ALMARIA imbues the interiors of EX LIBRIS’s apartments with design elements that are both quintessentially Portuguese and characteristic of the surrounding neighbourhood and local history and culture, making them absolutely unique in the city.
Add Fuel (Diogo Machado, b. 1980) is a Portuguese graphic designer and illustrator who has been building a solid reputation as a visual and graphic artist in recent years.
Having first created a unique visual universe populated by sci-fi inspired, fun-loving creatures, the Portuguese artist has recently redirected his attention to reinterpreting the language of traditional tile design, and the Portuguese azulejo in particular.
His designs reveal an impressive complexity and a masterful attention to detail; his work has been exhibited both individually and in group shows since 2006.
In Portuguese, trapo means “(…) a piece of cloth, usually an old piece of fabric”.
Patchwork is the art of sewing together and reusing pieces of cloth to give them a new life.
While its origins are linked to the needs of humans to clothe themselves, today the reasons for its existence are altogether different: in a more environmentally conscious age, reusing old fabric makes good sense.
In traditional Portuguese patchwork, old pieces of fabric are recycled and reworked using manual looms, knitting needles and hands.
Cork is one of the most distinctive natural products in Portugal, which is the world’s largest producer.
A natural and renewable natural resource, it is extracted from cork oak trees every 9 years with no damage caused to the trees. After it is transformed, cork can be re-introduced into the production process and reused.
Properties: resistant, versatile, recyclable, light, impermeable, hypo-allergenic, insulating and sound-proofing Products made from cork: fashion accessories, clothing, shoes, furniture, flooring and wall finishes, among others.
Chita de Alcobaça is the most widely recognised printed cotton fabric in Portugal and, to a large extent, represents the more than 500-year history between Europe and India.
The production of chitas was strongly opposed across Europe and was eventually banned.
“The first manufacture of printed cotton in Portugal was born from an association between an Englishman and a Dutchman in 1690.
In Europe, this manufacturing existed in countries such as England, France, Holland and Germany. It was believed, however, that the tradition of Alcobaça cloth making stretched back to the 15th century.” – in Suplemento do JL, N.º 819, Ano XXI.
Also known as lousa, slate is a homogeneous sedimentary rock that is fine grained, opaque, resistant, occurs in a variety of colours and textures and is easily separable into parallel sheets (following the direction of the cleavage).
It is primarily composed of argillaceous minerals and laminar mica, which give it a typically smooth structure and sheet jointing (foliation). This makes it suitable as a material for roof tiles, wall claddings and pavements, depending on the type of finishing, in a wide array of construction types.
Its impermeability and beauty, and its resistance to atmospheric agents, show why it has been in use since antiquity, making slate a material with almost limitless possibilities.
Born in Lisbon, where she continues to live and work, Maísa Champalimaud (b. 1987) uses painting as a path towards self-discovery. The artist argues that her lines are marked not by political currents or ideologies, but rather, numerous influences that have left a decisive imprint.
“When I was asked to extol the greatest interpreters of the Portuguese language by portraying Lusophone writers from around the world, I couldn’t help thinking that it made perfect sense to paint them on top of the very medium that supports them: their books.”
– Maísa Champalimaud, 2014
