Love vs Power? Bio of the duo Infracções

LUISA CODER

I approach design as a social, experimental and creative expression that forms a counterpoint to an increasingly oppressive and widespread day-to-day existence.

I defend radical and individual constructions that go against a rationalism of a simply economic nature, promoting the standardisation of characterless brands sustained by good publicity strategies and marketing, through which: the “target audience” is always the “happy victim.”

IADE EQUIPMENT DESIGN COURSE.

GUEST ASSISTANT TEACHER
COORDINATED THE AREAS OF:
VISUAL DESIGN III – 4th YEAR
VISUAL PRODUCTION DESIGN PROJECT- 3rd YEAR
TWO-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN – 2nd YEAR
COMMUNICATION DESIGN – 2nd YEAR

Invited to join the teaching staff at IADE when she finished her course, she taught as an assistant during the first years. In parallel, she opened her own studio, working in the areas of visual, product and interior design. She began producing authorial products for export (Spain and Holland).

In 1987, with José Russell, she founded the Infracções group, working almost exclusively in furniture and lighting design, with various forays into areas such as: jewellery design (including a movement that stripped goldsmithing of its luxury nature and economic symbol), eco design (through recycling pieces, subverting their initial functions), thematic design (including anti-war and anti-brand themes etc. In 2009 she left IADE, devoting herself exclusively to her design activities.


JOSÉ RUSSELL

Interactions with the environment around us, as well as everyday perceptions and experiences, have an unconditional influence on us and these perceptions are present in both the most rationalist aspects and the most playful and experimental. On the more rational side, I aim for a durable aesthetic and a formal language better adapted to consumer demand but, in a constructed protest of rupture, I sometimes get the urge to break with certain design orthodoxies, go against the rational and monotonous mechanisms, where objects are standardised like a uniform, all the same, differenced only by their hierarchy.

SECOND YEAR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

WORKED IN MOROCCO AND ALGERIA ON A PROJECT FOR PRE-FABRICATED HOUSES IN DEVASTATED AREAS.

ATTENDED ESCOLA ANTÓNIO ARROIO

DESIGN COURSE AT ARCO

ATTENDED CONTACTO DIRECTO SCHOOL OF GOLDSMITHING

In 1987, he started the INFRACÇÕES– Furniture and lighting design collective with Luísa Coder.

Research interests – academic and personal:

Type of globalisation underway, the power of the media, the power of brands and consumerism.

INFRACÇÕES EXHIBITIONS

1991  GALERIA ARTE PERIFÉRICA       
1992  1º FÓRUM DESIGN QUALIDADE
1992  CENTRO CULTURAL DE S.LOURENÇO
1993  BARATA GALERIA - MÓVEIS PERDIDOS
1993  ALTAMIRA - PORTO
1993  GEORGETOWN PARK MALL – EXHIBITION OF PORTUGUESE PRODUCTS –WASHINGTON
1994  LISBOA DESIGN 94 - CENTRO CULTURAL DE BELÉM
1994  LISBOA DESIGN 94 – MID DIMENSÃO
1995  GALERIA VANTAG – ANTI – MONTRA
1995  PARTICIPATIONS IN THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM CD ROM
         UM PROJECTO CONTRA A DESERTIFICAÇÃO DA CULTURA 
        [A PROJECT AGAINST CULTURAL DESERTIFICATION]
1996  GALERIA VANTAG – BATMAN
1996  FIO DE PRUMO – DESIGN GLOBAL
1999  PRIMAVERA DO DESIGN IN BARCELONA
1999  EXPERIMENTAIS OU EXPERIMENTÁVEIS
          OPENING OF EXPERIMENTA DESIGN – CONVENTO DO BEATO
1999  COEXISTÊNCIAS – PATRIARCAL DE LISBOA
2000  DESIGN 2000 – PALACIO GALVEIAS
2000  DISEÑO PORTUGUÊS – UN COMPROMISO CON LA INDUSTRIA -  MADRID
2001  DESIGN FROM SINNE +5 PORTUGAL - BERLIN
2004  CASA LISBOA 2004 – DESIGN AMBIENTES
2006  MOUSSE - CONCEPT STORE
2006 RABIH HAGE EXHIBITION -  LONDON
2009  MUSEU DO NEOREALISMO – FACTORY/MANUFACTORY
2010 GALERIA ARTICULA – DEBATE AND VIEWING OF THE SHORT FILM
                             GAZA – TRIBUTE TO THE PALESTINIAN   PEOPLE 
2010 GALERIA ARTHOBLER – BLOODCAST INSTALLATION – CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR
2011 DESIGNARTE – A INFRACÇÃO – LISBON
2011 PARTICIPATION IN LIVRO SEM USO – EXPERIMENTA
2013  A LINHA DA VIZINHA – JASPER MORRISON
                                        INFRACÇÕES – LUÍSA CODER/ JOSÉ RUSSELL