Life balanced on the edge of an…egg

February 24, 2008

Jose Joaquim is the eldest of 5 siblings of the Ribeiro family that has owned and operated Cutipol Foundry in Caldas Das Taipas, Portugal since its opening in 1952. Having taken over daily management of the business from his father – Jose Joaquim Sr. – Jr. is responsible for finding a balance between the traditions of the past – upheld by an unshakable faith in the importance of the role of the artisan – and the realities of a modern marketplace where demand for Cutipol designs stretches from Kobe to Copenhagen.

For the past 30 years, Jose Joaquim has worked to align his aesthetic preference for minimalism with the functional requirements of the objects he designs. As the Designer and Production Manager for Cutipol, he is constantly at the center of family- and company-wide collaborations. “I try to make things with a purity and simplicity. When you strip down the added decoration to the design, you need a very specific focus. I have a simple life – I enjoy the small things – simplicity is analogue to how I try to live.”

Having spent his childhood living literally next door to the foundry and accompanying his father on business trips, the balance of work and life for Jose Joaquim is somehow something more profound than it might at first seem. “It is like Columbus’ Egg,” (referring to a metaphor widely referenced in Portuguese and Spanish cultures about the apparent ease with which one can make an egg stand on its end). “The trick is to make it all look ‘effortless’ and it is the hardest thing to achieve.” With such lofty goals, we asked Jose Joaquim how he manages to measure his progress: “My father of course – he is still the owner and he visits us at the foundry every week.”