Once upon a time there was a duo, united by their connection with design. The story would have it that they met in the 90s in the city of Caldas da Rainha and here they came to shape a life linked to ceramics. In 2013 they dared to create a brand that could dignify the entire historical legacy that they were enchanted by, renewing it with new languages, thus the Laboratório d’Estórias was born through the hearts in the hands of Rute Rosa and Sérgio Vieira, the narrators of this story.
On the west coast of Portugal – Caldas da Rainha – occupies a territory of important ceramic tradition (one of the national hubs) with soils rich in clay and it is from here that notable ceramic techniques and movements were initiated.
The origin of our history takes us to the beginning of the 20th century. XIX, more specifically between 1820-1853, where Maria dos Cacos appears, a ceramist who would become the first in a long tradition of potters and potters from Caldas. Manuel Mafra, the introducer of naturalist ceramics in Caldas, makes tradition coexist in his romantic pieces with international aesthetic currents and Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, the multifaceted artist who indelibly marked the ceramic territory of Caldas. Many pages, decades and even at the turn of the century, Caldense ceramics experienced several chapters: the proliferation of ateliers, workshops and excellent master potters; the internationalization of sumptuous and detailed know-how; From the industrialization of crockery manufacturing to the closure of several factories and workshops in Caldas, ancestral techniques threatened to be forever forgotten in the memory of a country.
The intersections of different creativity are part of the daily life of each piece created. They can arise by turning the page of a book, or by chatting with an illustrator who, in his art, traces new visual paths. And they reflect fragments of the lives of creatives, writers, designers, technicians and artisans who bring to life a little of the beauty they are made of, encouraging us to continue giving destiny to this ceramic history of Caldas.
And when the time comes for the announced end of the story – where each new piece lives for itself, choosing a family and a home – it is at this moment that we smile knowing that it has just begun.
Laboratory of Stories – History as destiny.
