Until October 19, 2025, the Museu do Calçado hosts Terra Inesgotável — a powerful exhibition that explores the relationship between footwear, material culture, and artisanal heritage through a critical, collaborative, and experimental lens.
This exhibition celebrates the richness and diversity of textile-making traditions across Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking regions, highlighting the use of locally sourced natural raw materials processed with traditional techniques. It aims not only to preserve material and immaterial heritage but also to reframe it as a creative resource for today’s cultural and socio-economic landscape.
From flax cultivation and wool production to hand-weaving and embroidery, the exhibition spotlights the knowledge, stories, and communities that continue to keep these traditions alive. It draws connections between past and present, craft and design, rural practices and contemporary relevance — showing that value creation can go hand in hand with value preservation.
The exhibition features a retrospective of the work developed over the last decade (2015–2025) by designers Pedro Carvalho de Almeida and Abhishek Chatterjee, focused on experimental footwear and the regeneration of local textile production cultures. This approach to design revolves around two key axes:
- The intrinsic properties of national natural materials such as flax and wool, valued not only for their origin but for their expressive and material behavior;
- The technical knowledge behind traditional textile manufacturing, especially hand-weaving, explored as a living repertoire of generational know-how.
Alongside contemporary footwear prototypes, the exhibition also includes historical examples of traditional shoes, representing the regions from which the materials were sourced, as well as a bibliographic selection related to the artisanal techniques featured.
Shoelutions is proud to be part of this project by developing and producing the sneakers featured in the exhibition. Our collaboration reflects our commitment to supporting meaningful footwear creation — where tradition meets innovation, and where materials, design, and craftsmanship come together to tell stories that matter.
Visit the exhibition
If you’re passionate about footwear, sustainability or simply curious about the role of design in shaping a better tomorrow, Terra Inesgotável is a must-visit.
📍 Museu do Calçado – São João da Madeira
🗓️ Until October 19, 2025
🔗 Learn more at: www.museu-do-calcado.pt