BEST PORTUGAL BRANDS
Article by Isabel Maria
DIS_FUNCTION of the ceramic brand Terrakota concerns a Ceramic that decides not to serve
In the universe of Portuguese ceramics, Liliana Silva, creator of the Terrakota brand, has been challenging conventions with work that inhabits the margins between design, art and the manifesto.
Images kindly provided by the ceramist
The latest collection, presented by Terracotta, takes this challenge further — or better, deeper — with DIS_FUNCTION, a set of pieces that refuse utility as a condition of form.
“In this new collection, I let instinct guide the shape and scale. Each piece belongs to a greater whole. This is an investigation into transformation, where ceramics goes beyond its limits and becomes something more.” — Liliana Silva
Between the useful and the useless, a new territory
Composed of six unique pieces — Uselessness, Terramorphs, Funcídio, Unmeasured, Formless , Subverted — the collection DIS_FUNCTION is an assumed deconstruction of the function. Each object refuses to contain, sustain or obey. Here, ceramics are not suitable: affirms. Uselessness is an aesthetic choice, philosophical and political.
The manual gesture — shaping, carve, paint — it is visible on every inch of matter. Intense and matte colors (azul, red, orange, yellow and green) emphasize the autonomy of each piece. They are bodies in a state of freedom.
The Pieces
Uselessness
Form exists without function. Matter in its pure state, where silence speaks loudest.
Matt blue ceramic. Molde manual. Order to order.
Terramorphs
Changing terracotta. The form dissolves, denies. Tradition is reimagined.
Matt red ceramic. Molde manual. Order to order.
Funcídio
When the function is abandoned, the object stands as a ceremonial and manifest gesture. Matt blue ceramic. Molde manual. Order to order.
Unmeasured
Disproportionate, excessive, affirmative. Function leaves the body, but the body remains. Matt orange ceramic. Molde manual. Order to order.
Formless
Form free from function. Imperfect, unstable, entire. The dysfunction is the language.
Matt yellow ceramic. Molde manual. Order to order.
Subverted
The counterform of utility. Each piece distorts and refuses, making error an aesthetic choice.
Matt green ceramic. Molde manual. Order to order.
A new grammar for Portuguese ceramics
DIS_FUNCTION is more than a collection — it is a language proposal. Liliana Silva challenges us to see ceramics beyond their domestic place, proposing it as a territory of thought and expression. Instead of containing liquids, These pieces contain ideas. These are works that attract the eye, who ask for time, and which perhaps also require a certain surrender: to uselessness, to excess, to free gesture.
Official presentation at Hotel Meliá Braga
After presenting themselves at the Lisbon Design Week 2025, the next day 21, o Hotel Melia Braga receives another presentation of the collection with the event Meet the Artist — an intimate conversation with Liliana Silva creator of Terrakota, followed by dinner. A special opportunity to get to know the artist’s creative process up close, and watch some of the pieces live in a careful and inspiring environment.
The first images of the location already show the strength of the scenography: the ceramic pieces seem to inhabit the space with authority, as if they had always belonged there.
