Guest post: Portuguese designer Goncalo Campos

As you read this post, I'm on a plane jetting off for a two week road trip around Northern Portugal with Mr Lisbonite. I'll try to post every day but how better to start my road trip around Portuguese with a guest post from a Portuguese designer? When I asked Gonçalo Campos (creator of the amazingly cool "Dedo" finger board) to write a guest post about his favourite Portuguese designers, he immediately came back with Pedrita. So without further ado, over to Gonçalo: I'd like to present a couple of designers, Pedro and Rita, that together make up both halves of Pedrita. They are based in Lisbon and have become highly respected especially due to their diligence in finding new work, often proposing their services to companies that could benefit from their input, as well as versatility. Having been involved in projects from many different fields, ranging from installations to exhibitions, editorial, product, art direction and a few experiments, they have now become one of the Portuguese design scene "unavoidables". Their ingenuity and relentlessness have led them to (together with Frederico Duarte), edit a book focused only on examining and understanding Portuguese traditional pastry, from a designer’s point of view that reveals incredible facts about these precious "day brighteners" that every Portuguese takes for granted. Their work is very much based on customs and culture, frequently playing around objects and materials that are a part of the history and tradition of Portugal. They've played around with wall tiles, red clay containers and cork not to mention a few of the ancient brands they've worked with like Viarco (pencil maker), Bordalo Pinheiro (traditional ceramics manufacturer) and Luso (bottled water producer). Through their work, they’ve been inspiring young designers, to find opportunities to revisit and revitalise old crafts and show how far design can go in changing people’s perceptions.