Spotlight on Maker: Isabel Bentes

Mini introduction on who you are, where you are from and what you do.

Isabel Bentes dos Santos, Portuguese nationality, resident in Montijo, attended the master’s degree in art and science of Glass and Ceramics 2022/2024, at the Nova School of Science and Technology, New University of Lisbon in association with the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon.

She has a master’s degree in architecture and has worked in several studios and companies in the area, with 24 years of work experience related to different types of art: architecture, painting, sculpture, and photography.

What makes you passionate about your craft/profession?

The strong artistic passion for Ceramics was initiated at the Atelier of Chris Roovers, in Maastricht, Netherlands, where he developed several works in ceramics when she lived in Vlijtingen, in the North of Belgium, a season that provided a strong relationship with outdoor and indoor public spaces in favour of the appreciation of art in the space that surrounds us and how it influences us in behavioural terms.

Why does craft matter?

Handicrafts are fundamental, due to the character that privileges manual production from the preparation of the raw material to its finishing, it is undoubtedly a cultural manifestation to be protected, that is, the power to create something idealized in the mind of an individual in harmony with nature itself and based on practical knowledge passed down from generation to generation is something fascinating.