Caetano Mendes Dias is an interdisciplinary research-based designer, investigating the communication of the Osmocosm and ecological challenges in the discipline of design today. Caetano Mendes Dias We have been graced with five senses, but if we do not cultivate them, we might lose them one day. With the digital space, we have been disconnecting more and more from our physical reality. Obliviating the senses of smell and taste, the only senses that have a direct physical link to our brain. They are as relevant or even more relevant than our other senses, for we need them to have the full image of what we call reality. These senses evoke strong emotions in us, they were and are our initial self-defence mechanisms, the building blocks for our decisions. Today, there is a need to contemplate things - a need for lingering thoughts, critical thinking and imagination! For, many times, problems arise from hasty decisions that should have been thought out. Especially when actions are about to happen, we need to slow down, take a deep breath and smell! As an interdisciplinary designer, I use different media to reflect upon our current social challenges. I believe that multisensory experiences can awaken strong emotions in us, creating empathy and leading to moments of reflection. I have been exploring the sense of smell as a source of knowledge and a catalyst for change, to achieve a society that is more aware of their senses and interconnected with others, humans or non-humans. For a bespoke perfume creation tailored to your unique story, send me an email . EXHIBITIONS 2025 - ROOTS EXHIBITION . (Collective), Palazzo Giureconsulti, Milano, IT 2024 - GRADUATION SHOW . (Collective), Microstad, Eindhoven, NL. 2024 - HUMANS IN SPACES . (Collective), The Space Coolhaven, Rotterdam, NL. 2024 - DIGITAL FOCUS. (Collective), Witte Dame, Design Academy Eindhoven, NL. 2023 - THE SYMBIOCENE FOREST. (Collective), Bio Art Laboratories & DDW, Eindhoven. 2023 - ODOURS OF THE CLIFF . (Permanent) Centro de Interpretação da Reserva Mundial de Surf, Ericeira, PT. 2023 - PORTUGUESE SURF FILM FESTIVAL . (Collective) Galeria Orlando Morais, Ericeira, PT. 2023 - 2.ª BIENAL DE JOVENS CRIADORES DE MAFRA . (Collective) Galeria Orlando Morais, Ericeira, PT. 2023 - JAPANESE KNOTWEED FESTIVAL. (Collective), Mediamatic, Amsterdam, NL. 2023 - SILVA SYSTEM PRESENTS 01. (Collective) De Fabriek, Eindhoven, NL. 2021 - AWESOME, THANKS! (Collective) Design studio, Eindhoven, NL. 2020 - CONFINED.WORK. (Collective) Online. 2020 - FONTE DO CABO. Fonte do cabo, Ericeira, PT. PRESS KIT

An installation that invites you to smell the essential oils of Douglas Firs collected in the Wandelpark, Eindhoven in November 2022. Douglas Fir 2022 An installation that invites you to smell the essential oils of Douglas Firs collected in the Wandelpark, Eindhoven in November 2022. Douglas Firs were originally from the east coast of North America and in 1880 were brought to the Netherlands because of its economic value. However, along with Douglas Fir, other species attracted by its smell came to the Netherlands, thus changing its biodiversity Nowadays, only a small amount of trees found in the Netherlands originate from there, so this brings me to the question: How are we, humans changing the forest’s biodiversity by introducing different scents to them? What do we mean when we use the word “natural”?

The beach is the bridge between the land and the sea, between life and death, the known and the unknown. Map of Praia do Sul 2021 The beach is the bridge between the land and the sea, between life and death, the known and the unknown. This map depicts the visible and invisible matters of the cost and reveals the odd amorphic qualities of the beach in relation to its inhabitants.

DEEP BREATH is a scent which transports us to the deep sea and reminds us that, whether we are humans or extremophiles, having a nose or a chemoreceptor, we are interconnected with all forms of life on this planet. Deep Breath 2024 Deep Breath is a spatial scent that transports us back to the deep sea. The first forms of life on the planet are believed to have lived in the deepest depths of the ocean. These micro-organisms, our earliest ancestors, can be found inside the rocks of hydrothermal vents. Chemoreceptors, or primordial sensors, enable them to survive in this harsh environment filled with sulfur compounds and other substances toxic to most organisms. As they moved into new environments, their receptors evolved into complex systems, allowing them to breathe oxygen and smell their environment, like we do. Deep Breath reminds us of the importance of our olfactory receptors and of just how interconnected we are with all life forms on this planet. Read more about Deep Breath here. Purchase - Deep Breath Eau de Parfum here PRESS KIT

In between life and death, Looking At Nature On Different Scales, Finding Similarities Between Things Invisible Lives In Between Life and Death 2022 Looking At Nature On Different Scales Finding Similarities Between Things What do human artefacts look like under the microscope? What happens to yeast when food starts fermenting? How is the life of our body periphery? What kind and how many insects do we kill in our houses? And what are the relations between all these questions? Insect Spit Hair Ear wax Nail Death skin Nose mucus Sperm Loquat wine Elderflower syrup Fermentad grapes Mold Paper bag Transparent plastic bag Sandwich packaging with an insect White plastic bag Blue plastic bag Insect Spit Hair Ear wax Nail Death skin Nose mucus Sperm Loquat wine Elderflower syrup Fermentad grapes Mold Paper bag Transparent plastic bag Sandwich packaging with an insect White plastic bag Blue plastic bag Everything relates to each other at some point and at a certain level. A plastic bag is one plastic bag but is also a combination of bacteria, air, void, paint, and many other things that we don’t consider. Are all this group of stuff that forms the plastic bag constituents of it, or are they the plastic bag itself? In Ontological reductionism, everything is composed of simples. Simples are the tiniest things that can’t be decomposed and subdivided. A plastic bag is just a combination of simples arranged in a certain way, just like an insect is a combination of simples arranged in a certain way. Can we define a clear line between a plastic bag and an insect? Does the plastic bag even exist? If we agree that it is just a combination of simples, what happens if we remove some simples from it? We didn’t eliminate the plastic bag, and it still has the same properties, but can we still consider it a plastic bag? Probably everything composes something bigger and something smaller at some point. Can we say that we are an individual? We are composed of different organisms that form bigger organisms. We are made of air but is the air that we breathe part of us, or are we part of air? The air that gives life will transform at some point and kill us. There is no individuality nor collectivism, just a combination of different stuff, trogs. Our reality is based on Trogs that we created, but what if we had organized things differently and seen different connections between things? For example, is there something else between a nail and a piece of hair besides themselves? Just because we don’t have a name for that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Our definitions of things are just one way to cut up the plastic reality, they represent made-up symbols within a specific context, but they don’t exist beyond us. They are just concepts. Any assortment of things will compose a thing no matter if we acknowledge it or not. How our understanding of alive defines the idea of biological equity? "Nothing can be transformed into another nature without having been previously converted into ash, lime or earth." Nodo Sophico Enodato

DEEP BREATH is a scent which transports us to the deep sea and reminds us that, whether we are humans or extremophiles, having a nose or a chemoreceptor, we are interconnected with all forms of life on this planet. Deep breath research Chemosynthetic bacteria Hydrothermal vents Deep Breath scent Origins of olfaction Sources Chemosynthetic bacteria Chemosynthetic bacteria are chemolithotrophs that live under the extreme conditions of hydrothermal vents, thriving in temperatures that can reach up to 150 °C , and with pressures reaching 250 Atmosphere. They use sulfur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide and elemental sulfur, produced by geological activity, as an energy source to create organic material, instead of using sunlight to generate energy. Chemosynthetic microorganisms help to support the biogeochemical cycle of sulfur. They form the base of the food chain in deep-sea ecosystems, sustaining diverse organisms such as tubeworms, clams, and shrimp with unique symbiotic and commensal relationships. Tubeworms, for instance, which may grow to over 2 m, lack a mouth and gut but house billions of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in their trophosome. Tubeworms transfer haemoglobin from their red plumes to the bacteria living inside their tissues, through the use of hydrogen sulfide, and in return, the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria facilitate the tubeworms in the absorption of carbon nutrients. From your oldest ancestors, Chemosynthetic Bacteria: Chemosynthetic bacteria - Sulfur-reducing and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria - live symbiotically, complementing and sustaining each other's respiration, and energy conservation in anaerobic conditions, and they form microbial mats with various colours, contributing to the vibrant hues seen on seamounts. Let me start by reminding you of who we are. Around 4 billion years ago, in the darkens of the deep sea, we were once born, just after the oceans were formed. We are chemosynthetic bacteria, believed to be one of the first forms of life on this planet, and we have specialised sensors which allow us to perceive our environment under the sea. If you can breathe and smell now is because your sense of smell evolved from our primordial sensors, enabling you to perceive molecules in the air, just like we can perceive molecules inside the water. It was in the deep sea, that rocks and fumes self-organised to became alive and form what we are now today, tiny bacteria living inside hydrothermal vents, the unsettling undersea ridge, where extreme temperatures coming from the centre of the earth meet the freezing deep sea. You can find us inside the rocks, in complete darkness, withstanding the pressure of entire oceans while living surrounded by sulfur compounds and other substances extremely toxic for most organisms. With our chemosensors, we were able to detect sulfur compounds from the sea, which we used to generate energy. This complex mechanism allowed us to create symbiotic relationships and support the biodiversity of the hydrothermal vents. With time, our chemoreceptors took different paths and evolved to form more complex systems, such as your olfactory receptor, which helped you in the flitting moments even before you were one being. In the form of sperm, you used your olfactory receptors to help you navigate and find your egg cell, which was sending signals in the form of hormones. These olfactory receptors would later evolve into your olfactory system, during the first weeks of pregnancy. This means that inside the womb, you could smell the nutrients from your mother’s diet so that after you were born you would be familiar with them and recognize both your mother and maternal milk just by using your sense of smell. The ability to detect molecules and smell them has played a relevant role throughout the history of life. From ancient chemosensors to novel olfactory systems, the ability to perceive chemical signals has been fundamental. This journey highlights the importance of chemosensing and smelling the world around us. We believe that your olfactory system is rooted in our distant past. When you breathe in, remember our complex and beautiful interconnectivity, that weaves our ancient origins to your present existence.

Caetano Mendes Dias is an interdisciplinary research-based designer, investigating the communication of the Osmocosm and ecological challenges in the discipline of design today. Go back to main page

As above, is bellow. A collection of photos about the relevance of SCROLL DOWN SCROLL Âncora 1 Stupid Memories 2022 A small dark box containing a collection of macro-photos revolving around the subject of stupidity as a mechanism of change and free thinking. In the beginning, there was a forest inside the mercurial ocean. The sun, spirit of knowledge, always kept an eye on their creation so that nothing would escape them. In stupidity, however, the wise are always the ones who feel shame and hope, because space is round, and time is clean. The whole was to the bigger part as the bigger part was to the smallest part and simultaneously, everything that was fast was slow as slowness has always gone hand in hand with haste. There were great fruits inside of our body, and all of them sang in harmony. All the grand fruits, they whirled and whirled. To please the sun, in circles, they whirled. But alas, when the deep golden sleep arrived, the knowledge of the sun was bloodshed by the fruits and therefore, the pieces of fruit started to wane. In their wane, they whirled so fast that the soul of their body was flung away. The light left and so was born the darkest places of our body. But before evil kneaded into the space, the body was already running in the absence of time and knowledge has not stopped growing since. As above, is below.

How do we live in balance with other species and how do we take care of them? Living Donut 2020 A ceramic piece designed to grow chia seeds on its surface using the water absorption properties of ceramics. Living Donut questions how we live in balance with other species and how we take care of them. The living donut is an expression of my biophilia for plants and fertility, it is an invitation to reconnect with nature. The word fertility comes from the Latin, ferre (to bear, to transport), and just like the Living Donut, we need to have the strength to bear and transport life.

Edible wine glass made with Isolamt sugar. Re-engineering of the INAO wine glass. Sweet Wine Glass 2022 This project rethinks the traditional way of the wine industry, by creating an edible glass out of sugar. The glasses can be used during a few meals and after that, they can be transformed into something else, such as a desert.

Would it be interesting to ask what is the impact of TikTok on humanity? @ericbutter 2022 Would it be interesting to ask what is the impact of TikTok on humanity? TikTok was designed to promote disinformation, the content runs so fast that the absorption of any kind of knowledge becomes impossible, and reflection stops existing, we swipe in modus operandi , but the memories never get out of the smartphone. From the spring of the river, generalized ideas of complex problems are born, and as the river flows, systematically, the dramatization increases, and the ideas get simpler and simpler until they flow into a sea of silly, massified, and distorted ideas. TikTok is an incubator for Narcissus and just like Narcissus, in the lake, we will drown in our reflection, the only difference is that Narcissus was a subject and not something banal and objectifiable. I'm not saying that the sense of community was lost among the swipes, I would even say that we never had lived in such a collectivist world dictated by the trends of social networks, but what we can't deny is that we live in the hegemony of collective narcissism and an individualistic culture addicted to quick and easy hedonism. We, who show off what we have and what we don't have, create a toxic world, but brighter and more beautiful, we care more about our image than about ourselves, but we forget that images are just images. And thus, a discrepant chasm is created between reality and the virtual world, almost oniric space, where, those who go there always return disappointed and sad.

A short movie that tries to picture Caetano's mindset. The images were collected at Praia do Sul, his childhood beach, where he used to spend his long summer days. Nothing is happiness 2021 A contemplative two-minute video manifesto that explores the philosophy of detachment as a pathway to happiness. Rooted in the principles of ataraxia and inspired by the fleeting nature of existence, the video reflects on the human tendency to desire, possess, and cling. It invites the audience to embrace simplicity, impermanence, and the joy of "being" rather than "having." Created using a combination of found footage from the internet and scenes from movies that resonate with the theme, the video weaves a thoughtful narrative that challenges materialism and celebrates inner peace and gratitude for life's transient moments. Manifesto I believe the main thing in our life is to achieve happiness. I think that detachment can be a way. We must learn to enjoy the little moments and be grateful for them. As Horacio said, Carpe diem. We have to live detached and accept everything has its beginning and end and is transitory. The desire and despair for goods is a mistake. We will enjoy what we have and not despair because we always want more. Is there anything more bizarre than wanting money? Nobody wants money for money. Money is a means to an end. We don't need anything if not what is necessary to live, having mental and physical health. I understand that we desire objects and that we want them, but this dependence is not healthy because our happiness becomes dependent on the goods we have or do not have. I look for ataraxia, the tranquillity of not wanting to own anything. We were once nomadic and detached but, why is it so difficult now to be so again? Let go of the addictions to have more freedom. I live without worries and desires and do not look for passions. Feelings are volatile and flexible. The people we love can disappear at any time. We are living, and people come and go. I don't live looking for anyone but myself. I don't want life to love me but want to love life. We have to love ourselves and spread love around the world. I don't understand what loneliness is. Are we not always with ourselves? I believe in apathy, don't let myself drown in chaotic passion, and don't stick to carnivorous relationships. I live with a lot of emotion and enjoy it, but I accept its end and death, life is momentary, and nothing can interfere with our happiness. Happiness is always inside of us. I am always open and our possibilities. I live without expectations to not create disappointments, I don't have a direction, and I like to wander. We have to embrace the unforeseen and live by chance. It is essential to have life goals, to be prepared for the future, and try to anticipate any discomfort we could have. But we must be prepared for misfortune because the only certainty is death. Whatever happens, we have to be resilient and live with ataraxia. We cannot change the past so, I think it will always be unnecessary to suffer for what cannot be changed. We don't want to suffer, but we want to learn from the past to be happier in the present. I believe that we have always had to look for the positive in each situation. I am grateful for my privileges. I like to do nothing, to stay with me on my body, in a warm place, without noise, visual and olfactory pollution. At this moment, I am happy, and do not think about anything, I taste the happiness of doing nothing, letting go of my body, my mind, and myself. I zoom out, and I can get a clear impression of myself. I let my tastes, my knowledge, and my values go. I resign to observing nature, the universe, and nothing. I am not a person, am not dependent on myself, I'm just a happy nothing.