Saloias: Maria Pratas and Sofia Albuquerque’s Dialogue Between Fiber and Clay

At Lisbon Design Week 2026, textile artist Maria Pratas and ceramicist Sofia Albuquerque presented Saloias, a collaborative project at SAL Atelier. The work reinterprets Portuguese rural heritage through fiber and clay, reclaiming the term 'saloias'—historically used for rural women near Lisbon—as a gesture of care. Pratas creates large-scale fiber pieces and adds fiber rings to Albuquerque's unglazed ceramic vases, referencing the head supports used by Saloia women. The collaboration emphasizes material dialogue: softness against density, memory against form. Pratas and Albuquerque, neighbors in Lisbon, met on the same street before becoming collaborators. Their project avoids nostalgia, instead translating craft into a contemporary language of touch and presence.