The Crafts and Design Centre of the Azores (CADA) is promoting Hands on Azores, an event aimed at contributing to the promotion and improvement of the exporting and marketing capacity of regional companies in the craft sector, stated the Regional Secretariat for Youth, Vocational Training and Employment.
This event includes two initiatives: a Business Mission, which is taking place until April 25 on the islands of São Jorge, Terceira and São Miguel; and the Arts and Crafts Forum, scheduled for June 2 and 3 in Ponta Delgada.
The aim of the Business Mission is to introduce international fashion brands to ancestral techniques and products from Craft Production Units (UPA) with products certified by the Azorean Handicrafts brand, promoting their meeting with Azorean artisans and making them acquainted with the integration of craft techniques and products into their own collections.
This Mission involved the following brands: Colville (Italy), Shrimps (United Kingdom) and Casa MariCruz (Spain). They will have the opportunity to know the various Craft Production Units, maintaining closer contact with the Senhora da Encarnação Handicraft Cooperative of Ribeira do Nabo (São Jorge), Fábrica de Bordados João Pereira e Filhos craft production unit (Terceira) and the Casa de Trabalho de Nordeste craft production unit (São Miguel).
The brands are accompanied by Joana Duarte, creator and designer of the Béhen brand (Portugal), who has been using Azorean embroidery and weaving in her collections since 2022.
In turn, the Arts and Crafts Forum, curated by Álbio Nascimento and Kathi Stertzig (The Home Project Design Studio) and Origem Comum, proposes a debate and interdisciplinary reflection on craft know-how and the benefits of its relevance in cultural and economic activities.
Martín Azúa (Spain), Renato Imbroisi (Brazil), Guida Fonseca (Portugal) and Helena Loermans (Portugal) are among the guests who will take part in the different panels ranging from Research, and Education to Tourism.
The Arts and Crafts Forum will be open to the public, including artisans, designers and agents of creative industries, professionals, researchers and specialists linked to the arts and crafts and fashion sectors, as well as entities, institutions and technicians from the areas of culture, heritage and tourism. The programme will be announced on the website artesanato.azores.gov.pt and on CADA’s social media.
The Hands on Azores event is part of MODAMAC, a project created under the Interreg Mac 2014-2020 Territorial Cooperation Operational Programme to support companies in the textile sector with limited internationalisation due to their small size and production capacity.