Porto, 2013-2016

The Roteiro Oficinal do Porto (ROP) was an initiative by Saber Fazer, developed by Alice Bernardo and José Simões. Its goal was to identify, document, and map the workshops and artisans active in the city of Porto. The information gathered was made available in a directory that made this network of professionals visible and accessible to everyone.
The project originated from the discovery of a "Porto Directory" published in a 1947 Porto Yearbook, which listed, street by street, all the professionals working in the city at the time. A comparison between that record and the current reality showed that, although Porto continues to have a skilled, diverse, and specialized workforce, there was no tool available to locate and identify it. The survey was conducted through on-site visits to the workshops, during which detailed information was gathered about each professional, and photographs and videos were taken of the workspace and the work being done.

The ROP Directory

The core product of the ROP was a highly organized and categorized online directory, designed not as a simple list of names and addresses, but as a search tool. The directory allowed users to search for workshops by type of craft, by raw material used, and by geographic location (parish), making it possible to identify, for example, all bookbinders in Porto, all woodworkers, or all workshops in Cedofeita. In addition to category-based searches, the directory included a map-based view that showed the distribution of workshops throughout the city. Each listing went beyond contact information, including verified details about each professional’s areas of expertise, experience, and what set them apart—with the aim of helping users make informed choices.

The ROP Publication

During the course of the survey, a field journal was published regularly, with three issues released. Each issue featured in detail some of the artisans and workshops encountered during the research—from Manuel Adriano, a camera repairman with over 96,000 cameras on record, to Artur Oliveira, a wood turner working in downtown Porto; from Israel, a wigmaker who has been crafting wigs for the theater for over fifty years; to Escovaria de Belomonte, a three-generation artisanal brush-making workshop. The publication also served as an open record of the ongoing research, accessible to anyone who wished to follow the process.

The ROP arquive

In parallel with the survey, an archive of images and videos from the workshops visited was gradually compiled. The archive was made available online as a byproduct of the ROP, serving as a visual record of the diversity and quality of the workforce in Porto.