First Published in
Considering an apple tartlet as the height of design might be perceived as both ridiculous and self-important. Yet, Fabrico Próprio: The Design of Portuguese Semi-Industrial Confectionery makes a strong, self-aware case for ushering about 90 single-serving cakes into the design hall of fame.
Arriving wrapped in wax paper printed with the book’s logo, opening the book is itself like receiving a bakery delicacy and paging through its photos of confectionary can’t but make one salivate. Confirming the sobriety of the project, detailed research into the history of the cakes, ingredients and industry, is presented alongside three considered essays with such lofty titles as Devoured Houses, Hands of Sugar and Affection, and Eating with Your Eyes.
On the other hand, it is this very considered sobriety that also confirms the cheek of the project. The cakes are photographed on white backgrounds like design icons, while the matt paper ensures that this book will never be allowed access to the culinary section in a bookshop. Like finding the colour prints in an old art history volume, a couple of glossy page inserts feature journalistic detours about the people who sell pastries on the beachfront, the best pastry delis in Portugal, five illustrators’ depictions of their sweetest memories, and the Portuguese cake diaspora. My personal favourite is the insert on insomniacs and party animals queuing outside bakeries in the early hours of the morning. Done in the sepia tones of old mafia movies, it is at this point that the extent of the book becomes clear – it’s beyond just design, it’s a whole culture.
Edited by Rita João, Pedro Ferreira and Frederico Duarte, the book was self-published with financial assistance from a number of sponsors. The title – Fabrico Próprio, meaning own production – is thus doubly fitting.
Considering an apple tartlet as the height of design might be perceived as both ridiculous and self-important. Yet, Fabrico Próprio: The Design of Portuguese Semi-Industrial Confectionery makes a strong, self-aware case for ushering about 90 single-serving cakes into the design hall of fame.
Arriving wrapped in wax paper printed with the book’s logo, opening the book is itself like receiving a bakery delicacy and paging through its photos of confectionary can’t but make one salivate. Confirming the sobriety of the project, detailed research into the history of the cakes, ingredients and industry, is presented alongside three considered essays with such lofty titles as "Devoured Houses", "Hands of Sugar and Affection", and "Eating with Your Eyes".
On the other hand, it is this very considered sobriety that also confirms the cheek of the project. The cakes are photographed on white backgrounds like design icons, while the matt paper ensures that this book will never be allowed access to the culinary section in a bookshop. Like finding the colour prints in an old art history volume, a couple of glossy page inserts feature journalistic detours about the people who sell pastries on the beachfront, the best pastry delis in Portugal, five illustrators’ depictions of their sweetest memories, and the Portuguese cake diaspora. My personal favourite is the insert on insomniacs and party animals queuing outside bakeries in the early hours of the morning. Done in the sepia tones of old mafia movies, it is at this point that the extent of the book becomes clear – it’s beyond just design, it’s a whole culture.
Edited by Rita João, Pedro Ferreira and Frederico Duarte, the book was self-published with financial assistance from a number of sponsors. The title – Fabrico Próprio, meaning own production – is thus doubly fitting.
