CARAPAU NOW
2019
Project:
International Design Workshop Portugal, “Responsible Tourism?”
Organisers:
Turismo Centro PortugalESAD.CR, School of Design and Arts Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
ZHdK Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
Canned sardines are one of Portugal’s most significant cultural features. In 2018 the EU had set a strict quota on sardine fishing due to a critical decline in stock within the Atlantic Ocean. The package design prototype promotes an alternative: the Atlantic horse mackerel much enjoyed by the local population, which has high nutrition value and a traditional conservation method without additives to the meal.
The prototype omits descriptive packaging to emphasise the steel-blue and silver-white color of the mackerel as a full color of the can.
I used a fishnet to engage the consumer in a reverse reenactment process of fishing. This approach attracts food aficionados but also subtly reminds that the product is a finite resource. I incorporated a particular pattern to to the packaging tag with reference to the monks of the Alcobaça Monastery who would refuse to eat meat and rather fish instead.
The pattern is inspired by one of the UNESCO heritage sites interior architectural elements the research group and I had visited before the workshop.
The workshop was dedicated to the creation of culturally significant experiences and artefacts associated with one of the visited sites. Centred on the idea of the encounter, we explored the ways visitors build and keep ties to each place. The workshop took a straightforward approach to the production of meaning through tangible objects, as well as through the design of services related to visiting/living in and around the respective site.