Local artist Filipe Dores opened AJAR Teahouse last month to serve British style teas as well as coffee, sandwiches and desserts, while displaying prints of some of his artwork.
The Macau Post Daily sat down with Dores last week at his teahouse on the terrace of Albergue SCM in the São Lázaro district.
Dores said that the reason he chose the name AJAR for the teahouse was because whenever you see the word ajar in a book it means something will happen. “I would like to intrigue people’s curiosity.”
Dores studied for his Master’s of Art at Edinburgh University after he graduated from what was then Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM), now Macao Polytechnic University (MPU)) after deciding that he found there was a “lack of vision working in Macau and my ideas were not accepted.” He said that to be accepted it was suggested that he should have his own studio for him to have “any likelihood of success to enhance the art culture.” But he said that there were so many problems in the operation like “how to invite customers to shows.”
“It was then that I decided to leave to see what was happening [in the art world] outside Macau. I chose the UK as I had an education experience there [he studied English in Bristol] so it was familiar. Edinburgh was totally another world. In Macau I chose Sculpture for my bachelor’s [degree], but you could only do that. When I asked other professors if I could join their classes [painting and other mediums] they wouldn’t allow me to join or use their facilities. In Edinburgh it was totally another story, I went to sculpture, painting and woodwork classes that helped to develop my ideas. I found what education should be like.”
Dores has been teaching art in Macau for almost 16 years and said that some local parents asked what education should be and said they wanted to take their children everywhere to experience many things [what the parents wanted]. Dores said, “I told them, no, the children should choose themselves. British education is not like that, the children choose and the parents help. Thankfully the parents took my advice.”
Dores said that his inspiration to get into art was from his grandfather. “My grandfather used to build architectural models for companies so growing up I was surrounded by blueprints. It was amazing to see how all the numbers eventually became buildings.”
Dores said that his first drawings were flat façades. As a student “I used to drink a lot and walk around Macau in the early hours of the morning where I could appreciate the silence of the city to get ideas. My art evolved because of the blueprints; the preciseness of architecture is also very useful. I appreciate straight lines [as] it is peaceful when the lines meet curves and capture the subtlety – creating a way of how things can be done.”
“I always think of Antoni Gaudí’s quote ‘The straight line belongs to men, the curved one to God.”
Antoni Gaudí (1852 – 1926) one of the most universal figures of Catalan culture and international architecture, devoted more than 40 years to the still unfinished Basilica of the Sagrada Familia (“Holy Family”) in Barcelona.
Dores exhibited his artwork in Macau in 2017 at the Portuguese Consul General’s official residence and Albergue SCM. He has also held exhibitions in Edinburgh, Hong Kong, New York, Osaka, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei.
Dores has a number of prints of his artwork on display at AJAR as he wants to create a wider audience, “educate about ideas”, to enhance people’s culture and appreciation of a British teahouse and art.
“I love to collect people’s art, which I have on the wall at home, I would love to have a business with enough space so that I can display all the artwork I own, but cannot so I am doing it this way,” Dores said.
Filipe Dores training staff at Ajar last week.
Filipe Dores poses outside Ajar last week.
Prints of Filipe Dores artwork.
Photos: Lesley Wells
