craft + design

craft + design

craft + design

The Aldeias do Xisto have promoted a collaborative culture between the region, design and artisanal know-how, through projects involving craft workshops, universities, designers and the local community.

Drawing inspiration from places

The Craft+Design Aldeias do Xisto projects involve craft workshops, universities, design teams, the local community and experts in social areas, who are invited to immerse themselves in the real life of the villages and draw inspiration from them to create objects that are meaningful to memory and cultural identity, the values of the region and the Portuguese spirit. These artefacts illustrate a new way of living, of being, a more ecological philosophy, governed by ethical principles.

A creative destination

Tasked with bringing together sets of actors and frontiers of knowledge around nature and culture, in fields as diverse as history, ethnography, food and drink, craft, design, traditional arts and crafts, handiwork, digital production, ecology and audio-visual, in order to conceptualise and produce goods and services in the local context capable of fulfilling contemporary demand. Highlighting the importance of welcoming and stimulating in the territories the creativity, innovation and reinvention of culture that allow cultural heritage to stay alive.

Craft+Design+Identity Trilogy: Água Musa, L4Craft and Agricultura Lusitana 

The Craft+Design+Identity trilogy, consisting of the projects Água Musa (2013), L4Craft (2014) and Lusitanian Agriculture (2015-18), called on various and different actors to immerse themselves in the reality of the villages. By stimulating a connection between handicrafts and know-how, these initiatives have provided an innovative direction and make this area a living laboratory, open to new thinking and people capable of establishing connections to transform the social fabric and give rise to new ways of doing, living and being. The rural and genuine spirit of communal memory and solidarity is called upon to dare to do things differently, experimenting with local resources and opening the door to new thinking and people. 

World Craft Council

The Aldeias do Xisto aim to preserve, value and dignify the professions associated with craft, promoting innovation and expanding their areas of activity, in order to combat the stagnation of the sector and its imminent risk of disappearance. The overall objective is to make the Aldeias do Xisto Villages the "homeland" of Portuguese craft, a living and creative territory that contributes to attracting and generating new opportunities for a sustainable, dynamic revival. This made it possible for the Aldeias do Xisto to be admitted as Portugal's first representative in the World Craft Council.

The University in the Villages  

Aldeias do Xisto’s mission is to generate interest in the region, which requires inviting and gathering new actors so that, together with the villages and their communities, we can find new ways of activating the capacities and competencies that remain in the villages. Essentially, we assume that the villages are a school, and we try to stimulate the relationship between this knowledge and scientific, technical and artistic knowledge. The collaboration between the Schist Villages and Portuguese Universities arose in this context. Started in 2014 with the Agricultura Lusitana project, it went on to thrive in a more explicit relationship with DeCA-UA - Department of Communication and Art of the University of Aveiro, with projects related to water, nature and the dark sky.

projects

Craft+Design+Identity Trilogy