Utilities and craft perspectives – an exhibition
During its first year, the Origem Comum platform has collaborated with several artisans and other partners, to revisit ancestral techniques, shapes and models. Applying and rethinking the vernacular knowledge of a local know-how, this collaboration has resulted in a collection of simple functional objects for our daily lives. The exhibition presents designs conceived with natural materials, developed in different parts of Portugal. Side-by-side with a series of short films that offer a unique and critical perspective of the artisans’ vision of their art,their work and philosophy of life.
By presenting this project outside urban centres, we aim to return the discussion about everyday material culture to the environments where products continue to be created and produced in harmony with the environment and local culture.
In this way, we open up space for the recontextualisation, the involvement and the critique of vernacular knowledge. So that craft practices integrate the global discussion of some of the most pertinent issues of our time: sustainable production, fair trade and responsible consumption, but also respect for the climate and well-being in the community.
