Alberto Cidraes is a Portuguese architect, who in 1970 went from Portugal to Japan to study Wood Architecture and fell in love with ceramics in the pre-industrial version still widely practised at the time.
He became an established ceramic sculptor and designer in Brazil in the seventies and eighties. In 87 he was invited to start the Ceramics Department of AR.CO an Art School in Lisbon where he stays as Dept. Chair for 3 years.
In 1990 he went back to Japan on a Japan Foundation fellowship, continuing there his ceramics career. In 93 he was one of a group of artists and designers forming the core faculty who started KIDI ,Kanazawa International Design Institute, the Japanese affiliate school of NY Parsons School of Design. From part-time lecturer to Foundation Chair his career at the school lasts 9 years. There he puts up the Humanities, Technical Drawing and Digital Design programs which he teaches solo till 2002.
At the end of 2002 he goes back to Brazil where he manages his ceramics studio to the present day.
Portfolio and present work at http://desenho.net and http://cidraes.com.
Cidraes operates a Noborigama wood kiln. His recurrent themes are the human head and sound producing ceramic objects. His work is minimalistic in materials and process and experimental in formal content.
