Blenders Design Lab - Lisbon

There are a lot of things that make me wish I was in Lisbon on a more regular basis - sun, custard cakes and my family to name but a few. But I really kicked myself for not being home when I was very kindly invited to the opening of the Blenders Design Lab (40 Rua do Feragial)by Portuguese interior designer Marta Carreira. I've posted about her work before because I love her style and I was really excited to learn that along with Joana Borges de Carvalho and Eduardo Carvalho da Silva, she's opened a new shop that suits its' name perfectly. Vintage pieces sit next to design one-offs that nestle on shelves with modern art. The shop stock fluctuates to reflect the owners recent finds. Blenders design lab has just jumped to the top of my must-visit list the next time I'm home. Until then, Marta was kind enough to supply a few photos.

Shop in the spotlight: SIMPLEFORMSDESIGN

SIMPLEFORMSDESIGN was founded in 2004 by two Portuguese designers, Alzira Peixoto and Carlos Mendonça. They combine cutting-edge technology with artisan craftsmanship to create unique and simple products across a variety of ranges for the bathroom, the table and the kitchen. They’ve also resurrected some old methods for working with cork that I find interesting. Their website is really worth a look when you’ve got some time and a cup of tea handy – it’s worth browsing rather than zooming through! It's a good thing they don't have a link to an online shop because there is nothing on that website I don't crave for my home!

Camouflage...but not as you know it.

Everyone has things that they'd rather visitors didn't see. I'm not talking skeletons in the closet here (although, you know, I wouldn't judge...), more along the line of unused kitchen gadgets. Or garden tables in the rainy season (which here in England, seems to take up about 11 months of the year). So The Camouflage Company could have a niche to fill with their camouflage table covers. I'm can't decide whether the idea is really cool or a little kitsch but either way their products are interesting. Having to grow the same plants pictured on the cover to make the camouflage work might get a bit boring though.

Old mirrored tiles

Sometimes what you pick up in an advert isn't the product itself but the surroundings. That's what happened when I saw this Zoffany ad online - although the wallpaper they're pushing really is very pretty, I'm totally enamoured with the old mirrored tiles they've used for the shoot. I had a quick look online but couldn't find any - please do let me know if you've seen anything similar!

Charming illustrations: Madalena Matoso

Madalena Matoso illustrates children's books. Her designs are simply pretty - and I only wish she'd sell them in print form as they'd make lovely gifts for new parents!

Shop in the spotlight: Red Candy

Red has always been my favourite colour. Even when I was little, I seemed to skip the pink phase and go straight to red. So I was massively excited to find Red Candy, an online store that specialises in all things red. Think a vampy homeware version of the White Company. Hurrah!

Shop in the spotlight: Movis

Every so often I find a new supplier that I fall in love with and am sure that I'll visit time and time again for inspiration. Movis fits this category. A Portuguese furniture store, they have launched a range called "Onda Prata" (Silver Wave) and while you'd need a lot of space and a very minimalist look to make it work, the lines are so clean I just had to share it.

Etsy picks: Anti Valentines Day

Let's be clear here. I think that the idea of taking a day out to show someone that you really appreciate them is lovely. I think the idea of the tedious, repetitive columns that materialise year after year, both for and against Valentine's Day (the rants about being single that protest too hard, the complaints about commercialisation, the nauseating smugness of some columnists that will be taken out) is horrible. If you want to celebrate it, do. If you don't, don't. Why does everybody make such a fuss? Although being bombarded with red paper hearts every time you leave the house from the 26th of December onwards can get a tad tiring. In this vein, I was looking though Etsy and stumbled upon a large category of anti-Valentines gifts that made me laugh. Some of them are tongue in cheek and some are a bit scary in a bitter sort of way - but it's nice to see people having fun with the Valentine's concept - with nary a cute teddy in sight!
Be Mine card, triggersandsparks, $4
Drop Dead card, $3.50, JeanKnee
Broken heart necklace, $10, PearlieMae
If you were a Zombie card, $3, prettyfnmess
Zombie Bunny wants to nom, er, STEAL your heart, $22, IckyDog

Ines Martinho: Upholstered table

I'm enamoured with the idea of making a quilt at the moment. I've been looking at bright textiles at places like Liberty's and really like the idea of something that's cheerful and different. While I'm not sure if it's something I'll ever get around to, I like seeing combinations of different brightly coloured fabrics and so am really taken with this small upholstered table by Ines Martinho.

The amazing Miss Piggy!

I have a secret to confess. I know that whenever people ask you who your ideal dinner party companions would be you're supposed to use it as an excuse to show off how awfully intellectual you are and say Stephen Fry, Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill. But if I'm honest and I could choose to meet any celebrity living or dead, it'd have to be Miss Piggy. I love her constant optimism, her flamboyant style, her business sense, the way she couldn't care less what others think and her determined pursuit of the long suffering Kermit. I'm not advocating stalking here clearly, even when your target is green, but she never fails to make me roar with laughter. Move over Sex and the City and other pale single-girl imitations. Miss Piggy, you're the original definition of fabulous and I salute you. Your books, although they're ten years old, have just made my wish list!
Photos from Muppet Wikipedia, TV Acres and Freaking News.

Hang your herbs....from the kitchen ceiling!

A while back, I fell in love with living walls. However, given the size (and layout) of my tiny kitchen, they're sadly not really practical for me. I've got a pretty little garden so it's not that much of a problem but I'd still like to keep some plants inside. Never content with anything as simple as a normal pot (striving for a difference? Moi?), I've now transferred my affections to these fantastic Sky Planters (starting at just £24.50) from the lovely Rockett St George. Hello, my name is Cat and I'm an unashamed plant tart. Now if I could just make my ceiling that little bit higher...

The house of moss by Nendo

I can't wait for the summer. I feel trapped and panicked by this constant damp and depressing grey. It's starting to get me down and I'm craving sunlight. I want nothing more than to be able to spend a whole day lying in bright sunlight in my garden, not talking to anybody but just spending time with a book and my thoughts. Gardening always makes me feel happy - there's something really satisfying about watching something you've made grow. So when I saw this moss house that Japanese Nendo designed in Tokyo in 2008, I was certainly interested! They covered the modern interior of the traditional house in a moss-pattern and made a delicate room partition out of real moss! Beautiful, calming and simple.

Agatha Ruiz de la Prada

Bright colours are alway a quick mood-lift and Agatha Ruiz de la Prada has always been a favourite designer. Although it might be a bit bright for a flat in England, her designs are always fun to flick through.

Flickr find: conmike12 seascapes

I've been browsing through Flickr lately. It really is the kind of place that you can completely lose yourself for hours. Conmike12's seascapes really jumped out at me. They are hauntingly pretty and really convey a stormy and aching sense of loneliness and desolation.

Aldo Bakker - kitchen design

Ever since I can remember, I've been addicted to kitchen gadgets. This means that I need blinkers whenever I'm walking through the kitchen section of any homewares store or I emerge later on, dazedly clutching something I really don't need, like a neon pink egg peeler (that takes longer to set up than it would to peel an egg) or an olive de-pipper. It all goes back to my mother who was cured with the same affliction. Nobody in the family will ever forget how excited she was about her revolutionary new lettuce knife that promised any lettuce it cut wouldn't ever go brown. This turned out to be because it was as blunt as a spoon and so wouldn't cut the lettuce in the first place. Still, their marketing wasn't exactly a lie... However, Also Bakker's collection is not only useful but also beautiful and simple and thus should be firmly on wish lists everywhere.

O Rei do Lar (The King of the home)

I have a weakness for before and after pictures. Sadly, it's led to the purchase of several unused gym memberships over the years. However, when it comes to homes and interior designers, I'm always surprised at how few decorators bother to put up before photos. O Rei do Lar (portuguese interior designers King of the Home) haven't fallen into this trap however and their before and after pictures are a good way to show what a difference can be made to a normal, lived in home. That padded headboard really is to die for...

Weird and wonderful chairs

I've been researching armchairs for a while now and it never fails to amaze me at how many people spend their lives designing things for us to plonk our bottoms on. While I don't think any of these would work for me, they're odd enough to be worth a look!
If you're a crafter, what could be better than a stool shaped like a large ball of twine? Thomas Eyck
These red chairs are bizarre but inviting - they make me think cocktail bar! Then again, most things on a Friday afternoon make me thing "Oooh, cocktail bar!" Quarto Sala

These chairs look pretty impressive - but then they also look uncomfortable! Poeira Design.

Dressing tables to die for

I'm not exactly a picture in the morning, unless the picture you're thinking of is "The Scream". However, one of my very dear friends (who also happens to be one of the most glamorous people I know) craves a dressing table at the moment. Personally I don't think the Boyfriend would go for it, given that I'm already taking up a whole corner of our room with my handbag display case. But she's got more room that I do. Happy make-upping!
Art Deco dressing table, £1520, Black Orchid Interiors

Clarissa Dressing Table, £275, Graham and Green

Antique French Dressing Table, £159, Homes Direct 365

I’m in a colourful mood today. And I’ve found and fallen in love with a new supplier. Re-found Objects (great name – does what it says on the tin) sells globally sourced, re-usable objects. There’s very little on the website that I wouldn’t want in my home but as I’m on a budget at the moment, I’m going to say that my top pick would have to be these £9 recycled metal picture frames made from old oil drums.

A Cascais beach house

I love living in London. I really do. But one of the things I miss most about Portugal is the sunlight. It makes everything look different, not least brightly coloured furniture. Were it up to me, my house would look like an explosion in a paint factory. I’d furnish the whole place from Boca do Lobo and Squint London. However, it’d look odd in the dreary greyness we’re stuck with here. So I went green with envy when I saw what Vera Cristo had done with her house in my hometown of Cascais, which is right on the beach. Her use of colour has made every room a joy to look at. I can’t imagine that anyone living here could ever be in a bad mood!

All pictures from

Maxima Interiores.

Interview: Cabracega

Although they're nothing to do with interiors, Portuguese design agency Cabracega (literally translated, meaning the blind goat) are just cool. I noticed their original quirks when I saw their “All City” campaign, which had them getting some of Portugal’s most famous graffiti artists to decorate traditional Portuguese china, showcasing the contrast between “then” and “now” and getting people to think about issues in a different way. I spoke to one of the co-founders, Hugo Tornelo about some of their campaigns (including the brilliant coca-cola campaign arming women with a different type of broom to make people acknowledge what they do in the home) and their plans for the future.

1. What made you start Cabracega? How has it grown and what are your plans for the future?
We started Cabracega because we wanted to do more than one is able to do while working for somebody else. We feel like we’ve something to say and to do regarding creativity. For instances, it’s common to develop solutions by starting to define the medium of the outcome, while we believe it should be the other way around; the best ideas/solutions will determine the medium of the outcome.
2. What's the campaign you're most proud of and what effect did it have?
Probably, Sensorial Lisbon. We created a tour around Lisbon where participants were blindfolded to try to ensure they got the true meaning and flavour of the city. It was a well-accepted project worldwide. In fact, part of its recognition came around half a year later when it got to Springwise top ten ideas for tourism in 2008. We were also fortunate to get the project published worldwide and broadcast in National Geographic Channel, for example.

3. Tell me a bit about the All City campaign - what was it for (in your own words) and how did you go about doing it?
All City was thought of in parallel with ExperimentaDesign 09, regarding its theme “It’s About Time”. For this project we worked together with Ricardo Vasconcelos and Rita Gonzalez. The main idea was to have an exclusive set of traditional Portuguese porcelain customized by 5 of the best Portuguese graffiters. That way we intended to confront 2 different times and contexts. At this time, the pieces you see on our website, are unique pieces, and we’re still negotiating a possible production with other companies.
4. Do you ever sell any of the products that you design (for example, the coca-cola mops and brooms)? If not, do you have any plans to or do you have any of your own ranges ready to come out?
Actually we are more into selling ideas and experiences rather than objects. But recently we’ve been repeatedly asked the same question, which makes us think we should look more into it. Nevertheless we’re always open to design new products and to produce our own creations, but in the end there’s a balance to be made: is it more worth it to produce 1000, or just one?
5. What brand would you most like to work with and why?
A brand that still doesn’t exist. A blank piece of paper with no history, but willing to start writing one as we speak.

Interview: Photographer Helder Silva

Helder Silva is a master of photo manipulation. His original photographs have made the rounds of blogs everywhere because of their originality and so I was really happy when he agreed to talk about some of his work. His flickr gallery is somewhere I stop off regularly, not least because his amazing photos have suggested viewing music (much like a serving suggestion on food) and we have the same taste in music! Over to Portuguese photographer Helder:
"I became interested in photography early on by magazines like national geographic, photo and those big Sunday magazines that newspapers have. Then I got a very basic film camera when i was about 12 and have been shooting ever since. The big boom came when i first got my digital camera: I started shooting more and it was easier to put my work online. And that's when I started connecting with other like-minded people and getting feedback. Although I always loved photography I never pursued any formal training, all I do is self taught either through books, specialty magazines and tips from people on the internet.
I like to say that my style is having no style at all. When I was younger I did a lot of landscape and nature shots. Then I started doing lots of architectural and portrait shots. After i joined flickr and discovered photomanipulation that's the kind of shots I've been most known for, although last year I did a more conceptual series where I shot something everyday with my cellphone camera. But landscapes is still something I always love, I've had the pleasure of some people who follow my work saying that because of my landscapes they've added Portugal to their list of countries to visit next.

I follow the work of many people (Rankin, Lachapelle, Demarchieu, etc, etc), but if I have to pick one that I believe has been most influential for me, it'd be Annie Liebovitz, I guess she started a trend with her portraits and her Soprano posters. I have to admit that I don't follow that many Portuguese photographers but only because it's harder to have access to their work, one I love is João Martins - excellent photomanipulator.

Five years from now I expect to be making more photomanipulations and have my work in some exhibitions. I'm not looking to make a job out of it, it's something I do as a creative outlet, so I'll probably be better at it, get some gear and maybe publish a book of some surreal landscapes I have planned. However, people can buy my work at my online

shop."

A Lisbon townhouse - an exercise in colour

Renovating a period house is always difficult when it comes to deciding how many of the original features to maintain and as we’re in the middle of working on one ourselves, I’m always interested in other people’s efforts. Private homeowner Filipa Ferreira decided to highlight the space in her three storey townhouse when she imbued it with her own individual sense of colour and décor. The first feature that really interested me was the interior patio. As she doesn't have a garden, I thought it was an ingenious way of making sure she could dine al fresco, so to speak, and it allows her to indulge in a little gardening. The house (featured in Portuguese interior design magazine Maxima Interiors) is in Lisbon and is situated right over the river Tagus. Using colour like this is always a bit daunting but she clearly had a very firm idea of what she wanted the end result and I think it came out perfectly. I just love the way that every room seems to pop off the page at you. This is one person that has banished magnolia for good!

Kitsch in the kitchen - a pink flamingo!

Sometimes kitsch works. It might be a bunch of frame hearts on the wall, a corny "feel-good" slogan on a poster or, in my case, a pink flamingo. I don't know why I want one but I have for a while. And this one is just £4... I'd love to put it in a bucket of sand somewhere, maybe in the kitchen? Oh, to have a garden!

The Portuguese house of stone

More and more people are trying to use eco-friendly and sustainable materials to build houses. A Casa do Penedo, or "the House of Stone", in the Fafe mountains in Portugal has become a real tourist attraction. The owner, Vitor Rodrigues has had to move out of this four-bedroomed house because of the tourists clamouring for a look inside. The remote location has led him to install bullet proof windows, a steel security door and a cement and eucalyptus tree sofa that weighs 350kg to discourage robbers.

Armani Casa

The pound may be worth less than your average conker at the moment but our desire for designer goods in every part of our home apparently remains strong. Armani Casa have a store on New Bond Street in London and their accesories are the stuff every hostess dreams of.


Barco: Set of placemats and coasters in resin and shell

Regale: Large silver-plated underplates

Guapo: Shaving stand

Bay: Multi-stripe plissé bedspread of velvet and organza in black

How to turn old tyres into art

One of the largest regions of Portugal is the Alentejo, a lush, largely agricultural area. It's famous for it's wines, cheeses and traditional wool carpets and rugs called Arraiolos. The rugs and carpets are embroidered in needlepoint using wool, usually onto jute or linen. This process hasn't really changed since the XVII century. However, the story of the carpets is one for another time. I found água de prata® when I heard about the way they were using wool from their local town to transform used tyres into wool pouffes/stools. I really like the stools and old chair frames they restore using traditional woven patterns too. They use traditional methods, materials and designs to restore abandoned modern objects and are really worth a look. You can find out more and purchase their work, by emailing them here.

Storage solution: old school lockers

Concha, the lady behind the lovely Saidos da Concha blog, recently featured some of the lovely pieces available from Castle Gibson and really got me thinking. It's unbelievable how much junk I have. I was wildly optimistic trying to put together an inventory pre-move the other day and I was shocked to see how little of what I own can be lumped into a useful category like "Plates" or "towels". I am a bit of a squirrel and so my cupboards are stuffed to bursting with things that I haven't used in years but keep because I'm sure I'll use them "one day" (a recent look in the cupboard under the sink revealed old vacuum cleaner parts, some insulation tape, flea spray for a cat I no longer own and, for some reason, a broken teacup I keep intending to fix). Therefore I have decided that what I really NEED to make my life calmer, cleaner and altogether more organised is a row of old school lockers to store all of my assorted junk.

Photos from Castle Gibson, The Old Cinema and We Are Private

Life in an international school

I was extremely lucky in that I grew up and attended school in Portugal. The building was extremely old (I remember part of the ceiling falling in once and showering me with earwigs) but really beautiful and full of history. It was one of the happiest times of my life and we're one of the few schools that has a really strong "Alma mater" spirit. The alumi network is strong and all in all, St Julians School is still viewed with great affection by most old pupils. One of my schoolfriends made a promotional video for the school that, in a fit of nostalgia, I wanted to share. If nothing else, it's an interesting look around an old colonial British palace outside of Lisbon.

Exposed brickwork

One of the herculean tasks still to be done on the house (but I'm looking forward to this one!) is to knock all of the plaster off of the chimney flue in the kitchen and have it shored up so that we can put the cooker in the old fireplace. It currently looks like this:
I love exposed brick inside houses - it's such an easy way of drawing attention to original features (in our case, 200-year old bricks). Lavish Locations is a film location agency and some of their properties have used exposed bricks very effectively: