of metal, marble, ceramics and cork.

Other notable brands include Branca Lisboa by Marco Sousa Santos, a blend of digital design and traditional craft featuring plywood armchairs and wood metal-caning combinations. Wewood, a brand from northern Portugal bridging the gap between woodworking and Brazilian design language. And Bernardo Figueiredo, an important figure in Brazilian modernism.

We ended our tour at the Florise studio in Praça das Flores square. Berlin based French ceramicist Jérémy Bellina was displaying side tables and candlestick holders with ceramic legs and custom glazes. Portuguese design today offers a strong colectible design identity that brings together traditional craft, handiwork and modern technology. They strike a great balance between accessible factory production and unique collectible pieces.