João is at the forefront of used bikes recovery

"Dear bicycle, I shall not call you bike." This is how the Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett begins the text that is a declaration of love for this two-wheeled invention. If, for the writer, the word "bike" was too ugly, the term doesn't bother João Cruz, who called his bicycle shop Velurb — which means “urban bike”.

It is at number 207 of Rua de Fernandes Tomás that we find the shop which is also — and this is what matters most — a place where old bicycles are recovered to be delivered to new owners. 

It is among dozens of bikes that we come across João talking with a customer. He welcomes us with hands dirtied with oil, but with a clear smile. He says he wants to help get more and more cyclists pedalling in Porto every day. It is not just about avoiding traffic or reducing the ecological footprint. It is an environmental issue, but also "an economical issue".

João, who used to be a journalist and a postman, considers himself a "bicycle activist". His belief that cycling would benefit the city and his desire to set up his own business, led him to open Velurb in December 2014. "Creating practical solutions for people to use this vehicle on a daily basis is also a form of activism." 

The two Rs of circular economy: recovery and recycling

Hundreds of basic bicycles have passed through João's hands, which are recovered and converted into utility bikes, "abiding with the principles of comfort and safety". 

"I often say that the Portuguese are 'bicycle storage champions'; we buy poor-quality bicycles and then don't use them because we don't have good experiences using them. My aim is also to improve these bicycles, and I end up restoring a lot of them; I make good what is bad about them," says João. And he guarantees: "You can restore a utility bicycle with little investment." 

And when you can't save a "bike"? Velurb supports upcycling projects, meaning, it gives away parts that cannot be recovered or that have been discarded, extending their use cycle with artistic or functional applications. 

Let's go back to the bicycles that João recovers, which become economical solutions (from 75 euros) for many of his customers. Most of them are foreign students who come from "cycling cultures". The idea of reusing and recycling bicycles didn't come up instantly, but he began to be visited by the academic community, who "felt very left out of affordable mobility solutions". 

When gold and silver give way to unlikely materials  

After several years working as a self-employed architect and then as a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, Paula began a new cycle in her life in 2018 with the discovery of jewellery. 

The starting point was a workshop at ALQUIMIA-Lab — Escola de Joalharia in Porto, where she created "with great delight" a brass piece that we see on display at her studio. She realised, at the time, that she didn't want to continue learning precious metals. That's when the question arose: "Why not start a contemporary jewellery project using other materials?" 

"I was pushed forward by the idea of recycling associated with sustainability, which led me to take a closer look at many of the objects that are discarded in everyday life and to think about their potential," she says, while showing the materials she uses to create her pieces, carefully arranged in lots of little boxes. 

"This initial phase fuelled my creativity and got me excited about making small series of necklaces," she tells us as she turns a necklace of her own on a bust and shows us five possible ways to wear it. 

Paula assures us that each piece is worked on "in a unique way, always exploring the possibility of being used in different ways, in a process of continuous experimentation, and in order to encourage the reinvention and appropriation of the pieces by those who will wear them". 

Rubbish can be a luxury 

Some people see rubbish, others see contemporary jewellery. The value given to a piece of jewellery may not be linked to the value of the materials with which it is made. "What is made with gold will always have value because of the precious metal, with market value; what is not made of gold may have value because it is understood as art."

When inheriting your grandmother's furniture means discovering a new vocation 

Primeira Demão is the workshop, shop and studio of architect Patrícia Barbosa, who inherited her grandmother's furniture and discovered a new vocation — recovering and renovating old furniture. "I decided to make it my job, but I think it's a way of life. In essence, it's about recovering rather than buying new pieces," she tells us. 

We are surrounded by time-worn furniture, doors, windows, shutters, old frames, old lamps, locks and things that beg for intervention. These are Patrícia's raw materials. She works mainly with wood and iron pieces because they are "durable materials". "Weaker materials are not worth restoring because they don't last as long." 

Between purchases and donations, she collects furniture and objects that she gives a new lease of life to. "People already know me and when they have things they want to throw away, they call me, ask if I'm interested and I collect them," she says. She also often contacts real estate agents and contractors who show her "houses that are about to be renovated and where there may be objects and architectural elements that might be thrown away". 

In this field, Primeira Demão's most outstanding project was "Casa Verde", designed by architect Teresa Otto, where Patrícia was responsible for the interior decoration, using several objects that she had recovered and reinvented. 

She has also organised courses on furniture recovery and recycling, and on building wooden toys. There are no courses planned at the moment, but she doesn't rule out organising this type of training again. "When people get their hands dirty, they realise that things are a little more difficult and then they also value the piece and the work more".

Patrícia and her love for wood 

Wood is her element, but it has competition. One of the biggest challenges, she admits, is the battle against xylophages, the woodworms. "You think you've solved the problem, you restore a piece and in the end they're still there, resisting," she regrets. 

Founded in 2012, Primeira Demão has also endured. Recently, Patrícia has returned to focusing more on architecture because "work has come up", but her goal is "an integrated management of architecture, interior decoration and furniture recovery and restoration work using the same language". 

Aware of the role that chance has played in this project, Madalena takes us back to 2011 and a partnership between the Serralves Foundation and Super Bock. On the one hand, "there was a huge surplus of canvas as a result of the various campaigns Unicer was carrying out; on the other, there was a need to produce a personalised piece as part of Serralves em Festa," she tells us. The idea was to offer the public a useful object. And that's when, with almost no foresight, the "street cushion" took shape. For around four months, Madalena worked with the canvas, transforming 50 billboards into 5000 street cushions, with seven inmates. 

This is another part of this graphic designer's work: the social component. It was also in 2011 that the partnership with the Northern Portugal Prisons began. The first steps immediately resulted in a "very interesting work". From the start, Madalena had the cooperation of inmate tailors, "which allowed us to explore, together, different objects and find the best solutions for each situation". 

But Madalena's work isn't just about canvas, and her project also includes reusing paper, fabrics, materials from the printing industry and beer cans. The certainty, she says, is that "almost all waste can be thought of as another object: medicine boxes become notebooks and canvases become bags or hats". 

With more than ten years' experience in this type of work, Madalena believes that "the most important thing is the way we look at materials, because even when they reach the end of their life, they are still interesting" and all that is needed is "some imagination and creativity to transform them into other things with the same dignity and usefulness". 

The first challenge is to think of the new piece, which "has to be original and functional, otherwise we're creating something that's going to be rubbish again". 

More recently, Madalena has realised that, despite the work involved in reusing and repurposing, at the end of the process "there's still a lot of surplus". Therefore, the goal became "total reuse, before moving on to recycling". "One day these objects will also go to waste, but at least for now they will have a new purpose", she emphasises. 

No one doubts that recycling and reuse are very labour-intensive, difficult and expensive processes. However, the advantages of making art with new and clean materials are easily perceived. But the beauty is in the process, realising that every object tells a story and that this "story" is the most important thing. 

by Catarina Madruga

Free and abundant, they are just a stone's throw away and are constantly ignored. Some examples that Maria João mentions are nettles, "which sting but are super nutritious", fennel, "which is sweet and reminds me of cough drops", or nasturtiums, "which are spicy and have a very pretty flower". 

"Alexandre's grandmother lives in a small village in Trás-os-Montes and has a lot of knowledge about these herbs; she knows how to pick them and use them. Alexandre was bred with this knowledge from his grandmother, which may have been the seed that led us to this subject," he says. 

At the time, Porto Design Biennale's proposal focussed on other ways of walking and relating to the city. The starting point for creating A Recoletora project was "recognising these plants that pop up everywhere, that are all around us and that we don't pay any attention to". 

To begin with, they chose four study terrains, two in Porto and two in Matosinhos, where they found more than 60 species that can be eaten. "It was a very indicative number of the project's potential." 

All that was needed was to get the information to people. They created a website to identify and describe the plants, with an archive of images and information about each species, which answers these questions: What are these plants? Where can they be found? How can they be identified? What parts can you eat? How can they be cooked? 

They organised guided walks with herbalist Fernanda Botelho, who is "the great pillar of this project and a very generous person when it comes to sharing information and knowledge", cooking workshops and an exhibition of posters in the streets of Porto and Matosinhos. 

After the Porto Design Biennale, the project would come to an end, but the high level of interest from people, who wrote to ask for the dates of the next activities, led them to continue the project. 

The aim of this pair of gatherers and the rest of the project's partners is to raise awareness and draw attention to these forgotten plants. Maria tells us that "there's still a lot of work to do to raise awareness and tell people that these herbs aren't rubbish". 

We went to Horta das Condominhas, in Lordelo do Ouro, one of the 14 gardens of the "Horta à Porta" project, run by the Municipality of Porto in partnership with Lipor. We smell the wet soil and hear the sound of the hoes hitting the ground. We spoke to Joaquim, a man with a gift for words, once a journalist and now an enthusiastic farmer who has owned a plot for over two years. "My wife and I are very proud of our garden. When we make a roast, we come here to get fresh parsley, because we have the garden on our doorstep". 

On this piece of land there are kale, cabbage, chard, turnips, carrots, aromatic herbs and flowers. "Everyone has their place and plays a specific role in the garden," emphasises Joaquim. Each garden has its own organic compost, where waste is deposited, "one of the most nutrient-rich fertilisers". This horticulturist says that he has discovered that the vegetables "grow more vigorously when they are closer to the compost bucket because of its liquids and vapours". 

We chatted under the porch where Joaquim and the other gardeners regularly meet. "It's at that table that we make our feasts and bring the vegetables, full of flavour, from the ground to the table. At these gatherings we talk about anything and everything - it's a great way to keep our minds occupied." 

On another side of the city, we discovered another community garden belonging to Espaço Musas. We arrived at Rua do Bonjardim, number 996, and climbed a steep flight of stairs to reach Quinta Musas da Fontinha. It's an unpretentious place, "born from a place full of rubbish and debris, where there were even televisions and tyres". After a thorough cleaning and analysis of the soil, "it now has several plots that feed the families of Alto da Fontinha," says Luís Chambel, president of the Espaço Musas Association. 

Seeds are shared and exchanged between the horticulturists. The Espaço Musas Association has a bank of organic seeds from associations such as "Colher para Semear" and "from relatives of our gardeners who live in the villages and give them to us to share," he says. 

Each plot is named after a fruit, often after the trees that grow there. From 'Fig' to 'Plum', we stopped to look at 'Peach' - the name of the plot that Antero has been looking after for the past two years. Retired for five years, he saw it as "an opportunity to occupy his spare time". What else do they grow? Vegetables, tomatoes, strawberries and flowers. "Everything is more beautiful in spring and summer," he assures us. 

The biggest challenge in keeping the garden alive is "fighting the bugs and the invasive plants. For this we use vinegar and other natural products, without using pesticides". So, what is the biggest secret of all? Rumour has it that it is "patience and respect for the cycles of nature". 

by Maria Bastos