Interview: Cabracega

Although they're nothing to do with interiors, Portuguese design agency Cabracega (literally translated, meaning the blind goat) are just cool. I noticed their original quirks when I saw their “All City” campaign, which had them getting some of Portugal’s most famous graffiti artists to decorate traditional Portuguese china, showcasing the contrast between “then” and “now” and getting people to think about issues in a different way. I spoke to one of the co-founders, Hugo Tornelo about some of their campaigns (including the brilliant coca-cola campaign arming women with a different type of broom to make people acknowledge what they do in the home) and their plans for the future.

1. What made you start Cabracega? How has it grown and what are your plans for the future?
We started Cabracega because we wanted to do more than one is able to do while working for somebody else. We feel like we’ve something to say and to do regarding creativity. For instances, it’s common to develop solutions by starting to define the medium of the outcome, while we believe it should be the other way around; the best ideas/solutions will determine the medium of the outcome.
2. What's the campaign you're most proud of and what effect did it have?
Probably, Sensorial Lisbon. We created a tour around Lisbon where participants were blindfolded to try to ensure they got the true meaning and flavour of the city. It was a well-accepted project worldwide. In fact, part of its recognition came around half a year later when it got to Springwise top ten ideas for tourism in 2008. We were also fortunate to get the project published worldwide and broadcast in National Geographic Channel, for example.

3. Tell me a bit about the All City campaign - what was it for (in your own words) and how did you go about doing it?
All City was thought of in parallel with ExperimentaDesign 09, regarding its theme “It’s About Time”. For this project we worked together with Ricardo Vasconcelos and Rita Gonzalez. The main idea was to have an exclusive set of traditional Portuguese porcelain customized by 5 of the best Portuguese graffiters. That way we intended to confront 2 different times and contexts. At this time, the pieces you see on our website, are unique pieces, and we’re still negotiating a possible production with other companies.
4. Do you ever sell any of the products that you design (for example, the coca-cola mops and brooms)? If not, do you have any plans to or do you have any of your own ranges ready to come out?
Actually we are more into selling ideas and experiences rather than objects. But recently we’ve been repeatedly asked the same question, which makes us think we should look more into it. Nevertheless we’re always open to design new products and to produce our own creations, but in the end there’s a balance to be made: is it more worth it to produce 1000, or just one?
5. What brand would you most like to work with and why?
A brand that still doesn’t exist. A blank piece of paper with no history, but willing to start writing one as we speak.