OUR PRODUCTION PROCESS
We believe that the only way to reduce recidivism is by empowering people that have gone through reclusion - the therapeutical powers of ceramics, alongside with having a job and individual support ease the difficulties of transition into freedom.
We are a small-scale artisan production with 2 locations: a workshop inside Caxias’ Prison and a studio in Lisbon. We don’t hire people to make ceramics. We make ceramics to hire people.
CREATE IMPACT WITH US
1. Raw material & Recipes
We blend our stoneware. We use fine white stoneware that is mixed with water, this clay is made from carefully selected, prepared, and blended raw materials.
Stoneware is a high-temperature type of pottery that was developed before porcelain, it is opaquer and more resistant.
2. Molds & forming
The clay is poured into the plaster molds of our pieces. Depending on the wished thickness of the final piece, we wait for the clay surrounding the mold solidifies and pour the remaining clay back.
We then paint and leave the piece to dry.
3. Dry & Bisque Firing
The piece is taken out of the mold and left to dry for a few days for the clay to be “leather hard”. Then we trim the excess clay and paint from the edges and smooth-out any rough spots.
The pieces already trimmed and smoothed go into the
Bisque Firing.
4. Glaze & Final firing
Now that our pieces are in what is called “biscuit”, we glaze them. The glaze we used is nationally produced and it needs to be very well blended and filtered to make sure it adheres to the pieces! Our pieces are dipped into the glaze and then the feet is cleaned.
Once the glaze is dried, the pieces go in for their final firing.
5. quality control
Once the piece is glazed and cooled down, we sand the feet and any irregularities. This allows our pieces to be smooth and not damage any surface they have contact
with.
Then the piece goes to quality control and is stored until it meets its new family!
OUR ARTISANS SPEND HOURS HANDMAKING BEAUTIFUL AND TIMELESS PIECES.
IN EACH PIECE THERE IS A STORY OF OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES AND IMMENSE EFFORT FOR A BETTER LIFE.
IN RETURN, WE ASK YOU TO ENJOY YOUR POTTERY FOR A LONG TIME AND CONTINUE TO BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES.
SUSTAINABILITY
Reshape Ceramics’ values of empathy, responsibility and empowerment would not be followed if we didn’t consider our carbon footprint.
We believe in carbon neutrality, upcycling, reducing consumption and circular economy.
As such we have internal policies in place to minimize as much as possible our negative environmental impact:
In 2022 we had approximately 44 tons of CO2 emissions
This is going to be informally compensated by planting 80 trees in 2022