Photography: Filipa Pinto da Silva + Matilde Travassos
05 / 09 / 2022
Text: Alda Galsterer
Those who know Felipa Almeida are aware of her profound passion for objects and what lies behind them: the importance they play in the construction of our rituals and memories.
For that reason, Felipa channels her energy into researching, curating and disseminating age-old artisanal techniques, but also artists and artisans, with a view to “making products now, but with age-old techniques”. Having studied Art History, Curatorial Studies and Design, with a foray into Anthropology, she studied and worked abroad for three decades, between Paris, Geneva and London, before eventually returning to her native city of Lisbon in 2006.
Having worked on the Anahory Almeida interior design project, it was in 2020 that she decided to turn her career around with a new professional project: Arts & Crafts curator - the English title greatly simplifies what still has no name in Portuguese. As Almeida explains, she has always felt a stronger connection to object(s) than to space(s). When she realised how many of the craftsmen and artists she had begun working with were geographically and technologically isolated, she also wanted to make herself useful and to become a link between these people who lived “somewhat in the shadows, to make them become more visible.”
Having worked on the Anahory Almeida interior design project, it was in 2020 that she decided to turn her career around with a new professional project: Arts & Crafts curator - the English title greatly simplifies what still has no name in Portuguese. As Almeida explains, she has always felt a stronger connection to object(s) than to space(s). When she realised how many of the craftsmen and artists she had begun working with were geographically and technologically isolated, she also wanted to make herself useful and to become a link between these people who lived “somewhat in the shadows, to make them become more visible.”
© Filipa Pinto da Silva
Her research is never purely theoretical, as she adds a good measure of fieldwork to it, visiting areas of varying remoteness, looking for people, objects and environments that have not yet been explored. “As I didn’t grow up in Portugal, I thought it was also a way of getting to know my country better, where so much remains to be discovered.”
© Matilde Travassos
For more information, visit Felipa Almeida website.