PROJECT CO-FUNDED BY

THE PROJECT

Anti-Amnesia considers design research as critical to the narrative and material regeneration and reinvention of vanishing manufacturing cultures and techniques.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Anti-Amnesia is a critical set of research activities devoted to the identification, recovery and archiving of artefacts from Portugal’s industrial heritage which relay the intrinsic cultural value and enduring creative potential of the industries involved. The project takes into consideration four distinctive traditional practices: weaving, typography, shoemaking and traditional tilework. The project stems from the evidence that there is a wealth of traditional Portuguese industries and crafts facing core challenges in their recognition and longevity largely due to new production models, consumer shifts and a public absence of associated narratives (i.e., “their story has not been 

told”). It is argued that Communication and Product Design Research can play a decisive role in a dignified recovery of said contexts of production, namely by: rescuing documents, testimonies and historical facts that may otherwise be lost or forgotten; recognising the processes and protagonists of these industries and crafts as heritage in themselves; communicating the symbolic and historical value that is intrinsically present in these contexts, and arguing for their radical uniqueness in present times; experimenting with the hybridisation of materials and aesthetics from said contexts, in order to foster renewed consumer interest and innovative products.

RESEARCH TEAM

HEITOR ALVELOS

Lead Researcher

SUSANA BARRETO

Co-Lead Researcher

ABHISHEK CHATTERJEE

Assistant Researcher

JORGE PEREIRA

Researcher

NUNO MARTINS

Researcher

PEDRO C. ALMEIDA

Researcher

JOSÉ CARNEIRO

Researcher

DANIEL BRANDÃO

Researcher

JÚLIO DOLBETH

Researcher

ANTÓNIO JOÃO GOMES

Researcher

CASE STUDIES

The project is based on the evidence that traditional small-scale industries and crafts in Portugal are facing dissipation: due to paradigm shifts in commerce and technology, and as a result of relative factors such as modern marketing strategies and a heightened rate of change of consumer preferences. The project’s vantage points are four traditional industry and craft practices that are typical to the Northern and Central regions of Portugal, namely: shoemaking, tilemaking, letterpress typography and 

handweaving. These have been selected to cover a broad spectrum of risk factors that may emerge from the ongoing decline of traditional making. As case studies, they synchronically depict a precarious current reality defined by a felt incompatibility with modern manufacturing protocols; however, they are also representative of inherent creative human enterprise whose value as a specialised art and activity is irreplaceable and enduring.

OUTPUTS

The project’s restoration strategy has operated on the inference that a design research-based approach that leverages advantages as presented by contemporary Media, can become a crucial mediating interface between the old and the new. We posit this may ensure a dignified recovery and reinstatement of elements associated with traditional industrial practicesHowever, the project has also acknowledged that any meaningful intervention cannot rely on blanket measures to reactivate traditional knowledge: pathways have to be sought from gathering on-the-ground intelligence that can help clarify the various tiers of complexity involved and reveal attached sensitivities and apprehensionsThe project has thus worked in close contact with protagonists from the case study contexts towards consensually exploring and developing means to calibrate the associated ecosystems into viable and beneficial cultural, narrative and business stands.

THE PROJECT

Anti-Amnesia considers design research as critical to the narrative and material regeneration and reinvention of vanishing manufacturing cultures and techniques.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Anti-Amnesia is a critical set of research activities devoted to the identification, recovery and archiving of artefacts from Portugal’s industrial heritage which relay the intrinsic cultural value and enduring creative potential of the industries involved. The project takes into consideration four distinctive traditional practices: weaving, typography, shoemaking and traditional tilework. The project stems from the evidence that there is a wealth of traditional Portuguese industries and crafts facing core challenges in their recognition and longevity largely due to new production models, consumer shifts and a public absence of associated narratives (i.e., “their story has not been told”). It is argued that Communication and Product Design Research can play a decisive role in a dignified recovery of said contexts of production, namely by: rescuing documents, testimonies and historical facts that may otherwise be lost or forgotten; recognising the processes and protagonists of these industries and crafts as heritage in themselves; communicating the symbolic and historical value that is intrinsically present in these contexts, and arguing for their radical uniqueness in present times; experimenting with the hybridisation of materials and aesthetics from said contexts, in order to foster renewed consumer interest and innovative products.

 

 

RESEARCH TEAM

HEITOR ALVELOS

Lead Researcher

SUSANA BARRETO

Co-Lead Researcher

ABHISHEK CHATTERJEE

Assistant Researcher

JORGE PEREIRA

Researcher

NUNO MARTINS

Researcher

PEDRO CARVALHO

Researcher

JOSÉ CARNEIRO

Researcher

DANIEL BRANDÃO

Researcher

JÚLIO DOLBETH

Researcher

ANTÓNIO JOÃO GOMES

Researcher

CASE STUDIES

The project is based on the evidence that traditional small-scale industries and crafts in Portugal are facing dissipation: due to paradigm shifts in commerce and technology, and as a result of relative factors such as modern marketing strategies and a heightened rate of change of consumer preferences. The project’s vantage points are four traditional industry and craft practices that are typical to the Northern and Central regions of Portugal, namely: shoemaking, tilemaking, letterpress typography and handweaving. These have been selected to cover a broad spectrum of risk factors that may emerge from the ongoing decline of traditional making. As case studies, they synchronically depict a precarious current reality defined by a felt incompatibility with modern manufacturing protocols; however, they are also representative of inherent creative human enterprise whose value as a specialised art and activity is irreplaceable and enduring.

OUTPUTS

The project’s restoration strategy has operated on the inference that a design research-based approach that leverages advantages as presented by contemporary Media, can become a crucial mediating interface between the old and the new. We posit this may ensure a dignified recovery and reinstatement of elements associated with traditional industrial practicesHowever, the project has also acknowledged that any meaningful intervention cannot rely on blanket measures to reactivate traditional knowledge: pathways have to be sought from gathering on-the-ground intelligence that can help clarify the various tiers of complexity involved and reveal attached sensitivities and apprehensionsThe project has thus worked in close contact with protagonists from the case study contexts towards consensually exploring and developing means to calibrate the associated ecosystems into viable and beneficial cultural, narrative and business stands.