Travel Diary · Portugal
Lisbon and Porto showed us two very different faces of Portugal. The first, bright, uneven, and filled with the sound of trams; the second, more compact, vertical, and connected to the Douro River. What unites them are ceramics, facades covered with azulejos, and that uniquely Portuguese way of blending nostalgia and vitality.
First stop
Lisbon, the light and ceramic walls
In Lisbon, the light seems to bounce from one facade to another. The Portuguese azulejos, worn by time and often varying from building to building, transform the streets into a grand composition of geometries, figures, and shades of blue.
We explored the Alfama without a precise itinerary. Ascents, stairs, laundry hanging from windows, and sudden openings to the Tagus: it's one of those neighborhoods where getting lost is much more interesting than finding the shortest path.
At times, notes of fado wafted from houses and small establishments. Not a background sound designed for visitors, but a discreet presence that seemed to naturally belong to the neighborhood.
A morning at Feira da Ladra
At the Feira da Ladra, we found the kind of treasure hunt we prefer: cluttered tables, objects without studied presentation, old crockery, tiles, and ceramics that require time to be understood.
Not everything you encounter in a market necessarily needs to be bought. Sometimes, simply observing a shape, a decoration, or a combination of colors is enough to bring home a new idea.
Northbound
Porto, shops and reflections on the Douro
Porto has a different rhythm. The streets slope down to the river, the buildings seem to lean against each other, and the warm colors of the facades constantly change with the light.
Along the Douro, we walked unhurriedly, observing the contrast between the metal structures of the bridges, the historic houses, and the dark waters of the river. Here too, ceramics are part of the urban landscape: they appear on facades, in entrances, in signs, and in small shops.
Some workshops maintained a traditional setup; others worked on more essential and contemporary forms. It is precisely this balance that interests us: an object can belong to a specific culture without necessarily being folkloric.
Portugal also at the table
Naturally, we dedicated a significant part of the trip to food. Cod appears in countless preparations, and every restaurant seems to guard its own version. Among the most curious memories was also a pear cooked and immersed in Port wine: simple in appearance, but definitely hard to forget.
As with ceramics, in cooking too, a traditional recipe changes slightly from one family to another. It is precisely these variations, often impossible to codify, that keep a material culture alive.
What Lisbon and Porto left us with
From this trip, we mainly brought home images, combinations, and impressions. The blue of the azulejos, the worn surfaces, the simple forms of everyday ceramics, and the continuous relationship between decoration and architecture.
These are references that also reappear in our research work. When we select a vase or artisanal ceramic, we don't just look at the form: we try to understand where it comes from, how it was made, and what relationship it can create with objects already present in a home.
In our guide dedicated to ceramics in decoration we gather some useful criteria for choosing shapes, sizes, and placement without turning rooms into mere displays.
