Ines Mendes Interprets Pao de Lo in Ceramics
In this episode of the Portugal Chronicle Podcast, Tracy Dinesen explores the deep cultural roots of one of Portugal’s most beloved traditional desserts—Pão de Ló—and its surprising connection to contemporary art through the work of emerging artist Inês.
What begins as a conversation about food quickly evolves into something much richer: a discussion with Ines Mendes about memory, family, identity, and the preservation of cultural traditions in a modern world.
Inês describes growing up with Pão-de-Ló always present at family gatherings, especially around holidays like Easter and Christmas. It represents:
- Community
- Family connection
- Shared experience and tradition
Made simply with eggs, sugar, and flour, traditional versions—like those from Margaride—are baked in ceramic forms that help create their signature soft, airy texture. Even within Portugal, styles vary widely, from drier versions in the north to softer, almost custard-like variations in the south.
And, of course, there’s debate about how to eat it—plain, with cheese, with chocolate, or paired with Port wine.
For Inês, Pão-de-Ló is creative fuel.
After returning to her hometown of Felgueiras, she began developing a ceramic collection inspired by:
- Childhood memories
- Family stories (including her grandmother’s work in a Pão-de-Ló factory)
- Everyday objects tied to the tradition
Rather than replicating the cake itself, she abstracted its forms—especially the circular shapes and central voids—into sculptural ceramic pieces.
Her work reflects not just the object, but the environment and rituals surrounding it.
Art, Identity, and Collective Memory
A central theme of the episode is the idea of collective memory—how traditions are carried, reshaped, and sometimes lost.
Inês emphasizes the importance of:
- Preserving traditional practices
- Questioning and understanding history (including its complexities)
- Resisting the pull toward a “globalized” identity that erases local culture
In a world dominated by constant digital input and global trends, she sees value in staying grounded in something specific and personal.
Looking ahead, Inês is developing a new project that combines:
- Research into traditional metal and ceramic practices
- Interviews with artisans and workers
- A final exhibition in Guimarães
- A book documenting her findings and artistic process
It’s an ambitious effort that blends academic research with artistic expression—continuing her mission to preserve and reinterpret cultural heritage.
Where to See the Work
Inês’ current work is on display at Pão-de-Ló de Margaride in Felgueiras, offering visitors a chance to experience both the tradition and its artistic reinterpretation in one place.
Final Thoughts
This episode is a reminder that culture lives in everyday things—food, objects, stories—and that art can be a powerful way to preserve and reimagine those traditions.
Welcome to the Porticle Chronicle Podcast of telling stories of real people. And now your host of Alta Costa and Tracy Dinoson. Studies of N. You got it with the Holy Costa and Tracy Dynason.
SPEAKER_02Hello and welcome. I'm Tracy Dynason. I'm here with Ina Chinvet, who is here to talk to us about a fantastic project she has been working on in meaning ceramics and palvelow. Mm-hmm. Okay. So for people like me who are not part of Portuguese culture, can you explain to me the importance of Pungalo, not just in culture, but to you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So Pandalow is something that I always see in my house growing up. It's a pastry, it's a cake, like a sponge cake that you always see around Easter, Christmas, like every event that we have, like all the family gather, we always have a pandelow in the table. And yeah, it's that symbol of like community inside the family and love and sharing. It's a big thing around all days.
SPEAKER_02And it's so having visited um the Padel de Margarida and seeing those things, it's also a very egg-heavy cake, but it's still light and fluffy. Yeah. I don't know how that's possible.
SPEAKER_01So in Magarita they still do the pondolo in the traditional way. So they only use eggs, flour, and sugar, and then bake it on like the ceramic baking sheet, no baking like a big dish for the right. Yeah. So they put one on the bottom and one on the top, and that keeps the temperature inside. And so the cake, it's very fluffy, and if you squeeze it, it's always going to go back to the original form. And the secret and especially the secret of the pondlade margarite, it's that it always stays in that exact form, even if you push it like really hard.
SPEAKER_02I know, and I have to say it's very delicious, and I've learned that you can eat it with all kinds of things. It's not just a straight cake. Yeah. And there's debate right here as to how you can eat or should eat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the pondlade margarite is a little bit more to the dry side, and we always eat it with like vino do porto to drink, and to eat it, I also like to eat it with cheese. But like you can eat it with chocolates or on its own. But around Portugal, we have very different types of pendulum. In the south, we have a pendula that's very humid, it's like very runny. And you get like those eggs with sugar, very sweet and like different textures. But in in Margarita, that's the term that I grew up in. It's like very specific and dry and fluffy.
SPEAKER_02I love it because I've actually taken to slicing it and then toasting it, yeah, and then putting a little bit of butter. Yeah, it's just lovely. Yeah. So for you, this means community and family and then gathering, and you've now interpreted this completely into your ceramic arts, which is just fascinating. How did you come across or decide this is what I'm going to do?
SPEAKER_01So I actually went back to my hometown and I started this space, and I wanted to do a collection that represented like me coming back and what Felgators represented to me. And Felgators represents a lot of family and a lot of memories growing up, a lot of stories of my grandma. Actually, what my grandma was little, she used to work at night in the Pondola factory. Oh wow, that's like a really close collection. And like she was really young and she had all these memories of working with her hands, and like I it's it's very common to have a family member to work around Pond Law, and everybody knows it. So I want really wanted to take this history and this objects, not only Pond Law, but all the objects around it, and do a collection in ceramics. And of course, the ceramic, it's very like it relates uh very like um it will it directly relates to Bandlaw because he's used to cake, like to bake it, right?
SPEAKER_02So for those of you who don't know, it is like a um is like a tube, like like you would bake like an angel food cake or a plant cake.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah um and so I saw that round the integral circles repeated a lot in your work, yeah. Um, and using it in different ways. Of what I found interesting was the ornamentation on another structure showing how Pablo is there, always kind of present.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I I I actually started to do the forms, and when I first started the collection, I I talked with an historian from Felgadesh, and he actually told me, Inez, you're not doing it correctly because bundle law is baked on a round bowl, right? And then, like traditionally, they would put a cup upside down on the middle, and then the cake would bake around it, right? Okay, but for me, I didn't see a bowl as a way to represent Bandal and to make the association very quickly. So I actually made it like a hole in the middle. And when I started to work on the farm, I did it big, I did it small, and then what I did, I I just played around uh big drone pots, and I would add it around it, like on the lids, on the sides, and that would help me to make a composition that would work like on itself. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I also love the the egg collection basket that you made out of ceramics. It's just the whole collection is beautiful. I think you've done a great job with it. And um thank you for sharing this piece of history with us and letting us into your world. Um, but also I love seeing your growth as an artist too, and how you're kind of coming into different things that are representing things that are really important to you and pulling those together. It's just beautiful to see.
SPEAKER_01I really I think it's really important for me as an artist, and what I'm realizing is to work on the collective memory, right? Especially as a woman and as a Portuguese person, because I always carry these memories, and every time I'm working, I always remember my grandma's stories. I always relate to all those things that I heard growing up. And in the technical part for me, it's very fascinating to work on the wheel because every time I'm on the wheel, I get better. And for this collection, I really wanted to throw big pieces, and I'm finally being able to do them more. And I know I have a lot to grow, to learn and to grow, but it's really fun to me also realize like I can do more things, you know, because in the beginning I wanted to do big pieces on the wheel, but I didn't have the skills yet. So yeah, I'm excited also to learn in the next years and to get better and better in the technical side so I can apply on my work.
SPEAKER_02The element of traditional historical memory is just so important to maintain and capture because particularly in the modern world, it feels like those things were becoming less and less important, but they're so integral to culture and who you are as a person.
SPEAKER_01Yes, true. And I think like when I talk with younger people, and I know I'm young, but it's like I I always see I see everybody wants to have a personality that is general, right? And it's like worldwide. And especially like this tradition is being lost because the influence of social media and the presence of like autos referenced at the same time in your phone, right? But um, I think it's really important to keep some traditional to always be critical because Portugal history is also very complex and it's always not right, but we have to talk about it, otherwise it's just getting lost. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I know that this is just your current collection, but as an artist, you're always working on the next collection. So, what are some of the things you have in the background that you're working on or aspiring to complete over the next year or two?
SPEAKER_01So uh from now until the summer, I'm working on a project that I've been dreaming on doing for three years now. I'm going to do some research between iron and ceramic, and I'm going to interview some potters and also some iron workers, and then I'm going to apply the techniques that they teach me into doing a collection of my own. So this result is the result of this project is going to be an exhibition in Guimarage and also a book that I'm going to apply my academic studies because I've been researching around this for so long that I have so many texts that I'm going to finally be able to combine. And I'm really excited about it.
SPEAKER_02Well, I it just sounds wonderful, and I know it's also a marrying of the things that you love, but metalwork is so important to your family as well.
SPEAKER_01Yes. So my father is a metal worker and he never saw it himself as an artist or a craft man, you know? Yeah. Because it's like it's production, it's industrial, it's just to get your work done and get the gate done. But um, since I've been studying in the fine arts, and when I was in the fine arts, going back to the metal work has been really special to also have a different connection with my father and to also show him that other side of iron can also be art because it's really special to do all that work by hand, you know. Like, oh yeah, it's amazing. So yeah, I've been soldering since I am a teenager, so it's really nice to also apply that to my work.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I look forward to seeing this next collection come to pass. And thank you. You can come and see, you can see Inace's work until April 5th. Yes. At um the Palô de Magarita in Phil Gash. And so that information, of course, is on our page, and you can get some additional information in the written post on Twitter. So thank you so much for the invitation. Thank you for the thing. We really appreciate it. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to the Porticle Chronicle podcast. Make sure to like and subscribe and follow us on social media. Obviously, video podcast, the Particle Chronicle. Or take it out of it.