Guest post: Odete from Wicked Halo

When I first started blogging and decided that although I'd talk about design in general, I'd try to focus on Portuguese design, there were several already established blogs that played a rather large part in my decision. One that I read on a daily basis is Wicked Halo, the sometimes irreverent, always amusing and inspiring blog written by (Portuguese!) Odete. So I was overjoyed when she agreed to write a guest post about some of her favourite elements of Portuguese design. Over to you Odete!

"There's this old proverb that says that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If that's truth, then what would the female equivalent be? Women are creatures of great complexity, so they couldn't stick with just one thing. But I'm pretty sure, that for many women, bags, shoes and jewelry would have to be included in the pack. With that in mind, I set out to unearth the Portuguese items that would win my heart over and make me swoon.

Joana Vasconcelos - Marilyn shoes
In this particular case, these shoes were not made for walking. A pair of giant shoes (1,5 meters tall and 4,3 meters wides) meticulously constructed out of hundreds of high-shine stainless steel pots and lids, they were auctioned this year at Christie for 574.000€ (so I don't think I'll be having one of these anytime soon). Though there are a few copies of the shoes (glamorously named Dorothy, Cinderella, Priscilla and Carmen Miranda), this is the only pair of the series (one shoe would be about 280.000€, so I still don't think I'll be having even a single shoe). I saw one of them recently at Joana Vasconcelos retrospect at CCB and that's one hell of a shoe!
KrvKurva Bags. Shaped like a large teardrop, the bag is constructed from semi-rigid Dupont(TM) Tyvek®. Thinner than one millimeter and weighing less than 40 grams, this bag is able to hold up to 55kg easily (which is great given my propensity to carry the entire house in my handbag). Each bag is given a unique artistic layout by a different guest designer, in limited runs of 199 bags. My favorites are the ones by Oporto designer Benedita Feijó , for its intricate modern nature look.
Paraphernalia. The brainchild of Lisbon designer Ms Vanda, a firm believer in keeping her fingers in as many pies as possible, some of her other endeavors include the projects Arrete Mon Coeur, Portugal Mon Amour and La Bouquiniste.
Despite such diverse projects, Paraphernalia is hands down my favorite. The fact that shes mentions how this particular "brand" enjoys the odd, the unusual, the uncanny and the bizarre, in all the aspects of beauty, makes it the perfect match for my personal sensibilities."

The Portuguese Pavilion at Expo 2010

The downfall of cork bottle stoppers has heralded the onset of cork-obsession in a whole nation. The Portuguese are desperate to find and promote other uses for cork. Hence the fact that the Portuguese pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010 is made entirely of cork. Subtle, no?

The history of London through a lens - the Press Association Image Collection

I spent the weekend in a room covered with light pine cladding, the kind that you might see on the set of an early 70's porn movie. The boyfriend is redecorating at the moment so we spent the weekend wrestling paint onto the surface of cheap horrible plastic boards that just refused, point blank, to die. We eventually emerged, covered in paint and victorious, to consider what would set off his newly painted and large-looking kitchen over several glasses of very agreeable Portuguese wine. I was really impressed when he found the Press Association Image Library. It's full of really impressive vintage London shots that chart the history of the city over the last hundred years. I particularly like the pictures of the old markets and the images of the Pankhurst sisters speaking at Trafalgar Square rallies. They're surprisingly reasonable too and start about £5 for a small print. They'd look fantastic framed in a group.

Teacups, teacups everywhere: Gonçalo Campos

Portuguese product designer Gonçalo Campos is obviously a man after my own heart when it comes to assembling new pieces out of slightly odd components. Take, for example, his teacup lamp. This is clearly an artist that likes a good teacup handle as he's used them frequently throughout this range. I'm also very intrigued by his "Sede" range of decanters that slump as you go through the series. If you were drinking Port wine from said decanter, you could fool your guests into thinking that their alcohol-induced slumping is mirrored by the glassware by changing them over...

Art Deco advertising for soap: Confiança

I've always been a fan of the Art Deco period and I'm also particularly fond of the traditional Portuguese soaps like Claus Porto. However, when I stumbled across the new advertising campaign for Confiança soaps, I fell in love. In order to draw attention to their heritage and history, they have launched a new campaign using a 20's style and rebranded their packaging. Much like Claus Porto, they were launched in 1894 under the company name Saboaria e Perfumaria Confiança. They went from selling soaps, flour, oils, medicine and other necessities to the wealthy Portuguese living in the colonies to specialising in their luxury range of hand-made and natural soaps and toiletries after being bought by a hedge fund in 2005. Drool over, and then buy, these amazing soaps here. The only fly in the ointment here (please excuse the pun) is the fact that their website doesn't have an English version, which is really disappointing, given that they've been selling abroad for more than a hundred years.

Azulejos: the streets of Lisbon are paved with art

I'm commonly known amongst those of my acquaintance as the clumsiest girl in the world. I have been known to fall off of my own shoes, turn my ankles with alarming regularity and am, in all likelihood, the only 27-year-old in the UK to regularly scrape her knees. So it might seem strange that I love the cobbled streets of Lisbon so very much. Strolling through the city feels like walking on a masterpiece. Set pieces and designs adorn the large open squares and geometric patters, reminiscent of the country's Moorish heritage cover the long and winding streets. Rocks are always coming loose, so much so that anyone given community service for the popular past time of drink driving might well find themselves hunched over a bucket of sand cement, working at the never-ending task of repairing the sidewalks. Many government agencies and large organisations (such as the Ministry of Typography below) even write their names outside of their offices on the streets.

Funny bunny advertising: Amo-te mil milhões

When I first moved to the UK from Portugal, I was looking forward to a whole host of what I believed to be typically English activities. I saw myself setting off for weekends in cottages with fireplaces in the middle of nowhere, spending the days wandering (usually to and from the local pub) through the woods picking bluebells, having deep and meaningful talks and smiling as the bunnies I startled with my passing scampered to safety. However, I've been here for eight and a half years and the score so far is Daydreams 1 - Bunnies 0. That's right, not a single bobtail have I seen in real life. I've seen (and had acorns thrown at me by) squirrels, have my very own robin living in my garden and you can't move in my area of East London at night without tripping over the odd fox but no bunnies. So I thought I'd mention the rabbit-making talent of Virginia, owner of the Portuguese online store / blog "Amo-te mil milhões". She hand-crafts adorable toy hares and accessories to go with them (such as the mini deck-chairs and sleeping bags below) that are for sale through her blog and although I've been watching her work on Flickr for a while now, she really caught my attention with her latest marketing images. Take a look below - isn't that an original way to promote your online shop? I've been wondering how to do the same for my own blog. She's also got a fantastic sense of humour, adding a loop to the top of the sleeping bag to transform it into a "Porta-bunny" (it sounds funnier in Portuguese - honest). And the toy bunnies themselves are very sweet. Friends of mine that are reading - please start breeding again so that I have an excuse to buy one of these! I'm extremely tempted to do so anyway.

Bairro Alto: Graffiti in Lisbon

Bairro Alto is the hippy part of Lisbon. Tiny winding streets paved with haphazard cobbles weave past minuscule bars where truck drivers sit and chat with the most famous fashion designers and musicians in the country. It's a completely unique part of the city where you can wander, lost but happy, up and down the steep streets, stopping for a coffee and a chat with the proprietor of a random cafe that sits in between a dusty shop selling canned sardines in paper bags to elderly ladies with hankies on their heads and an edgy design shop spilling techno music into the streets. It's a wonderful clash of cultures, a place where everyone can feel that they belong. Years ago it was the part of the city where the anarchists would meet to discuss the revolution being planned in '75. From being a slum, it's gone to being one of the most fashionable nightspots in the country but trendy as it gets, those crumbling and tiled walls will always call to graffiti artists. Murals sprawl drunkenly across all buildings, from the most ramshackle decrepit old houses to the most modern and gleaming shopfronts. In other cities graffiti can have an organised and themed feel but in Lisbon it feels as if every sixteen year old art student has gone through a rite of passage where they get drunk for the first time in the streets of Bairro Alto and are handed a can of spraypaint and pointed at the nearest vertical surface, whatever it may be.

Tranquil ceramics: Paula Valentim

Sometimes form really is more important than function and sometimes, just sometimes, you stumble across an artist that manages to combine both in one item. Enter Portuguese potter Paula Valentim, stage right. Paula creates elegant and pretty "pebble" vases ($12) that can be hung on the wall. There's something about them that makes you want to reach out and stroke them. That discovery led me to take a closer look at her relatively new Otchipotchi brand. I have a particular fondness for people that suddenly discover they're talented during the course of everyday life. Paula took a ceramics workshop when she was living in London and working as a librarian and developed a love for making the pretty traditional ceramic Portuguese swallows ($14). However, whilst the swallows are usually brightly coloured or patterned, hers are perfectly white, lending them an air of serenity. The other items that I really found visually arresting were her "Crochet stones" ($16), which are hand pressed on moulds she made from real stones. They'd make lovely paperweights. Everything you see here can be purchased at her shop and her blog is worth a look too. Buy now before this talented lady gets discovered by the wider world!

Traditional Portuguese tiles: D'Orey & Cardoso

One of the nicest things about Lisbon is the friendliness of the people living there. Wander into a neighbourhood cafe for a coffee and you'll be pulled into the conversation at the bar about the latest football match. Walk into a shop to buy some bread and you'll be told, in no uncertain terms, exactly what you should eat it with. So it was no surprise, when I walked into the antique tile (azulejo) shop D'Orey & Cardoso on Rua do Alecrim in Lisbon, to be greeted by the proprietor. After seeing me in the back room getting covered in cement dust as I dug frantically through boxes of antique tiles that had been pried from building set for demolition, he noted my interest in the deco tiles from an old pharmacy and set about telling me all about the history of the tiles. The shop was originally opened to sell off a large private family collection of tiles and now specialises in large antique tile patterns that are shipped all over the world. The staff could not be friendlier, even when it became apparent that I was more interested in the early 19th century tiles stacked in large piles up against the walls (which I wanted to use as coasters) than any of the larger works. If you're ever in Lisbon this is without a doubt the best place to visit to pick up a genuine antique tile or azulejo as a souvenir. They also stock a large range of antique ceramic pieces - I particularly liked the fig-shaped toothpick holder pictured below - you can easily imagine it sitting at on a large sideboard in a flagstoned dining room in a hunting lodge. Don't be afraid to ask about the history of what you're buying as most of the staff are family and passionate about the backgrounds of their wares. They can often tell you exactly where the building that the tiles came from stood, ensuring that you're aware that you've picked up a piece of old Lisbonite history to take home with you.