Fernando Brízio

Portuguese designer Fernando Brízio was born in Lubango (formerly known as Sá da Bandeira), Angola in 1968. He moved with his family to Lisbon in 1975, upon Angola’s independence from Portugal. Brízio studied equipment design at the Faculdade de Belas Artes (Faculty of Fine Arts) in Lisbon, graduating with a licentiate degree in 1996. He established his own studio in 1999, working in several areas of Lisbon (including Santa Catarina). In 2007, he moved to Poço do Bispo, a former industrial area of Lisbon, and has since dedicated himself to a variety of product design projects, as well as exhibition and interiors. Brízio’s work, often developed independently rather than in response to commissions, has at times challenged disciplinary boundaries. The designer’s projects are highly research-driven and often characterized by a sense of amusement, irony, and experimentation.

Brízio has worked with the likes of Droog, Amorim cok, Icon Magazine, Experimentadesign, Torino World Design Capital, ModaLisboa, Cor Unum, Nike, Authentics , Fábrica Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro, Il Coccio , Established & Sons, Loja da Atalaia, choreographer Rui Horta, Serralves Museum, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, and Galerie Kreo, among others.

Notable projects include: Sound System (2003), in which Brízio used the sound of words to draw objects (and which also proved to be the starting point for an ongoing line of research dedicated to processes, drawing, shaping, and painting); Restarted Dress (2005/2007), part of a series of performance-focused, “renewable clothing” featuring white dresses covered in pockets holding felt pens that are purposefully placed to bleed ink onto the garments; Painting a Fresco with Giotto #3 (2005), a white vase encircled by 30 multicolored felt-tip pens that seep into the clay; Viagem (2005), a project wherein fresh ceramic pieces are formed and deformed inside a Jeep over the course of a journey, resulting in a physical manifestation of a memory; Pata Negra Stool (2005), a black lacquered wood stool resting on pig’s hooves, inspired by black Iberian pigs of Portugal; and Target Table (2009), a piece which users fire arrows at to create functional legs.

In addition to his design work, since 2010, Brízio has served as professor and head of the Master in Design Product course at the Escola Superior de Arte e Design (ESAD) of Caldas da Rainha. He has also taught at ECAL in Lausanne (2005) and at the University of Design and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany (2004). He’s lectured at numerous conferences, and has been a member of design juries in both Portugal and abroad. In 2005, he was a curator for the S*Cool Ibérica project, produced by Experimenta in Lisbon.

Brízio’s work has been presented at several institutions and events across the globe, including, but not limited to: Fernando, a solo exhibition at Otrascosas de Villar-Rosàs gallery (Barcelona, 2011), Bench Years at the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, 2012), O`Clock at the Triennale (Milan, 2012), Material Matters at Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven, 2012), European Design Since 1985 at Indianapolis Museum of Art (2010) and Milwaukee Art Museum (2011), Lapse in Time at EXD09- SNBA (Lisbon, 2009), 16 New Pieces at Galerie Kreo (Paris, 2008), Plaques Sensibles at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2005), and Dry Kitchen with Droog (Milan, 2001). His designs are included in the permanent collections of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Lisbon Museum of Design & Fashion (MUDE), as well as several private collections.