Recife-born designer trades textile career for ceramics education, bringing traditional techniques to Portugal’s creative scene

Designer and ceramicist Bárbara Penaforte from Pernambuco, Brazil, currently living in Porto, Portugal, develops signature ceramic pieces and teaches courses on modelling, glazing and printing techniques. Graduated in Fashion Design from Senac Pernambuco, she built a career that moves between textile design, industrial porcelain and artisanal ceramics.

Penaforte holds a postgraduate degree in Fashion and Creation from Faculdade Santa Marcelina in São Paulo, and another in Illustration and Digital Animation from the School of Arts and Design. Her professional trajectory includes time in Recife and São Paulo before moving to the Portuguese city.

Ceramics and surface design

The artist’s work focuses on exploring textures, shapes and colours applied to surfaces. In 2018, she began studying ceramics with with Vicente Cardia from the Cerâmica Cardia studio. The designer defines her work as focused on studying the power of surfaces, whether in ceramics, porcelain, fabric or other materials.

Currently, Penaforte develops high-relief ceramic panels, work that has already resulted in partnerships with major restaurants in Portugal. The pieces combine three-dimensional modelling techniques with her experience in surface design, creating decorative elements for gastronomic spaces.

High-relief ceramic panels 

During her postgraduate studies, Penaforte specialised in manual printing with artist Celso Lima, your mentor, having taken her first course at Sesc Pompeia. This training led her to work with industrial porcelain, initially developing pieces for personal use.

Projects and exhibitions

Among the works carried out, her participation in the restoration and reproduction of prints for the exhibition “Vkhutemas: Future Under Construction 1918-2018” at Sesc Pompeia stands out. In 2018, the designer developed printed plates inspired by chefs Bel Coelho, Rodolfo de Santis and Rodrigo Oliveira in partnership with Brastemp, distributed at the Brastemp Experience event.

Penaforte participated in the Estúdio Pochoir collective, where she created prints for the summer 2018 and 2019 collections of the Alcaçuz clothing brand. At Design Weekend 2018 in São Paulo, she created an artistic intervention at the Muma shop inspired by her “Linhas de Samico” collection.

In 2020, she presented exclusive pieces in artisanal ceramics and tiles at the 37th edition of Feira Paralela, one of the country’s main design exhibitions. More recently, she was invited to Ilustra 33, a collective exhibition integrated into the Clube da Criatividade Festival in Portugal in 2023, and selected for the exhibition and yearbook of Portuguese Illustration 2023 at the Festa da Ilustração in Setúbal.

Signature collections

The artist has developed collections that explore aspects of Brazilian identity and culture, such as “Frutas Brasileiras” (Brazilian Fruits), “Cores de Tarsila” (Tarsila’s Colours), “Linhas de Samico” (Samico’s Lines) and “Cariri Concreto” (Concrete Cariri), applied to porcelain pieces and fabric.

Teaching

Currently, Penaforte offers ceramics workshops and courses at her studio at Rua Fernandes Tomás, 539, in Porto. Activities include clay modelling with pinch pot, slab-built vase construction, coil technique, ceramic decal printing and mural creation. Courses range from introduction to manual ceramics to Japanese techniques and collection development with ceramic decals, including firing processes, glazing and slip application.