Brhands Foundation – The Future of Artisans and Designers

The future of artisans and designers is being safeguarded by none other than the Brhands Foundation. With its CULTURE initiative, the Foundation’s noble goal of elevating traditional arts & crafts and design is at full force. Cradled by the Douro’s spirit and Porto’s will, a future once bleak is now promising.

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In the small city of Gondomar, right next to Porto and the ever-enchanting Douro, there’s a new artistic and design-focused scene springing silently, with a special emphasis on artisans and designers. Out in CovetTown, Covet Group’s new project of creating a small “city” of all things design and arts & crafts, a little piece of heaven for thinkers and makers, is hell-bent on making this dream happen with the CULTURE Initiative by the Brhands Foundation. Therein, Covet seeks to foster, promote, and elevate the future of artisans and designers, as well as traditional Portuguese applied arts and trades so that these can have more than a future, but a voice that is heard throughout each and every office, workshop, and street of not only Portugal but the world.

This new project, the CULTURE Initiative by the Brhands Foundation, has already garnered the support of various government entities, universities, as well as professional centers, artisans and designers, and, perhaps most importantly, to spread these an infinite and ageless knowledge, working philosophies which were passed down from generation to generation. Brhands Foundation isn’t just trying to garner praise and fame for these sometimes forgotten Portuguese art forms, it goes beyond that. It goes beyond even re-establishing the voice of artisans and designers in a progressively more metallic & technological world. What Brhands Foundation seeks with the CULTURE initiative is to keep an almost millennia-old culture from being forgotten by those who inhabit it. Sometimes we forget just what we are and where we came from despite it being right in front of us all along, and how important artisans and designers are to ensure our future, but also to never forget our past. Of course, spreading it throughout the four corners of the planet is always a bonus, because sharing is another means of which to keep culture & society alive, and more than ever, artisans and designers are a sort of bridge between society and culture. Just like Joaquim Paulo, a designer that integrates the Brhands Foundation team says about the CULTURE Initiative:

“CULTURE[‘S] (…) main mission is to be able to put artists, artisans and designers all in one place, to create a synergy where there’s an exchange of knowledge and know-how, and being able to project it onto pieces and elevate craftsmanship through design for the whole world”

This new initiative by the Brhands Foundation is also a means of which to take a break from the hectic growth and international fame all the group’s brands have endured. According to Joaquim, the in-house brands were beginning to lose their touch with their initial goal and focus, that of bringing arts & crafts to the 21st century, and with this initiative by the Brhands Foundation they were able to “understand that these values from these craftsmen are a bit forgotten and we want to give them life again through their knowledge and being able to train people, (…) and making these people the face of this project instead of the designers or brands which, usually, are the ones who have more visibility. We want to create this living space where they have all the tools and all the raw material available to be able to do what they feel like doing”.

And the feedback they have gotten from the young designers participating in the CULTURE Initiative by the Brhands Foundation has been positive, although not with a few caveats, as most of what is taught here to the younger (and modern) designers is another school entirely: “this isn’t something you learn in college, this isn’t taught in class, you must be on the field, you must be close to these extremely valuable people, these cultural agents that can teach us how to do”.

This goes to show how much artisans and designers can benefit from each other’s knowledge and outlook on the varius creative engagements they collaborate in.

And that is precisely one of the main focuses of the Brhands Foundation: teaching. The future inception of artistic residencies is another focal point of the initiative, providing not only artists from all walks of life but also artisans and designers with the all the conditions to explore new realms of possibilities, to further enhance their techniques, think outside the box, and, above all, create. It isn’t outright obvious, but it’s right there in the name of the project, for CULTURE is CREATING.

In this first gathering of this new initiative by the Brhands Foundation, for curiosities sake, the following entities were present:

AARN – Association of Artisans from the North Region of Portugal
Allen’s Portugal
AORP – Portuguese Association of Jewellery and Watches
APIMA – Portuguese Association of Furniture Industry
“Portugal à Mão” Association – Centre for the Study and Promotion of Portuguese Arts and Trades
CEARTE – Centre for the Professional Training in Craftsmanship
CENFIM – Centre for the Professional Training in the Metallurgical and Metal-mechanic Industry
CINDOR – Centre for the Professional Training in the Jewellery and Watches Industry
Designer Raul Pinho
Designer Toni Grilo
Diário de Notícias
FEUP – Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto
FPAO – Portuguese Arts and Trades Federation
Gondomar’s Institute of Employment and Professional Training
Polytechnic Institute of Tomar
Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave
ISMAI – University Institute of Maia
Oficinas Santa Bárbara
Art Promoter Nuno Ribeiro
Topázio
University of Aveiro
Vista Alegre