Portugal’s geographical location, bordered by a vast coastline,  has cultivated a close relationship between the Portuguese people and the sea. This acknowledged geographical and historical circumstance is revisited in the work Barco da Mariquinhas, a piece consisting of a small boat covered in traditional tiles of varied patterns, typically used to adorn the interiors and exteriors of many Portuguese homes. The unusual association between kitsch tiles and the small boat, combined with the title of the piece, derived from the poem ‘A Casa da Mariquinhas’, popularised in various musical adaptations of fado, restores the metaphor of the sea as the home of the Portuguese.