Footwear Museum presents the global design exhibition 'Terra Inesgotável'

A new exhibition, 'Terra Inesgotável' (“Inexhaustible land”), has opened at the Museum of Footwear in São João da Madeira, highlighting ten years of creative exchange between Portuguese designer Pedro Carvalho de Almeida and Indian designer Abhishek Chatterjee. Through October 19, the program invites visitors to a decade of experimental design and revived artisanal traditions that cover from 2015 to 2025.

According to the official website of the museum, the exhibition reflects on “a land of images, materials and culture, rooted in critical, collaborative and exploratory thinking. It is inherently driven by the process and generative.”

Both designers are doctoral researchers affiliated with Portuguese universities and have spent the last ten years exploring the intersection between the design of experimental footwear and the rebirth of traditional and locally rooted craft practices. His work unites academic research with real world collaborations, combining scientific research with practical pedagogical approaches.

The exhibition has a double purpose: preserve and share the tangible and intangible cultural heritage, while highlighting the creative potential of textile manufacturing traditions, many of which are in danger. These local practices are presented as vital taxpayers to contemporary socio -economic and cultural ecosystems.

In essence, 'Terra Inesgotável' is a reflection on the richness of artisanal textile heritage of Portugal and beyond. Through the footwear design lens, the show highlights the craft techniques of Guinea-Bissau, Timor-Lete and Mozambique, celebrating ancestral knowledge and the diversity of sustainable materials of local origin.

The Footwear Museum marks a milestone with this exhibition, is first selected by an external team. The title, “Terra Inesgotável”, is inspired by the travel memory of José Saramago “Journey to Portugal”, which reflects the broad cultural and geographical scope of the program. The museum will add a couple of outstanding shoes to its permanent collection.

The exhibition catalog, designed by Débora Ponguinha, offers in -depth ideas, images and documentation of the works and the broader project.