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Bela Silva's Estremoz clay dolls

In the same week they were classified as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, the clay figures form Estremoz came to all our stores on notebook covers and wrapping paper drawn by artist Bela Silva. She has always been fascinated and inspired by the dolls’; “very honest, almost primitive, creativity”, which she finds “is linked to the essence, to the heart”. Used to working with pottery, she wanted to turn the Estremoz dolls into drawings, and she is certain they were worthy models: “When I draw these figures on paper, they gain new life. They are almost like characters, you can take them, come up with a story and get them moving. That part is not up to me though...”