Palm, Esparto and Cana
About the Palma, Esparto and Cana Residence
The “Palma, Esparto e Cana” Residency, organized and promoted by the Municipality of Loulé, through Loulé Criativo, brought together contemporary artisans and creators around three raw materials that are part of the memory and identity of the Algarve: palm, esparto and cane.
For 11 days, the participants immersed themselves in the universe of vegetable fibers in the Algarve, technically guided by five local master artisans. The program was intense and diverse, including field trips to collect materials, workshops on the preparation and transformation of fibers and specialized training in ancestral techniques. The focus has always been on practice, on sharing knowledge and creating original pieces.
Throughout the residency, the potential of these natural fibers was explored, crossing traditional knowledge and innovative approaches. The meeting resulted in a space for experimentation, dialogue and transmission of knowledge, valuing intangible heritage and opening paths for new applications and creative languages.
More than a formative experience, “Palma, Esparto e Cana” was a celebration of local culture and its ability to reinvent itself, constituting a meeting space between generations, cultures and ways of doing. Throughout these days of creation and sharing, Loulé has established itself as a living center of artisanal innovation and as a territory where traditions are reinvented and gain new lives.
Empreita de Palma Study (taking a braid for a walk), 2025
Isa Rodrigues
The piece works as a book of samples, the result of the study and experimentation of palm empreita techniques. The manual and repetitive process allowed us to explore the fluidity of gestures and the relationship between form, rhythm and material.
The structure is born from a continuous braid of palm that varies in scale and density, creating an organic volume that evokes traditional baskets and doormats. The work remains open, symbolizing the continuity of the process and permanent learning.
Material: Palm
Mentoring: Flor Guerreiro (Master artisan)
Shelter, 2025
Margarida Valente
Inspired by a traditional agricultural construction represented in the book Primitive Constructions in Portugal, Abrigo reflects on the human need for protection and the fragility of our defenses.
Made of esparto fiber, the piece takes the form of a capsule that shelters without concealing. The transparency and permeability of the material reinforce the ambiguity between protection and exposure, evoking the vulnerability inherent to the human condition.
Material: Esparto
Mentoring: Isidoro Ramos (master craftsman)
Untitled, 2025
Susana Mendez
The piece is inspired by the Algarve's chimneys, recognized for their lightness, lacy patterns and verticality. Built in cane, it incorporates details in worked palm as a decorative element, evoking the architectural language of the region.
Through the basketry technique, the artist transforms the traditional reference into a sculptural object that combines structure, light and transparency, balancing tradition and contemporaneity.
Materials: Cane and palm
Mentoring: Domingos Vaz, Sónia Mendez (master craftsmen)
Untitled, 2025
Ana Prates
The project is the result of the sharing of knowledge and direct contact with the various stages of palm work — from collection to weaving. It exploits the plasticity and shape memory of the material: malleable when wet and rigid when drying.
From this observation two pieces were born — two different lamps — that share the same construction principle. "Form memory" defines both the physical behavior of the palm and the central concept of the work.
Material: Palm
Mentoring: Flor Guerreiro (Master Craftswoman)
Resonances, 2025
Sonia Lekuona
Resonances seeks to capture the primordial sounds of the human being through the reed as the main matter. It includes a sound record accessible by QR code that brings together sounds collected during the creation process: the wind, the cutting of the cane, the manufacture and the songs sung by master Domingos.
The piece integrates interactive elements that allow the audience to produce sound and participate in the work. Between wind and percussion, he proposes a sensory experience that unites manual creation and musical expression.
Material: Cane, palm
Mentoring: Domingos Vaz, Olimpia Cabrita (master craftsmen)
Alberda for Tired Donkeys, 2025
Carla Rebelo
Inspired by images from the Museum of Faro that document rural work and the relationship between man and animal, Albarda for Tired Donkeys associates the memory of the territory with the techniques learned during the residency. Built in cane and palm mesh, the piece refers to the saddles used in cargo transport.
The side baskets, open and incomplete, symbolize the imbalance of rural work and the fragility of this relationship. The composition plays with the ideas of balance and rotation, weight and lightness, transparency and shadow, transforming the functional reference into sculptural reflection.
Materials: Palm, Cane
Mentoring: Domingos Vaz, Olímpia Cabrita (master craftsmen)
Invassoura, 2025
Milena Kalte
The Invassoura collection consists of five brooms of different shapes and sizes. The name results from the fusion between "invasive women" and "brooms", reflecting the dialogue between native and invasive plant species — esparto, sugarcane and pampas grass.
Through the intertwining of these fibers, the artist proposes a critical reflection on the notions of belonging and exclusion, both in the natural and social territories. Removed from the domestic sphere, the broom is presented as a symbol of resistance and questioning of the boundaries between the useful and the marginal.
Materials: Esparto, Cane
Mentoring: Isidoro Ramos (master craftsman)
The Shepherd's Soul, 2025
Rita Neves
The Shepherd's Soul was born from the desire to reinterpret the traditional palm bag, preserving the essence of artisanal techniques and proposing a contemporary approach. The piece takes the form of a semi-spherical crossbody bag, with a palm mesh body and an empreita strap.
The opening and closing system is inspired by the shepherd's bag, in which the strap acts as an axis. This detail serves as a bridge between tradition and current design, updating an everyday object for a new aesthetic and functional context.
Material: Palm
Mentoring: Sónia Mendez (master craftswoman)
Rodilha, 2025
Alba Castro
Inspired by the images of women who carried salt on their heads in the Algarve, Rodilha pays tribute to female strength and the capacity for physical and symbolic balance. The piece evokes the fabric wheels used as support and comfort, drawing attention to the visible and invisible loads we all carry.
It establishes a bridge between Galicia and Portugal through the shared technique of the empreita de bicos (or pico, in Galician). Made of Algarve palm and sewn according to the method of the Galician San Cosmeiros hats, it incorporates an esparto soul that gives it weight and sculptural presence.
Materials: Palm, Esparto
Mentoring: Flor Guerreiro, Olímpia Cabrita (master artisans)
Untitled, 2025
Santiago Besteiro
The play is based on research on ritual objects and their function in human communities. It explores archetypal forms, such as the circle and the knot, associated with eternity, protection and union. Inspired by various references — from the fishing traps of the Museum of Faro to the African divination baskets — the work reflects on the symbolic role of ritual as a structure of social and spiritual cohesion.
Intertwining leather and natural or dyed palm in a spiral weaving, the artist proposes a reflection on the connection between the sacred and the artistic, and on how the loss of collective rituals accentuates contemporary individualism.
Material: Palm, Leather Wire
Mentoring: Sónia Mendez (master craftswoman)
Palmafone
Teresa Almeida
The piece was inspired by the sound effect produced by the intertwining of the claps. These subtle whispers evoked the idea of creating a shape similar to a resonant vessel, capable of suggesting the emission of a sound.
To underline its genesis, and instead of a device that would reproduce the sound resulting from this intertwining, its interior contains materials that replicate this sound experience.
Material: Palm
Mentoring: Flor Guerreiro (master craftswoman)
The Spiral of Life, 2025
Pilar Rodriguez Rivas
The piece features a three-dimensional spiral of cane and palm suspended by a stone counterweight, articulating lightness and density. The spiral, a symbol of transformation and continuity, suggests an upward and downward movement, referring to the cycle of life and renewal.
The stone counterweight evokes gravity and rooting, contrasting with the fluidity of the fiber. The set establishes a subtle balance between matter and energy, inviting reflection on movement, origin and return.
Material: Cane, Palm
Mentoring: Domingos Vaz, Olímpia Cabrita (master craftsmen)
Master Craftsmen
- Sonia Mendez as Palma
- Florentina Guerreiro (Flor) – Palma
- Olímpia Cabrita – Cane and palm
- Domingos Vaz – Cana
- Isidoro Ramos – Esparto
Participants
- Alba Castro (ES)
- Ana Isabel Prates (PT)
- Carla Rebelo (PT)
- Isa Rodrigues (PT)
- Margarida Valente (PT)
- Milena Melikate (PT/ALE)
- Pilar Rodriguez Rivas (ES)
- Rita Neves (PT)
- Santiago Besteiro (ES)
- Sonia Lekuona (ES)
- Susana Mendez (PT)
- Teresa Almeida (PT)
Organization
Loulé City Council / Loulé Creative
Location
Loulé
Mentor de Design
Henrique Ralheta – Loulé Criativo