Transitional Botijos
Fired porous clay
2024
LOCATION
ROLE
TEAM
Waking Life Festival, Crato, Portugal
Artist
Taller M

Created for Midsummer Mourama - two lakeside dwellings positioned at the threshold of land and water, where the 'Enchanted Moura' awaken and guide us through moments of transition. Designed by Cella Collective, La Cuarta Piel and Public House.
The Transitional Botijos were created for the Midsummer Mouramas, a series of lakeside dwellings where the Enchanted Moura sleep, mythical beings said to guard the threshold between land and water, designed and built by Cella Collective, Public House and La Cuarta Piel.

The hanging Botijo is a traditional cooling system and vessel made of porous clay; the botijo holds water, cools the water, and bathes visitors. Suspended within the lakeside structures, the two botijos guided the transition between land and water, serving as both functional water vessels and symbolic objects of transformation. Their form was inspired by the chrysalis as an archetype of transformation. As the clay cooled the water, the vessels invited visitors to pause, wash, and interact with one another, creating a ritual of refreshment and exchange at the threshold between land and water.

Image captions

IMAGE 1 Midsummer Mouramas © Illias Teirlinck
IMAGE 2 & 3 Botijo designs and unfired, hand-built forms
IMAGE 4  Fired hanging botijo


 










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