Extraordinary artisans and brands

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. Opened in November 2009 in the Clérigos neighborhood of Porto, the second A Vida Portuguesa shop featured in Wallpaper magazine's 2010 retail directory. After almost ten years at the Galeria de Paris, the shop moved to a new location in Rua Cândido dos Reis. This meant a new stage for the brand and a new life for a building that previously housed the warehouse of a fabric store, established in 1947.