As the third edition of Lisbon Design Week kicks off across more than 90 venues today, it’s clear that Portugal’s craft culture is the event’s defining strength. Running until Sunday, the event focuses less on polished brands and sleek product lines, and more on the tactile stories behind each piece and participating project. 

While other European creative scenes trade off their industrial manufacturing prowess, a lack of major furniture brands and clearly established career pathways means that many Portuguese designers pay more attention to materials, techniques and connection – to the land, to traditions and to each other. The result is a creative culture of experimentation and learning by doing. For many, this involves stepping away from computer screens and into workshops, where artisans take a hands-on approach to making furniture and objects, exploring traditional and innovative techniques with freedom.

For Portugal-based French designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, this allows her to explore beyond the expectations of her established practice. Her “Made in Situ” project – on show at Lisbon Design Week – creates designs using a location’s raw materials and knowhow of local craftspeople. Such work doesn’t allow production at scale but still finds a market as a new generation of interior designers seeks to furnish projects with pieces that reflect a sense of place. The heads of international buyers are also turning as they look to take away a slice of the Iberian peninsula.

This year’s edition of Lisbon Design Week also encourages collaboration between collectives such as Bora and Luso Collective, the latter founded by Tomás Fernandes and Natasza Grzeskiewicz (pictured), and disciplines from wood and glass to ceramics, textiles and metal. Visitors benefit from these exchanges too, with much of the week’s programme unfolding in working ateliers where audiences get to meet people rather than brands. Even in commercial venues, the directive is to host a maker and shine a light on a craft: event attendees will be able to see ceramicists working in the windows of real-estate offices while showrooms stage live tapestry stitching.

Such events are a reminder that, unlike other European design capitals, Lisbon’s design scene is typically more intimate, open and accessible. And while there is still plenty of room for growth and professionalisation, as well as more top-down support, staying close to its craft roots has paid off so far. 

Gaia Lutz is Monocle’s Lisbon correspondent. For more design news and analysis, subscribe to Monocle today.

This year’s Lisbon Design Week sees Portuguese furniture brand and interior-design studio Hamrei open the doors of its new events space, Dam, in the city’s Marvila neighbourhood. The area has become a creative hub in recent years as artists, designers and gallerists take over former warehouses on the banks of the Tagus river. Like many of its design-minded neighbours, Dam is housed in an ex-industrial building that has been transformed by Hamrei into a stylish multi-use space that will serve as a showroom for the brand and rentable space for private events.

Its vast, floor-to-ceiling windows, whitewashed walls and tall, exposed concrete ceilings create a striking, gallery-like environment for Hamrei to showcase some of its latest pieces during Lisbon Design Week. On display will be various new additions to the brand’s catalogue, including a lounge chair and several bar-stool designs, as well as a solo exhibition of new paintings by UK artist Harry Cartwright, whose works draw inspiration from the surrounding industrial landscapes of Marvila.
 
Visit Hamrei at Dam during Lisbon Design Week at Rua 2 da Matinha Edifício Verde, Lisbon; hamrei.com; damlx.com

When São Paulo-based architect Luiz Solano first stepped into an apartment on the top floor of the city’s Araucária Building, he was immediately struck by the panoramic views. Designed by Brazilian architect Rino Levi and completed between 1964 and 1969, the modernist residence defined by its large windows was originally divided into three zones using wardrobes: bedrooms, living room and kitchen.

“I adopted the same approach, shaping the apartment with light elements, such as pillars, rather than traditional walls or conventional structures,” says Solano, who worked on a renovation of the space. Following the removal of all masonry walls, wardrobes crafted from medium-density fibreboard now shape the internal layout.

At the heart of the apartment lies a central module that accommodates the living room and kitchen, framed by a floor-to-ceiling window and a concrete brise-soleil that filters natural light into the home without compromising on the city views. A planter box replaces what was once a beam from a demolished bathroom, adding a subtle touch of greenery. Nearby, the original fireplace has been reimagined in sleek stainless steel. “I want this project to go beyond simply arranging a living room with sofas or armchairs,” says Solano. “I hope that the space can be occupied in unexpected ways.”
luizsolano.com

Designer and creative director Gabriel Tan splits his time between his native Singapore and his adopted hometown of Porto, where he has run his studio since 2020. For this year’s edition of Lisbon Design Week, Tan was invited by Molteni&C to hold an exhibition in its flagship shop. The show, Shining a Light, sees him team up with Nao Tesuki Washi – a paper mill on Japan’s Kyushu Island (pictured bottom) with a history that stretches back more than 300 years – to create a series of lighting designs that showcase various contemporary applications of traditional washi paper.

Why work with Nao Tesuki Washi on this exhibition?
I first came across the company when I was working as a creative director for Japanese furniture brand Ariake. We started running workshops for designers, inspiring them to work with new materials. I used some of the paper on cabinet designs but always wanted to make lighting using washi. I had just arrived back in Japan when Molteni&C invited me to do a show for Lisbon Design Week. I decided to finally make the lamps a reality.
 
What are the properties of washi that make it good for lighting?
The softness of the light that comes through washi paper is unparalleled. The diffused glow emits such a strong sense of calm and all the beautiful details and fibres in the paper are revealed. Gen Taniguchi, the seventh-generation owner of the mill, is also participating in the exhibition. He’s an up-and-coming artist in Japan and he’ll be showing some of his washi-paper sculptures in Lisbon.

What lamps are on show at the ‘Shining a Light’exhibition?
We have three different lamps, each showcasing a different kind of washi. Firstly, there is the Flag lamp, which is inspired by the sails of a ship and features two scrolls of washi suspended on either side of the lighting element. For the Obelisk floor lamp, we wrapped washi paper around a hinoki-wood structure to create calming columns of light. And then there’s the Carnation, an homage to the non-violent coup that overthrew Portugal’s dictatorship in 1974. It was called the Carnation Revolution because people put flowers in soldiers’ gun barrels. The design features blooms made from washi paper, while the base of wood and steel is in the abstract shape of a rifle.

‘Shining a Light’ is on show until 1 June 2025 at the Molteni&C flagship store, Avenida da Liberdade 254, Lisbon. For more design stories, tune in to ‘Monocle on Design’ on Monocle Radio.

This eye-popping Alfa Romeo from 1978 is one of the first automotive-fashion crossovers in history. The Italian carmaker had just launched the Giulietta, its flagship hatchback, and tasked fashion designer Elio Fiorucci with creating a concept car for the Geneva International Motor Show. Enlisting the help of Andrea Branzi and Ettore Sottsass, the designers went to town on this pragmatic car, kitting it out with customised electric-blue Pirelli wheels, a speckled, noise-dampening paint finish and an interior entirely covered in yellow velvet and forest-green synthetic fur (yes, really).

The Giulietta Punk caused a small scandal in Geneva, where serious car journalists couldn’t see the fun in this decisively frivolous car. Nearly 50 years on, however, the project seems ahead of its time. Car-fashion collaborations are common and brands such as Ferrari have their own clothing collections. Mercedes-Benz has even launched a limited-edition Maybach with white-fur interiors. Whether or not any of this has been a boon for the car industry is up for debate – but it certainly makes trade shows more entertaining.

When it comes to metallic storage solutions, the options tend to fall into two extremes – either industrial-grade efficiency from German giants or uninspired, budget-friendly office staples. Enter Util, a Portuguese brand that’s striking a balance between functionality and elegance with a thoughtfully curated and design-conscious collection. “We’re incredibly fortunate to have a customer base that’s not only engaged but also gives us valuable feedback, allowing us to refine and evolve the brand,” says Util’s co-founder and creative director, Manuel Amaral Netto. Since its launch in 2017, Util has resisted one-size-fits-all solutions, instead designing storage that adapts to modern, real-life needs. “We imagine our buyers as people who have just purchased their first home,” adds co-founder and brand head Tomás Carvalhas (pictured on left with Amaral Netto). “It might not be the biggest space but it’s one that they have chosen carefully and invested in.”

Whether it’s the compact two-tiered Plié wall shelves, which don’t just store spices but also display the joyful clutter of daily cooking, or the KGT wall-mounted drawers, which can be adapted to serve as sleek bedside units or an under-desk organiser, Util pieces feel “at home” regardless of the surrounding decor. Their strength lies in the small details: embossed dimples on the underside of boxes allow them to be elegantly stacked, while the softly curved edges of units give them a tactile warmth that’s often missing in metal furniture. Those looking to kit out their home will do well to swing past the brand’s Lisbon showroom during the city’s design week, which runs until Sunday.

Visit Util during Lisbon Design Week at Rua do Giestal 37 B, Lisbon; thisisutil.com

Belgian design studio WeWantMore has managed to reimagine Brussels Airlines’ visual identity without drastically changing its logo or colour palette. Inspiration for the overhaul came from the airline’s brand promise that small details make a world of difference. With this mantra as a starting point, the studio used a dot in the Brussels Airlines logo from 2021 as a visual cue and a graphic element for framing a redefined photography style. A new bespoke font, Cirrus Sans, was also unveiled, which is tighter, taller and squarer than the previous typography and inspired by mid-century travel posters from aviation’s golden age. This complements an enriched colour palette, bringing added warmth to the brand.

“The task was not fully designing a new outfit but crafting a living identity that’s coherent, and meaningful in every detail,” says Sebastien Greffe, WeWantMore’s creative director. The update has now been rolled out across the airline’s many touchpoints, including in-flight communications, uniforms and the brand’s own TV programme. The eye-catching refresh gives Brussels Airlines a more premium feel, while also showing that fine-tuning details can improve the quality of a brand without compromising its existing identity.
wewantmore.studio