In central Portugal, dreamers reveal why multicultural community is their most valuable asset.

1200m above sea level, 164 kilometres from Porto and 217 kilometres from Lisbon, in the Lousã mountains, a group of ceramists with various experience levels are feeding the wood-fired Sasukenei kiln built in 2015 by a group of Portuguese ceramists with the help of the master Masakazu Kusakabe.

The process will take 36 hours to reach the desired temperature of 1,285°C and another 18 hours to cool down. Then, the students will be able to see their pieces; often it will be a surprise as this type of kiln creates an unexpected finish. For the time of firing the kiln, the group is split into teams of two, and each team works two-hour shifts. By the end of it, the teams are thoroughly swapping observations. "How was the temperature, how did it rise, do we need to put wood slower or faster, " told me Tatiana Simões, the Arts & Crafts School Manager. "They need to exchange this information because the kiln has pieces from all of them, and all of them have the responsibility to keep this fire under control."