Blog
Saber Fazer in Vinhais: The New Library of Textile Tools and Equipment
Saber Fazer in Vinhais: the new library of equipment and tools for textile work. Last weekend saw the opening of a facility that, together with the network of educators we have trained, is an essential legacy of our work in Vinhais. For our second project in this Trás-os-Montes municipality, we proposed creating a facility to support them in the project's activities and also in their educational practice with different communities.
Horns, eyes, tongues and fleeces: a devilish introduction to felting
This year we started a new educational project in Vinhais, also focused on training educators from the municipality who can later go on to run educational activities for all types of audiences.
The first session was dedicated to Felting.
It's a job of opening doors
In Vinhais, when we began our work, we observed an interesting situation. On the one hand, local festivities related to Caretos had been growing in popularity, attracting new people from the community to participate. On the other hand, local weaving had been in decline for many years, which led to the absurd situation of needing new costumes, but having no fabric.
Between Vinhais and Podence, careto costumes are made
Returning to Vinhais makes us think about the work we did there between 2022 and 2023, the fantastic group of people we had the opportunity to teach, and what came of it. Two of those people were Sofia Pombares and Sandrina Fernandes.
Saber Fazer returns to Vinhais
Good news: in 2026, we will return to Vinhais to teach weaving, felting, and wool working!
Materializing the wools of Trás-os-Montes
One of the components of the project that gave us the most pleasure to produce was undoubtedly this showcase of samples of wool from the five breeds of indigenous sheep from Trás-os-Montes that have been processed. What is the wool of a Bragançan churra used for? What is its yarn like? How does it behave when felted or woven? This was one of the main aims of the project, to work only with the wool of local breeds and show its potential, when and if worked by hands that know, revealing and showing the community the potential of the wool that surrounds them.
The Same But Different: Revisiting, Rethinking and Renewing the Wool Crafts in Vinhais
Our intervention in the “Culture for All in Vinhais” project culminated in an exhibition that we inaugurated last August and which tells the story of the work we've been doing for almost two years.
Culture For All in Vinhais - Arts and Crafts
One of the projects we're very pleased to be working on this year is Culture for All in Vinhais, which will include workshops and themed workshops in the areas of Arts and Crafts, Theater and Performing Arts, Music and Dance, all areas with a very rich cultural heritage in Vinhais. The area we will be responsible for, as you can imagine, will be Arts and Crafts.