A Beginning Shaped by Earth
In April 2026, we will open the doors to something we have been imagining, shaping, and building over the past year: SOLM Atelier de Barro (SAB). This marks the launch of our first intensive ceramics and leadership program, created for women and youth in Calhau.
SAB began the way most meaningful things begin in our work: with a conversation, a place, and a need.
Calhau holds deep cultural knowledge, generational skill, and a resilient spirit, yet access to training and creative opportunity remains limited. The gap between talent and possibility is wide. SAB is our response to that space, a grounded, community-led way of expanding what is possible.
Over six months, participants will work with clay from earth to finished form. They will learn technical skills, explore leadership, develop creative confidence, and build connections that extend beyond the studio walls. The pace will be deliberate. The environment supportive. The focus on both personal and collective growth.
We are starting small, intentionally.
Our first cohort will welcome ten women from Calhau, creating an environment where learning can be steady, consistent, and rooted. This beginning allows us to listen closely, adapt thoughtfully, and build a program that serves the community with care and long-term commitment.
Clay is an honest teacher.
It asks for attention, patience, and presence. It reveals patterns both in the material and in ourselves. Through the process of shaping clay, participants begin shaping something even larger: the confidence to take up space, the skills to create economic opportunity, and the possibility of contributing to a regenerative creative economy in São Vicente.
Lastly, as we prepare the studio, we are also gathering the practical tools that make this work possible. Pottery wheels, kilns, hand tools, storage, and materials all form the quiet infrastructure of a space where people can learn, experiment, and grow. We welcome donations, introductions, and connections that help us build this foundation with care.
SAB is more than a new ceramics course.
It is the beginning of an annual program, and eventually, a collective ceramics studio designed for B2B partnerships and community-led creative enterprise. It is a step toward a future where local craft, regenerative design, and hospitality intersect in ways that uplift people and place.
We’re grateful to the community members, partners, and supporters who have walked with us to bring SAB to life.
And we are excited to welcome the first cohort in April.
This is just the start. And we’re honored to start here.
