esad-idea, Research in Design and Art, in its mission of dissemination, preservation, and valorization of design, has been building a collection and a document archive relevant to research in the area and fundamental to the preservation of historical knowledge in design. Originating from donations and acquisitions, the pieces that make up this collection bear witness to the mission and the exhibition route that have been developed. The collection is currently organized into three collections: the main one, consisting of about twenty pieces, reflects the Portuguese contemporary design production, highlighting a strong link between industrial design and handicrafts; a second collection, focusing on Italian design, gathers recent production pieces and iconic objects from the history of Italian design; a third collection, of a documentary nature, consists of dozens of photographic documents, scans, and video records of relevant importance for the knowledge of a wide range of themes central to the study of Portuguese design from the period of modernism to the present day.

The project of inventorying, cataloging, contextualizing, and presenting the collection, coordinated by José Bártolo and Alice Semedo (Integrated Researcher at CITCEM and Coordinator of the Research Group Education and Societal Challenges) will consolidate and make public this unique museum collection in Portugal. In this sense, in a first phase, a diagnostic evaluation will be carried out (nature and size, inventory status, conditions of conditioning of the collection); then a plan for documentation, inventory and conditioning of the collection will be developed and implemented.

As part of the inventorying and cataloging of the collection, a continuous and permanent work will be developed to present the collection to specialized and general audiences, through public talks, both in person and online, and the presentation of the pieces through the website, social networks and partners.
It is also worth mentioning the CdD’s networking with other museological (such as MUDE) and educational institutions (CITCEM/FLUP), which enhances the sharing of resources and the optimization of working methods, also facilitating public access to the works and documentation treated.