Archive

The body, the clay and the sweet

Rita Frutuoso

CONFERENCE
MAY 28TH OF 2026,10AM – 2PM
CANTEEN – ESAD.CR

The activity is based on the body’s sensory relationship with matter, exploring two malleable materials: clay in the first instance, and sweet dough in the second. The materials will be used as a sensory and visual tool to explore taste, using the body as a vehicle for conveying internal images, and the possibilities of shaping through gesture. The activity functions simultaneously as a performative exercise, a device for sensory investigation, and a process of observing the bodily thought emerging from the relationship between body, gesture and materiality. Both materials share characteristics of plasticity, moisture, resistance to manipulation and transformation through firing. The forms resulting from the action and sensory experience with both materials will subsequently be transformed by firing, fixing them and allowing for the exploration of continuities between shaping, containing and ingesting as bodily processes of relating to matter.

Designer Rita Frutuoso has a degree in Design with a specialisation in ceramic technologies from ESAD.CR in Caldas da Rainha. She is currently a senior technician at the same institution, providing support for ceramics and glass projects. At the same time, she develops her artistic work and participates in national and international events. Her creative path acquired particular interest during her Master’s in Product Design, where she explored the analogies between ceramics and cookery, resulting in the creation of innovative projects, such as chocolate pottery, which was featured in national and international events. She is currently working on her PhD, where she is deepening her research into the relationship between ceramics and traditional Portuguese sweets.