PRIMA FAMILIA TOTEMS . 2019

“Touch me, please.” The ToTems seem to whisper this request, their forms alive with texture and presence.

The ToTems are tactile sculptures wrapped in vibrant wool from Portugal’s Burel Factory, shaped with three-dimensional pleating that invites physical connection. They appear as vertical companions, playful sculptural forms, and a single frilled ottoman, bringing warmth, colour, and character into spaces while offering moments of rest, interaction, and delight.

This project marked a foundational moment in my practice. Rooted in my Portuguese heritage and shaped through my life and work in Naarm/Melbourne, the ToTems emerged from a desire to reimagine ancestral craft as an inclusive, contemporary experience. I collaborated with artisanal factories in the mountainous villages where I grew up, transforming coarse Bordaleira wool, traditionally worn by shepherds, into bold, sculptural forms that speak through texture and embodied presence.

The tactile richness of the wool, its weight, warmth, and structured surface, became central to my design process. Inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet, I began abstracting the human figure into totemic, geometric silhouettes. My fascination with Schlemmer began during my architecture studies at FAUP in Porto, where a student-led dance group explored his choreographic ideas. The interplay between body, volume, and movement, and the way Schlemmer’s dancers became living sculptures, left a lasting impression. In the ToTems, I channel that influence by creating animated, ambiguous forms that evoke presence and personality. They are objects of design, but also quiet companions, inviting touch, interaction, and connection.

When the ToTems were first shown at Design Fringe in 2019, people instinctively reached out to touch, to lean, to gather. During the Tactile Tours, blind and visually impaired visitors explored the works through their hands, discovering a world beyond sight. That experience revealed the deeper potential of the work: design as a tool for connection, care, and sensory inclusion.

Since then, my practice has continued to move between design and socially engaged artistic projects, exploring how objects can foster emotional resonance, reframe visibility, and make space for alternative ways of experiencing the world. The ToTems sit at this intersection: crafted with aesthetic precision, yet deeply attuned to the politics of touch, access, and presence.