This week I have been re-writing a new draft of an essential document for the first year of PhD research which is the Registration project proposal.  Still in Portugal, I am inspired by the many initiatives which I hope to collaborate with for my field research.

A couple of interesting things this week.

I finally got a copy "Fabrico Próprio"!  A project and self-published book by designers Frederico Duarte, Rita João, Pedro Ferreira.  A project which has become symbolic of Portuguese Design.   It is not only visually engaging and interesting for the history of confectionery design, but more importantly, in one piece it culminates a contemporary perspective on traditional creations in the form of Portuguese cakes.

Further on the subject of food and happiness.

Delft Institute of Positive Design has provided online a lecture which took place in May 2013 with three keynote speakers on Positive Design through objects.  "Design can make our intentions tangible" Pieter Desmit

Marc Hassenzahl is professor and head of the "Experience Design" group at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen, Germany. His research interests revolve around the positive aspects of (interactive products), their beauty and the question of how to design for positive experiences.

Pieter Desmet is full professor of Design for Experience at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of the Delft University of Technology. He chairs a research group that focuses on the fields of design for emotion and subjective well-being. Main research questions are: how does design evoke emotions and influence the wellbeing of users? How can the effects of design on emotion and wellbeing be measured? And how can we wilfully design for emotion and wellbeing?

Marije Vogelzang. Her designs focus around the verb 'to eat'. Marije is inspired by the origin of food and the preparation, etiquette, history and culture around it. For this reason, she doesn't consider herself a 'food designer', but as the first 'eating designer' in The Netherlands.