Catarina Portas, the founder of A Vida Portuguesa, is a former journalist. She has always believed objects can tell extraordinary and revealing stories about a people and their particular taste, about a society and its context, and about history – which is, after all, a common identity. The shops were born out of her desire to create an inventory of industrial brands and extraordinary craftspeople whose know-how has survived the passage of time, to highlight the quality of Portuguese manufacturing and to showcase Portugal in a surprising light. With this second shop in Lisbon, opened in 2013, Catarina was able to fulfil her dream of broadening her range of products and suppliers in homeware. The shop represents over 10,000 products, some of the best goods in Portugal, under the same 500m2 roof of the old Viúva Lamego tile factory, part of the newly-revamped Intendente neighborhood.