Fabrico Próprio means “Own Production” and is a term used by most Portuguese cafés, patisseries and snack-bars in their shop signs, windows and packaging. It is a warrant of freshness and quality, but also of uniqueness and prestige, of the baked goods they sell – most of them sweet, one-portion cakes.

Fabrico Próprio is a multidisciplinary project on the design of semi-industrial Portuguese confectionery started in 2005 by Rita João and Pedro Ferreira (Estúdio Pedrita) and Frederico Duarte.

In 2007, this project received a grant from the Portuguese Ministry of Culture’s Direcção Geral das Artes, as well as institutional support from Turismo de Portugal and AHRESP which, thanks also to a partnership with CFPSA and a sponsorship from Delta Cafés, allowed for the making of a book, a website, a workshop and an international series of launches.

The first edition of the book Fabrico Próprio was launched in 2008 while the second, revised and expanded edition was launched in 2012. In addition to the book we organised a workshop in 2008 with the aim of proposing new Fabrico Próprio cakes, which were presented for the first time at an exhibition held, like the workshop, at MUDE – Museu do Design e da Moda Coleção Francisco Capelo, in Lisbon.

Between 2008 and 2015 we launched our book several times – in Lisbon, Porto, Montemor-o-Novo, London, Stockholm, Berlin, New York, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. We also participated in several initiatives and events, such as BIO50 – the 24th edition of the Ljubljana Design Biennale, the Best Pastel de Nata competition, the Peixe em Lisboa event and the food and design exhibition Food: Bigger than the Plate, organised by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Both the 1st and 2nd edition had only one recipe, that is, they were not recipe books. Both are sold out. We are currently working on the 3rd edition.
We make and sell books but not cakes. We can however help find and suggest bakeries, patisseries and other trusted suppliers should you be looking.