Pietro Cavalcanti is an artist and educator working with textiles, drawing, and writing. Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, he lived in Beijing as a teenager, an experience he later reflected on during his college years through an interest in Eastern philosophy, meditation, and embodied practices such as qigong.

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He moved to New York to study Communications Design at Pratt Institute, where he became interested in experimental graphic design and analog processes, including calligraphy, collage, and printmaking. Throughout this time, he maintained a strong routine of journaling and drawing, closely connected to his studies of Buddhism, Daoism, and Zen. Alongside his artistic practice, Pietro began teaching art at an alternative primary school while still in college. After graduating, he continued teaching while also working for several years as an apprentice to

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a sign painter, developing skills within the American lettering tradition and engaging with an older, craft-based form of graphic design. This experience led him to pursue a Master’s degree in Art Education at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. He later taught high school art before moving to Europe.

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Time spent in Japan further shaped his relationship to making through bookbinding, papermaking, rope-making, indigo dyeing, and shodō (expressive calligraphy), grounding his practice in slow, tactile, and meditative processes.

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He now lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal. Since moving to Europe, his artistic practice has become the central focus of his work. While taking a step back from daily teaching, he continues to offer workshops and is exploring new materials and themes in relation to living and working in a new cultural context.