Coming soon

It all started like it always does, with an invitation. “Hey Edite, want to come next July talk to us about Collaboration”, without hesitation she agreed and we are so happy she did. 

Edite Amorim, psychologist (specialized in positive psychology and expression) and entrepreneur (Founder, CEO.. basically a one-woman orchestra… of Thinking-Big). Edite is a writer, a traveller, a seeker… a person who takes and gives. She combines rigorous professionalism with human warmth and openness… ok, enough about Edite, lets talk about July 24th!

It was a rainy friday morning. We were afraid the weather and the proximity to summer vacation would result in poor attendance…but nothing stops CM Porto and Edite followers. Everyone, big and small, showed up at the door, and fairly on time. Adults enjoyed the tasty breakfast prepared by ESPIGA before showtime, while out youngest members of the audience paraded around with her red balloon and her gracious footsteps. 

Chairs, sofas, tables, computer and projector were all ready and in place. People slowly found their place around ESPIGA’s homey environment, with its antique furniture and its grey walls occasionally covered with white and colourful chalk in the form of letters and drawings. 

After the usual brief presentation, who many of our attendants know by heart and that starts with “Good Mornings, I am Gil Ribeiro…” (someone in the picture above knows what I am talking about) the conversation about collaboration began.  

Edite was enthusiastic and energetic, as always. She talked about her own life and what collaborations means for her. She talked about couch-surfing and travelling, meeting people a long the way, giving and receiving… She brought colourful post-its full of ideas to share with the audience at the end. 

Edite shared many interesting ideas that resonated with the audience… In the end the key word became “ECHO” (Thanks Lu for bringing this word up), when we give something to someone or something (like a project), whatever it is, that action always finds a way back to us in some form or other. 

Edite closed her conversation citing Luís Falcão, a poet, writer and professor who spoke at CreativeMornings Porto in December and who recently passed away. Edite talked about how Luís incorporated humanity in his message and our responsibility to contribute and to communicate that humanity. We would also like to close this post with his words, just like Edite…

All pictures courtesy of Filipe Brandão 

On Friday June 16th, renown architect and political activist Alexandre Alves Costa, came talk to our community about REVOLUTION. We couldn’t have asked for a better conversation. 

The day started early, as always. We were very warmly received by Hugo and Inês, owners of ESPIGA, an art gallery-bar. All chairs and tables were set and breakfast was almost ready.

This was our first event at ESPIGA. Hugo and Inês had recently inaugurated their exterior patio and we were eager to try it. The space is literally a very nice, intimate, almost secret spot in the middle of Porto. 

We set everything up for the event at the front door while breakfast was being beautifully arrange on the tables outside. 

Alexandre Alves Costa sat on his armchair and read a beautiful passage he had written for this occasion so as to ensure he did not leave anything out while keeping his conversation on time. 

Alexandre talked about the April Revolution in Portugal. What it meant for him as a young man. He suggested that the word Revolution had lost its meaning over time. Alexandre stated that Revolutions are not just for the future of our children, they are for us NOW. He very much insisted on the idea that our lives are a blank page and that it is up to us what we put in it. We are not suppose to propose what change we are going to make… because the change we want will be created by us as we live and dream and act. 

The beautifully written text by Alexandre Alves Costa will be published here later for everyone to enjoy. 

Thank you every for sharing yet another wonderful moment with us. 

Last friday, May 22nd, we celebrated our 2nd anniversary at the DFL - Digital Fabrication Lab. José Pedro Sousa, architect - professor - researcher - founder and co-ordinator of the DFL gave a great talk about the beginnings of robotic, when the word robot began to be used, what robots are, etc. He also talked briefly about the work explored at the DFL. His talk was both interesting and entertaining. Great work Jose Pedro! We loved it! 

But enough writing, lets get to the pictures.

Pacheco, the robot, was the first to arrive at the scene (not like it had any other choice). The DFL team set up all common spaces the day before so we could arrive and take over the place. Thanks DFL Team, you rock!

This amazing breakfast was provided by ESPIGA, a well known friend and contributor of CreativeMornings Porto by now!

To celebrate our collective effort and to showcase our fabulous past speakers we created a mini gallery of all the posters used to promote the events of this past year. 

We took the opportunity of having an amazing illustrator as part of the team, thanks Joel Faria, and we created icebreaking tags with an illustration of each of the volunteers of CreativeMornings Porto. We asked people what CreativeMornings Porto meant and we got some awesome answers!

Before the actual talk, José Pedro Sousa and his team prepared a demonstration of the kind of work the DFL explores utilizing Pacheco. 

It was very exciting. Pacheco was fun, exciting, intriguing… well not so much Pacheco itself.. but the work that goes into making it work and perform a certain task. 

After seeing this brief demonstration of how Pacheco could be used for construction and architecture purposes, for example. Everyone went upstairs to hear what José Pedro Sousa had prepared.

The space was beautiful, the talk was well prepared, on time, and full a entertaining details that kept the audience captivated. 

We were extremely happy to have CreativeMornings Barcelona Host and friend Vasco Mourão mistermourao amidst our audience. Thanks for coming Vasco!

After the talk and some engaging Q&A with invited everyone to sing happy birthday with us and share some very yummy cake with blueberry heart, the colour of CreativeMornings Porto, prepared by Ana Novais of Petiscos&Mimimhos.

What a great event it was. Thanks José Pedro Sousa and the DFL Team for making everything run so smoothly and for being awesome! Thanks all the volunteers and all the attendees. Thanks CreativeMornings family and thanks everyone who reads this posts. You all make our work count and encourage us to continue investing. 

So, to close this posts I leave you with this last image…

(all photographs were taken by our photographer extraordinaire Filipe Brandão for the full set of pictures go to our CreativeMornings Porto Flickr account)

2 years ago we sent this application video by Catarina David to CreativeMornings HQ. We did not know how we were going to make CM Porto happen but we knew we wanted to do it because we felt we were at the right place, on the right time, and with the right team of amazing human beings. 

Today, after learning some of the ropes behind organizing this incredibly satisfying events, we feel we are on the right track, growing slowly but surely. Some people left and others joined the family. We have 11 volunteers, we have had the pleasure of welcoming 23 guests, we have received the support of 18 different sponsors over time, we began extending our support to local social organization and we grew exponentially on facebook and newsletter subscribers. We are not a Mega CM Chapter, we keep things small, we know the names of the people who come regularly and some of the names of the new faces who continuously join the events. 

Thanks everyone who contribute their time to keeping CreativeMornings Porto alive through photographs, videos, receiving guests at the door, managing social networks, contacting speakers, curating spaces and for being overall wonderful. Just to give you an example of the kind of team we have:

André Luis Quntino Principe, our logistics volunteer, could not make it to the event because he has a heavy workload at school and had class that morning, but he wanted very much to contribute. He showed up early on friday with 2 trays of homemade brigadeiros (André is from Brazil) to share with everyone at the event even though he could not stay. André I still have your trays :). I’ll give them to you soon! Promise. 

I had asked Joel Faria, our graphic reporter, to create something wonderful for the event. We came up with this idea of illustrating the face of every member of the team. Last minute I realized I was missing one volunteer and Joel whipped out his magic pen and sent the illustration to me so I could print everything on time. Joel showed up at the event, even though he could no stay long, and brought with him the original illustration of each member of the team so everyone could take his/hers home. 

I could tell many stories like the ones above that took place over these two years. An many that happen with members of our wonderful community. 

But I think you get the gist. CreativeMornings in general and CM Porto is a growing family, a community that evolves and that is made of and attracts amazing people who care and share.

Thanks everyone for this amazing 2 years! Thanks Petiscos&Mimimhos for this incredible cake to commemorate and UNICOO Design and Cookies Makers  For the amazing snacks everyone took home as our celebration gift! 

Last friday 17th we had the pleasure of sharing another CreativeMornings Porto event with a community that keeps growing and they we keep getting to know better and better each day. For the first time since we started we had a member of our community as our speaker (it generally happens the other way around, speakers come share their thought and end up becoming fans). We loved hearing what Nigel Randsley had to say. THANKS NIGEL!

The event began weeks before with an image of a lady on our posters. The lady on the image is a person who is usually asking for food right around the corner from where the CMopo event is held. Most of our audience was familiar with this person, called her Marias das Sopas, and were surprised to see her in the posters. The photograph was taken by Nigel Randley, our speaker, and was the first of many provoking images and ideas exposed throughout his talk. 

The event began at 8:30 a, as always, in the beautiful space of Palácio das Artes - Fábrica de Talentos belonging to Fundação da Juventude. Apart from being an amazing restored building recognized by UNESCO, the Palácio das Artes is always changing according to the diverse array of exhibits that are held there, meaning that we are always waiting to see what the space has in store for us when we go through its heavy and gigantic main doors. 

Considering the this month’s theme is #humility, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and ask for donations for a nearby playschool that supports low income families “Centro Social do Barredo” . People contributed school material and food to this cause.. THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. 

Breakfast was sponsored by the Fundação da Juventude.. it feels sooo good having that morning coffee before the event!

After getting the room set up and the presentation running.. we were ready to go.

We took advantage of the fact that our speaker was a member of the audience to encourage people to talk to each other and get to know who they had behind them (an exercise we borrowed from CM BCN)…. you never know what you could be missing when not interacting with others…

Nigel Randsley has a BA in Mathematics and Computer Science as well as a PHd in Bioinformatics. However, his talk was more about his experience as a volunteer, working with refugees. He told us stories about “Maria das Sopas”, about conditions in refugee camps, about what keeps people motivated and with drive to continue. Nigel talked about the privilege of being European and the luxuries we have in this continent seen as a paradise in the eyes of so many people out there. Nigel share his knowledge of what happen to illegal immigrants crossing by boat during the trip and once they land, if they managed to land. 

The month’s theme was a great one. It gave us an opportunity to stop and look around. Thanks Nigel and thanks everyone for coming, sharing and for supporting CreativeMornings Porto. 

Joana Monteiro from Clube dos Tipos through the eyes of our extraordinary graphic reporter Joel Faria 

Last friday we welcomed Joana Monteiro a graphic designer and one of the founders of Clube dos Tipos. Thanks Joana!

The event was held in the wonderful Palácio das Artes - Fábrica de Talentos courtesy of our host, Fundação da Juventude (Youth Foundation). Because there was an exhibit in the gallery spaces about roots, we had the privilege of receiving our guests in an environment full of plants, what a way to welcome spring! 

The breakfast was prepared by the wonderful team of Espiga Bar.Art Gallery (If you do not know their space yet you have to go check it out). Catarina prepared wonderful squares of chocolate with fruit and coconut with bread (among other things)… Those last one I have to ask for the recipe… CATARINA IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I HAVE BEEN THINKING OF THOSE SQURES ALL WEEKEND! :) 

After filling our tummy with goodness courtesy of Hugo, Înes and Catarina, we opened our eyes and ears to hear what Joana had to say about the work she develops, together with her partner graphic designer paulhardman. 

The two of them, together with a local printing shop, offer workshops on tradition typography. On top of the workshops they work on personal and commercial projects. Joana talked about what working with traditional typology involves, why it is important, what is happening to printing shops that still preserve some of the traditional way of working, etc. 

Joana introduced some of the work developed during their workshops as well as some commercial projects where Letters are at the centre of the campaign.

I have to say I learnt a lot about the importance of typography, how to choose the correct letter type one and how to explore with types and through the process of traditional typography… Thanks Joana and thanks Clube dos Tipos. 

Last friday (Feb 20th, ‘15) we had the pleasure of welcoming our february speaker: Filipe Lopes. 

The doors of the beautiful Palácio das Artes - Fábrica de Talentos opened at 8:30. André, Tiago and Sofía welcomed everyone at the door. Thanks Team!

We all enjoyed an amazing breakfast courtesy of Espiga from the hands of Catarina, Inês and Hugo. They projected beautiful photographs of their newly renovates space in the centre of Porto. 

After a brief activity that took us to the four cardinal points of the Palace were guests were invited to close their eyes and listen to the sounds around them, the mornings talk began!

Filipe is a musician, a composer and an academic who is currently working on his PhD with a thesis that explores how sounds in a space can be utilize in musical compositions. Filipe said that our february theme of CLIMATE made him think of Musical Scenery. This young up-and-coming musician shared with our audience his passion for musical composition, some of his working routines, the need for discipline, exploration, systematization and space for serendipity. 

After and amazing talk, and some interesting Q&A we had our january speaker prepare a surprise for everyone. Iva Da Silva, a photographer who specializes in Humid Collodion, prepared one of the rooms in the Palace to take Filipe Lopes’ portrait. This was the first time we had a past speaker share his art directly with a current speaker, and audience, during a CM Porto event. We were extremely excited! The result was a really interesting photographic process and an amazing portrait! 

We are 10 volunteers at CreativeMornings Porto who are constantly updating facebook, twitter, tumblr, emails, organizing events, contacting sponsors, etc. Plus a group of people outside of our volunteers who also contribute to this event. It takes time and effort to put all the pieces together but it is totally worth it! People wake up early, share moments with each other, discover new ways of doing and thinking AND COME BACK TO SHARE MORE! We like the family of speakers/volunteers/helpers/audience we are building and hope to keep doing better. THANK YOU ALL!