Gentler Futures Festival 2026

Gentler Futures Festival
Volume 2: Towards Ecosystem Regeneration

Friday, June 5 (15h00 — 23h00)
Saturday, June 6 (10h00 — 23h00)

A celebration of design as agent of change, design that goes beyond (design) and stimulates a type of transformation that sometimes is (cultural), other times (social), sometimes (economic), and other times (environmental).

Full program and line-up soon on gentlerfutures.com .



About the festival

Gentler Futures Festival is a two‒day event exploring what it means to design today, what are the challenges that twenty‒first century designers face and which legacy they hope to leave behind. To do so, the Festival gathers in one place the designers, makers and architects whose work is shaping the futures we would like to live in: planet‒centred, local‒based, non‒linear and post‒consumerism. The program, featuring hands‒on workshops, talks, temporary exhibitions, installations and live performances, aims to pose questions, launch provocations and inspire new mindsets.

The theme of the new edition, Towards Ecosystem Regeneration, envisions design as a form of advocacy for nature itself—a way to work with (and for) natural systems, rather than simply drawing from them. Honouring the countless other beings who have lived and adapted long before us, designers, architects and makers are invited to listen, learn, and find inspiration in their intelligence and in their wisdom. From designing with nature to creating for non-human species and embracing spiritual ecology, the theme Towards Ecosystem Regeneration poses an essential question: how can design go beyond “minimising harm” to become a true gift back to the Earth?

This year, Gentler Futures Festival unfolds across three locations in Lisbon: Mouraria Creative Hub (Rua dos Lagares 23), JAM Lisbon (Avenida 24 de Julho 80) and Bio Lab Lisboa (Mercado do Forno do Tijolo).



About the program

Friday, June 5 

15h00 — Workshops
18h00 — Talk session
20h00 — Food, drinks and DJ sets 

Saturday, June 6 

10h00 — Workshops
13h00 — Food and drinks
14h00 — Talk session
16h00 — Workshops
19h00 — Food, drinks and DJ sets 

Talks, performances and screenings will be held in English. Workshops will be held in English or in Portuguese depending on the preference of the participants.



Become a (changemaker)

Most of the Gentler Futures Festival program is free to attend. Not because it has no cost—but because we believe access should not depend on it.

At the same time, organising the Festival requires months of work—from research and curation to coordination, production and communication. Public funding supports part of that work, but not all of it.

This year, we introduce the (changemaker) pass: a patron type of access for those who wish to support the work behind the initiative, while helping us keep most of the program open and accessible to others.

By becoming a (changemaker), you directly contribute to sustaining Gentler Futures Festival as an independent not-for-profit initiative, while receiving:
— invitation to the pre-opening aperitivo on June 4 together with the team and this year’s line-up of projects
— access to a workshop of your choice
— limited edition (gentler) tote bag, made in Europe
— a (changemaker) badge and lanyard

The (changemaker) pass is available now. 
Early bird tickets for individual workshops and General access registration will open on May 12. 
Late bird tickets for individual workshops will open on May 26.

Learn more on gentlerfutures.com/tickets.



About the workshops


01.1 — Designing with a tree: from fruit to object
Tutor: Andrea Bandoni (she/her)
Friday, June 5 — 15h00 — Duration: 2 hours
Max. 15 participants — €10 (early bird), €12.50 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Learn how to work with the Crescentia cujete tree, whose fruits become ‘cuias’—lightweight vessels used across Latin America. Through discussion and hands-on experimentation, participants explore what it means to design with a tree, engaging with traditional Amazonian objects and rethinking the relationship between making, materials, and living systems. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


01.2 — Beyond the recipe: writing food and memory
Tutor: Inês Neto dos Santos (she/her) at The Gramounce
Friday, June 5 — 15h00 — Duration: 3 hours
Max. 15 participants — €16 (early bird), €20 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Use the recipe as a starting point to think beyond instructions. This workshop explores food as a language, looking at gestures, memories, and sensory elements around cooking and sharing. Through discussion and writing, participants deconstruct and rewrite recipes to express personal experiences, ideas, and stories connected to food. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


01.3 — Invisible creatures: create and care for your own micro-ecosystem
Tutor: Mónica Esteves (she/her)
Friday, June 5 — 15h00 — Duration: 2.5 hours
Max. 12 participants — €22 (early bird), €27.50 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Enter a jar where invisible life transforms food into new flavours and textures. This workshop introduces fermentation through tasting and shared making, as participants prepare a collective ferment together. Each person leaves with a living micro-ecosystem to care for, observe, and slowly understand through time. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


01.4 — Create biotextiles from human by-product: hair
Tutor: Laura Oliveira (she/her)
Friday, June 5 — 15h00 — Duration: 3 hours
Max. 12 participants — €14 (early bird), €17.50 (late bird)
Location: Bio Lab Lisboa

Human hair, often discarded and slow to decompose, becomes a material for making biotextiles. This workshop introduces simple biomaterial and craft processes, inviting participants to experiment directly with hair and rethink its value. It opens a practical view on how overlooked resources can be transformed into usable materials. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


02.1 — Carbon-negative soup: soil regeneration meets cooking
Tutors: Alicia Ville (she/her), Crystal Mah (she/her) at Grounds of Care, Riel Bessai (he/him) at Studio Method
Saturday, June 6 — 10h00 — Duration: 3 hours
Max. 14 participants — €20 (early bird), €25 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Learn how to turn waste wood into biochar using a simple, low-tech process. Participants run a full cycle together, from firing a small kiln to producing charcoal, while using the heat to cook. The session connects soil health, carbon, and everyday practice, ending with shared food and material to take home. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com. 


02.2 — Biomaterials from place: exploring local ecologies through bioplastics
Tutors: Felipe Shibuya (he/him), Tiago Torres-Campos (he/him)
Saturday, June 6 — 10h00 — Duration: 3 hours
Max. 12 participants — €22 (early bird), €27.50 (late bird)
Location: Bio Lab Lisboa

Develop bioplastics using ingredients linked to the Portuguese landscape, such as Alentejo soils and water from the Tejo. Through guided mixing, heating, and casting, participants test how material choices affect outcomes. The focus is on process and decision-making, connecting hands-on work with local ecological conditions. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


02.3 — Colour and matter: exploring natural dyes and biomaterials
Tutor: Agnese Raimondi (she/they) at Agmnesia
Saturday, June 6 — 10h00 — Duration: 3 hours
Max. 9 participants — €20 (early bird), €25 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Work with plants and food scraps to dye textiles using simple folding and binding techniques. The leftover dye water is then reused to create biomaterials with agar agar and gelatine, testing open-source recipes. The session links hands-on making with material awareness and offers methods to continue experimenting. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


02.4 — From fiber to form: local plant residues as materials for making
Tutors: Julia Steketee (she/her), Igor Barboza (he/him) at Bagaceira
Saturday, June 6 — 10h00 — Duration: 3 hours
Max. 12 participants — €18 (early bird), €22.50 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Explore plant fibres as a local material, from corn husks to cork and brewing residues. Participants compare their properties and origins, then use bio-based binders to create small moulded objects. The workshop offers a practical way to understand how regional fibres can become useful materials. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


02.5 — Listen to the city: a more-than-human soundwalk for regenerative design
Tutor: Anna Bertmark (she/her)
Saturday, June 6 — 10h00 — Duration: 2 hours
Max. 15 participants — €12 (early bird), €15 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Join a guided sound walk using headphones and specialised microphones to listen beyond human hearing—trees, soil, and water flows. Through recording and sharing, participants explore how listening to more-than-human worlds can inform their practice, opening new ways to think about design beyond human needs. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


02.6 — Under the morning light: practices for witnessing and writing the ephemeral
Tutor: Isadora Alves (she/her) at Sympoietic Society
Saturday, June 6 — 10h00 — Duration: 2 hours
Max. 12 participants — €8 (early bird), €10 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

In Jardim da Cerca da Graça, participants explore the city through writing, movement, and sensory attention. The session focuses on light, sound, and atmosphere, inviting a closer reading of everyday spaces. Through guided exercises, it opens a way to notice subtle shifts and rethink how we relate to urban landscapes. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


03.1 — Magical materiality: natural materials, relational practices and symbolic transformation
Tutor: Julee (she/her)
Saturday, June 6 — 16h30 — Duration: 2.5 hours
Max. 12 participants — €8 (early bird), €10 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Work with plants, earth, water, wax, and stone as materials that carry cultural and ancestral meaning. Through discussion and hands-on composition, participants explore how meaning emerges from relationships between elements, contexts, and intentions, creating small arrangements that act as symbolic expressions. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


03.2 — Reinterpreting terrazzo with construction and demolition waste
Tutor: Mayra Deberg (she/her)
Saturday, June 6 — 16h30 — Duration: 3 hours
Max. 12 participants — €14 (early bird), €17.50 (late bird)
Location: Bio Lab Lisboa

Use construction and demolition waste—glass, bricks, stones, concrete—to create terrazzo-like surfaces. Participants select fragments, mould a piece, and work on finishing pre-cast samples through sanding and polishing. The workshop explores how building debris can be transformed into new materials carrying traces of past spaces. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.


03.3 — Foraging questions: thinking with wild edible plants
Tutor: Fede Fantini (she/they)
Saturday, June 6 — 16h30 — Duration: 2.5 hours
Max. 10 participants — €10 (early bird), €12.50 (late bird)
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

Walk through the city identifying wild edible plants and asking what they reveal about the environments they grow in. Observation becomes the starting point for dialogue, as the group gathers questions from the urban landscape and turns them into a shared philosophical reflection on ecosystems and coexistence. Learn more on gentlerfutures.com.



About the talks


Friday, June 5 — 18h00
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

01.1 — Voicing the Tagus River ecosystem through human and technological assemblages
Speaker: Joana Pestana (she/her) at Eden X

01.2 — Fauna: abiotic architecture for the biotic world
Speaker: Zain Ansari (he/him) at Phyta Biodesign

01.3 — Interspecies Internet: connecting, imagining, co-creating
Speaker: Carolina Almeida (she/her) at Interspecies Internet


Saturday, June 6 — 14h00
Location: Mouraria Creative Hub

02.1 — Practices of repair: working between territory, matter and time
Speaker: Andreia Garcia (she/her) at Architectural Affairs

02.2 — The intelligences we forgot: designing from the origins in the age of AI
Speaker: Sofya Abramchuk (she/her) at Originate Institute

02.3 — Designing Sustainable Futures: reflections on contemporary design
Speaker: Ana Mestre (she/her) at SUSDESIGN

02.4 — From waste to Matter: a decade pursuing bio-based materials
Speaker: Ana Lima (she/her) at MATTER



Performances and installations

Megan Ammari — Mariana Martins de Oliveira, Miguel Teodoro, Teresa Carvalheira (Pousio) — Francisca Paiva — Jeremy Morris, Luca Carlisle (Fahrenheit.works) — Alicia Ville, Crystal Mah (Grounds of Care), Riel Bessai (Studio Method) — László Cseresznyés, André Trindade (BY THE END OF MAY) — Jian Lin Wong, Katja Heilingbrunner— LarbitSisters — Feed Your Future (IED Barcelona) — Francisca Sotto, Sofia Magalhães — Ximo Berenguer Hernandis, Carlos Pastor Garcia (La cuarta piel) — Studio R9.



How to attend

The (changemaker) pass is available now. Early bird tickets for workshops open on May 12. Late bird tickets for workshops open on May 26. The (changemaker) pass, workshop tickets, and limited edition merch can be purchased with debit or credit card (via Ticket Tailor), and by bank transfer or MB Way (instructions during checkout). Prices vary according to the workshop and reflect the cost of the materials required. Please note that ticket sales are non-refundable.

Talks, performances, installations and exhibitions are free to attend upon registration (General access registration will open on May 12). While the venue is open for all, the Talks Room will have limited seats available which are allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

Mouraria Creative Hub
Rua dos Lagares 23
1100-300 Lisbon