The connection between artisans and designers may not seem the most obvious, but It can work as a way to promote both fields. Or are the artisans betraying their roots by accepting influences from other creative disciplines?
A symbiosis between designers and artisans is so obvious that when professionals of both fields meet the mutual understanding is almost immediate. Or at least that is in what André Rocha believes, being him one of the contributors of an experimental production atelier named "Velhas técnicas Novos conceitos", where designers and artisans meet to create and reformulate several traditional products.
Bruno Videira decided to skip some steps and worked himself as both sides of the coin. Or, as he says it... it just happened. Because what today is called the "Água de prata" project was born in a random experiment - Bruno decided to fix an old chair with materials that he had at home. The material was the typical Arraiolos wool and the occasional experiment became his professional activity over the last 5 years.
All the concept was based in recycling old furniture, creating from that "new techniques and new pieces", always having the wool as a constant. This is a material that Bruno knows very well, mainly because his mother worked with it from very soon. From that, the reinvention of an old technique gave birth to the creation of a new product range.
"... is more related to artisans than to designers..."
The value of this relation to both fields is, for André Rocha, much more wide. If, in the side of the artisans, it was important to show them that what they do matters, because sometimes it was "unworthy the way they were influenced by minor interests or undervalued their own work", for the designers it was crucial to "know their roots, their cultural heritage, so we can say there is portuguese design".
To this goal it was very important the experimental side of the project, because, "without financial goals", this was a time where everything could be explored having no restrictions.
The relation that joins designers and artisans is so strong that the interaction between both fields, as we've seen, can be almost accidental. Their union brings benefits to both, so that designers explore their roots and artisans take advantage from the designers experience so they can escape from the usual interests and preconceptions that surround them.
