KINTU STUDIO TALK: MARGARIDA L PEREIRA

 

 

KS: Hi Margarida, lovely to visit you at your new studio. How do you feel about it, have you already gotten used to the new space?

 MARGARIDA: Hi! I do miss things about the previous one, but this one already feels like home.

 

 

KS: We've been collaborating for a few years now, and it's been amazing to see your new projects and pieces, especially the new collection with those pastel colors. Could you tell us how you started the whole adventure with upcycling sponges?

 MARGARIDA: During my master’s degree in Ceramic Design there was a workshop with an artist where we had to sketch using foam. It was very intuitive for me to build shapes in this material and started questioning why it couldn’t become the final product itself. I just needed a way of giving it structure, making the material’s life longer as well.

 

 

There’s a technique in ceramics, similar to the lost foam process, where a piece of foam is dipped into liquid clay, goes to the kiln and the foam burns away, leaving its texture/shape in clay only. However, this is a very toxic process, harmful to the environment. From this point I started a research on materials that could give the same appearance without going through that process. Ended up working with a bio resin I found at the time and with wasted foam only (picked up in upholsteries for example).

 

 

KS: How have people been reacting to your pieces?

 MARGARIDA: The majority of people think it’s actually ceramics, or don’t really understand what is made of, if it’s soft or hard. I kind of like this effect of playing with people’s visual expectation of materials.

  

 

KS: Do you have any of your work displayed in your own home, just for you?

 MARGARIDA: I have at my parents… and a small test at mine’s. In my studio I keep the first successful piece I made in this technique - The healthy amount of emotional attachment I guess. Had to let the other ones go.

 

 

KS: Where do you draw inspiration for the shapes of your work?

 MARGARIDA: In my studio. I take a lot of photos of buildings details I see mainly on my way to work and of flowers when going to exercise (Monsanto for example) -  so the drawings end up being all based on my daily life, on things I not only see, but really notice.

 

 

KS: Currently, you're working with small to medium sizes. Would you like to create something very big in the future?

MARGARIDA: There are a lot of factors that contribute for it. Every technique has its limitations. Although this is the main technique/material I work with, I do work in other sizes, but exploring other materials and techniques - the stools of my last collaboration with the Portuguese brand softrock for example.

 

 

 

KS: What's your dream for the upcoming years in terms of your art?

 MARGARIDA: To keep on growing. To actually be able to live from selling my pieces only and invitations for more residencies and collabs.

 

 

KS: Thank you so much for having us at your new studio. Have a nice day!

MARGARIDA: Thank you :)

 

 

Photography: Kora Rogina