MEXETRADA

MEXETRADA is a project created with a vision to create a link between young Portuguese design and craftsmen wisdom.We, Mariana and Teresa, two young designers, want to trav...

MEXETRADA is a project created with a vision to create a link between young Portuguese design and craftsmen wisdom.

We, Mariana and Teresa, two young designers, want to travel through the villages of Portugal, to learn the traditional craft techniques that have been used for centuries by master artisans in our country.

Our adventurous spirits and huge curiosity brought us a will in exploring our own country. We want to go out and visit the villages that are filled with tradition and culture. Us being both designers, we want to learn and fulfill our curiosity in finding the essence of Portuguese objects, of who is making them, how they do it, why were they invented, where it all begins. We also want to get to know our country, its landscapes and amazing culture. We want to show them to the world and make people fall in love with it.

We want to learn. Learn with respect and modesty. We don’t want to change our traditions, but add them up to what we are as designers. We commit and strive into achieving this convergence of knowledge, keeping our minds open to accepting the differences and challenges that will naturally come up. We want to have an entrepreneur soul that can manage to bring to everyone our best traditions.

We are looking for a way to, in our own means, contribute even more to Portugal, hoping to make Portuguese people proud and reminded of the riches that we conquered for so long. As designers, we want to give what we have best, showing the world what moves us in hopes to move it to. Our main goals are:

• To learn the traditional Portuguese craft techniques
• Promote the Portuguese design and handicraft techniques
• Promote travelling in Portugal and the visited locations
• Widen the market and create new business opportunities for the artisans and small producers in Portugal
• Create a series of five objects that will be manufactured by the artisans and sold in the big urban centers
• Film a documentary that registers the process, the techniques and the path
• Throw an exposition to show the objects and documentary

 Structure

Our journey through Portugal, in order to learn these techniques, will start on May 20, ending on July 29 of 2012.

We will learn a total of five different techniques: chair mulching, palm leaf baskets, glass, tin and bobbin lace. For each one we want to go to where it is most used, to learn with a local artisan, on his/hers workspace.

The process in each place is divided into two weeks, a total of 14 days per location. The first week is dedicated into learning the technique that will be taught to us by a local artisan. The second week will be for developing a new product. The product will be designed by us, with the technical support of the artisan.

After these two weeks we move to the next designated location.

Once we have visited the five different places, we will return to Lisbon where the second stage of this project will begin: the production and sale of the objects.

Later on we will also have an exposition to show the final products and the documentary.

We need financial aid for this trip, since we need to pay for transportation, food and materials. That’s why we come here to ask you to contribute and help us.

We appreciate all the help we can get and want to thank you for your interest in our project and believing in us and in Portugal. You are the best!

Keep track of our path and news threw our Facebook page or our blog.

About the author

We both have a degree in Equipment Design by the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon and have worked together on many different projects.

Besides being best friends, we share an interest for social related projects and entrepreneurship, especially when it’s an opportunity to invest in Portugal.

Budget and due dates

Images