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AECT

Crafted by women aged 70 to 80, who weave nothing but a plant called palmeira, which grows in the same wastelands of their youth.

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WOVEN BY THE VITALITY OF OLD AGE

The story4piecesSee the pieces

The AECT - Associação Em Contacto Tavira – is composed of psychologists, physiotherapists, activity leaders, and volunteers. They meet weekly with a clear purpose: to care for the local senior population, breaking isolation, promoting inclusion, and uniting people through art and culture.

When visiting Tavira (Algarve, Portugal), you might find the coordinators chatting with the elderly, exchanging recipes, or planning outings.

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Volunteers may be on home visits, helping with shopping and medication, keeping company, or conducting safety checks. In the workshop, seniors exercise their memory and dexterity, learning new techniques or picking up crafts they mastered many decades ago.

Since 2000, AECT has evolved from a small rural association into a beacon of social innovation, where age transforms into experience, loneliness into activity, and care into community.

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The journey

AECT

About AECT

AECT stands for Associação Em Contacto Tavira (Association in Contact Tavira), and its team is made up of psychologists, physiotherapists, activity leaders and volunteers. They meet once a week with a clear purpose: to care for the local elderly population by breaking isolation, fostering inclusion and bringing people together through art and culture.

Weekly Activities and Community Engagement

If you visit them in Tavira, you will likely find the coordinators chatting with seniors, swapping recipes or planning outings. Volunteers may be out on home visits, helping with groceries, medication, company or safety checks. In the atelier, seniors can exercise their memory and their hands, learning new crafts or carrying on with the ones they mastered decades ago.

Mission and Impact

Their mission centers on promoting well-being through human connection and creativity, turning everyday interactions into meaningful experiences that reduce loneliness and foster a sense of belonging.

Growth and Legacy

Since 2000, AECT has grown from a small rural association into a beacon of social innovation, where age becomes experience, loneliness becomes activity, and care becomes community.

The technique

ABOUT THE PRODUCTS

AECT, Associação Em Contacto Tavira, is made up of psychologists, physiotherapists, activity coordinators and volunteers. They meet weekly with a clear purpose: to care for the local senior population, breaking isolation, promoting inclusion and bringing people together through art and culture.

Handmade by AECT

The pieces

There was a time when farmers made some of their own tools. In Tavira (Algarve, Portugal), that time is not so long ago. Perhaps they didn't need to make the spade or the sickle, of course, but what good are they if you don't have the baskets to carry an abundant harvest? That is what we learned: fifty years ago, it was still common for local farmers to make their own straw baskets so they could harvest potatoes and carob. And do you know what we couldn't believe? Besides making these pieces, some of these artisans still work in the fields every day. In their faces, in their hands and in their stories, we found a tapestry of time and strength.

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