Exhibition "Emerging Voices"
Designing Futures from the Margins
The exhibition EMERGING VOICES — Designing Futures from the Margins presents a platform dedicated to emerging practices exploring new directions in contemporary design and sustainability. Integrated within the programme of DESIGN COMMIT 2026 — Design for Different Futures | Learning with Nature, and curated by Guilherme Braga da Cruz (Show Me – design & art gallery), the exhibition brings together creators operating at the “margins” of conventional production systems, privileging experimental approaches and critical thinking.
The exhibition centres on the ethical transformation of matter, highlighting the role of design as an active agent in the transition towards more circular and regenerative models. Designers such as Norma Silva (Jinja) and Maria Bruno Néo (NÉO Sustainable & Social Design) work with textile and industrial waste, creating objects that articulate innovation, social responsibility, and circular economy principles. This approach is reinforced by Isabel Bourbon and Patrick Barbosa (Oiá Plast), who transform plastic waste into durable, expressive pieces with a strong material presence.
In dialogue with the Learning with Nature framework, the exhibition extends into a sensory and symbolic dimension, where memory and time become embedded in materials. Mayra Deberg explores demolition waste, while Margarida Monteiro and Rui Ribeiro (Musgo) reclaim wood from former domestic structures, reactivating narratives inscribed in matter. In parallel, Sofia Águas investigates the emotional resonance of ceramics, and Margarida Lopes Pereira intersects sculpture and design through the manipulation of discarded materials. Joaquim Januário introduces a critical perspective on durability, technology, and digital fabrication.
Taken together, these practices configure an expanded field of design aligned with the vision of DESIGN COMMIT, where matter, ethics, and culture intersect, reaffirming design as a strategic agent for transformation, regeneration, and the construction of more conscious futures.
Exhibition in the Foyer 1
March 25th _ 18:30 _ Restaurant Foyer -1
Moderated by Guilherme Braga da Cruz
this session brings together a group of designers featured in the exhibition Designing Futures from the Margins:
Maria Bruno Néo,
Oiá Plast (Isabel Bourbon & Patrick Barbosa),
Mayra Deberg,
Musgo,
Joaquim Januário.
Set within an informal café-like atmosphere, this moment invites open conversation
around material experimentation, sustainability, and alternative design practices.
Rather than formal presentations, this session unfolds as a shared dialogue — and all
participants are welcome to join the conversation, ask questions, and contribute to the
discussion.
Working with waste, memory, and new production logics, these designers explore
emerging approaches that challenge dominant systems and propose new pathways for
regenerative and responsible design.
Espelho_design_by_Bruno_MM_Carvalho
Cubby_Chair_design_by_Dirk_vander_Kooij
Jarra_design_by_João_Xará
Chairlamp_Skin_collections_design _by_Pepe_Heykoop
Petlamp_design by_ Alvaro_Catalan_de _Ocon
Raymond_table_design_by_David Amar
Guilherme Braga da Cruz (1978, Porto, Portugal) is a designer, producer, curator, professor, and design collector. He graduated in Equipment Design from ESAD – Escola Superior de Artes e Design de Matosinhos and completed a specialization in Design at the Instituto Politécnico do Porto.
Throughout his career, he has curated exhibitions of design and contemporary art in Portugal and abroad. In parallel, he produces authorial design objects and art pieces, collaborating with designers and artists through his company Help Productions.
He is currently the artistic director of Forum Arte Braga and Show Me – Design & Art Gallery. He is also a lecturer in the Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and in the Master’s in Design and Product Development at the Escola Superior de Design do IPCA, in Barcelos, where he coordinated the WOC – Workshops in Pottery and Ceramic Design cycle, part of the Cultura para Todos program.
In recent years, he has been researching collections and collecting practices in design. He attended the Master’s in Museology at Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto and is currently enrolled in the doctoral program at Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto.
About Show Me – Design & Art Gallery
Show Me – Design & Art Gallery was a Portuguese gallery dedicated to the promotion of contemporary design and its intersections with art. The gallery presented and represented designers and creators working at the boundaries of authorial design, collectible design, and material experimentation, privileging conceptual approaches, artisanal processes, and small-scale production.
Through exhibitions, curatorial projects, and collaborations with designers and institutions, Show Me sought to give visibility to both emerging and established practices in contemporary design, fostering dialogue between designers, artists, collectors, and the public.
Since 2019, the space has been closed to the public. Currently, Show Me focuses primarily on design collecting, with a particular emphasis on contemporary Portuguese product design, developing research, documentation, and the valorization of relevant authors and works within this context.
https://www.instagram.com/show_me_design/
Designers
Jinja designs and produces a wide range of original products, entirely handmade through the reuse of textile waste.
Portuguese designer Norma Silva founded Jinja in Porto with the aim of improving the home environment through the sharing of meaningful rituals and sustainable products for everyday life.
Her eco-design creative process is based on the principles of the circular economy, reusing industrial waste materials such as textiles and wood, transforming them into raw materials for the production of her pieces.
About Norma Silva
Norma Silva founded Jinja in 2012, driven by a strong desire to create high-quality handmade products using recycled materials in a sustainable way.
Since her early studies in Product Design at ESAD Matosinhos, she has maintained a strong focus on eco-design and sustainability, both in her professional practice and personal life. She believes that designers play a fundamental role in shaping consumer awareness and behavior.
She lived in Barcelona, where she completed a Master’s in Product Design at Elisava and interned at Novell-Puig Design studio. In Los Angeles, she worked at Ball-Nogues Studio, and in Madrid she completed a Master’s in Scenography at IED Madrid.
Following these experiences, her design approach shifted towards a more hands-on, craft-based practice, developing work with a more personal and artisanal character.
NEO Sustainable & Social Design is a project that intersects design, sustainability, and social responsibility. Developed by designer Maria Bruno Néo during her master’s studies, under the supervision of Professor Luís Mendonça, it emerged from a critical observation of the waste generated by the upholstery industry, particularly foam and textiles.
Through upcycling practices, the project seeks to extend the life cycle of these materials, transforming industrial waste into new everyday objects. At the same time, the production process involves collaborations with people in situations of greater social vulnerability, promoting opportunities for participation, inclusion, and the appreciation of manual work.
Each object results from the combination of recovered materials, design, and human gesture, embracing uniqueness as an essential part of the process. The pieces are therefore one-of-a-kind, reflecting the diversity of both the materials and the hands that produce them.
About Maria Bruno Néo
She is a designer and researcher. She is currently a PhD fellow funded by FCT and conducts her research at the Institute for Research in Design, Media and Culture. She holds a Master’s degree in Industrial and Product Design (2019) from FBAUP and a Bachelor’s degree in Equipment Design from FBAUL (2008).
She has worked in international studios such as Tord Boontje and Edward van Vliet and, for 10 years, led the design department of the brands Munna and Ginger & Jagger. Under the supervision of Professor Luís Mendonça, she developed her project Neo Sustainable & Social Design, in which she designs products from textile waste from the upholstery industry.
Her work and research interests span product design, traditional crafts, and design as a strategic agent for local communities, integrating solutions that bring together industry, contemporaneity, sustainability, and traditional knowledge.
neosocialdesign
https://www.instagram.com/mbruneo/
https://www.instagram.com/neosocialdesign/
Oiá Plast transforms plastic waste into distinctive products that are 100% recycled and recyclable. Founded in 2019 in São Vicente, Cape Verde, by designer Isabel Bourbon and Patrick Barbosa, Oiá was created in response to the problem of plastic pollution on local beaches.
Since 2021, based in Portugal, it has been working to prevent plastics from reaching the ocean by collecting post-consumer plastic and transforming it into new, useful objects. Its pieces—always colorful and irreverent—reflect Oiá’s motto: plastic can be fantastic.
Oiá Plast approaches plastic as a unique material, exploring its colors, textures, and patterns to create distinctive, desirable pieces that are, above all, made to last.
Mayra Deberg is a Brazilian architect and urban planner. Her work explores alternative responses to the environmental challenges of the construction industry, particularly the depletion of natural resources and the generation of waste.
She holds a Master’s degree in Industrial and Product Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, where she developed the thesis “A Design Contribution to the Issue of Construction Waste: Reinterpreting the Traditional Terrazzo Technique in Decorative Objects.” The project received recognition in international competitions such as the Green Concept Award, iF Design Student Award, and Distributed Design, and was exhibited at Vienna Design Week, the Art and Design Biennale in Funchal, and MaterialDistrict.
She is currently pursuing a PhD in Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, where she continues this research through a reflection on the materiality and memory embedded in demolition waste.
mayradeberg.com/fragmentsofthepast
instagram.com/mayradeberg
debergmayra@gmail.com
After three years in Rio de Janeiro, Margarida and Rui returned to Portugal in 2016 and founded Musgo. In their studio—formerly a cowshed—they design various pieces of furniture, with lamps taking a central role.
In their production, they rely on the reuse of wood, particularly chestnut and reclaimed Riga pine, sourced from furniture, doors, windows, flooring, and structural elements of old Portuguese houses that have been restored. Through creativity and a deep respect for the material’s characteristics, they develop practical design solutions grounded in sustainability and simplicity.
Sofia Águas is a product designer and researcher whose practice operates at the intersection of design, materiality, and sensory experience. Her ceramic work explores the relationship between tactility, form, and emotional resonance through slow, hand-built processes that emphasize time, imperfection, and material presence. Each piece reflects an approach that merges design research with a sculptural language, where objects move beyond function to become experiential.
Alongside her artistic practice, she develops academic research in design, focusing on material thinking, sustainability, material culture, and collectible design. Her work positions the object as a form of knowledge, exploring its role in shaping meaning and experience in contemporary contexts.
Margarida Lopes Pereira (Lisbon, 1991) works at the intersection of sculpture, design, and material research. Often drawing on embroidery as a way of shaping rather than decorating, her work focuses on the domestic context – the scale, everyday objects and materials – as well as in the exploration of craft techniques applied in new contexts. Her practice is deeply tied to material transformation, working predominantly with discarded foam, paper or textiles, often sourced from upholsterers or passed on by other creatives.
Joaquim Januário is a design researcher and product designer. He holds a degree in Product Design from ESAD.CR and a Master’s in Product Design Engineering from the University of Aveiro. He is currently a PhD candidate in Design at FBAUP.
His research develops a critical approach to everyday objects and contemporary modes of production, with a particular focus on digital fabrication, consumption, and durability. These interests were consolidated during his master’s dissertation, developed in collaboration with Design Factory Aveiro.
He has collaborated with companies such as Olivah, LSI Stone, and Ceriart. He has been awarded the Ceramiche Rometti Prize, Design a Prémio – Oeiras, and Young Design Generation 2025. His work has been exhibited at MUDE, Lisbon Design Week, Descomunal, and the Triennale di Milano.
He worked for two years as an Industrial Designer at Bosch and is currently working at Providência Design studio in Porto.