A home away from home. Once is no exception and this time, it is in Catalonia with Isabel and Txema that we discover a bit of the Portuguese house of this couple.
Initially, I discovered Isabel and Txema through their Fauna Instagram account, where they hunt down beautiful pieces that make sense and deserve several lives, even several owners.
Fauna is the result of the artistic concerns of a tandem composed of Isabel Pires Vieira (Lisbon, 1981) and Txema Alguacil (Barcelona, 1976). In 2021 they decided to shape this project as a natural evolution of their personal collection of objects. They like to know that Fauna is born in their own home because just as they were seduced by the passion for collecting, they would like to transmit the same passion to others, through their selection work. It's a work done with enthusiasm that allows them to preserve the memory of objects that were forgotten due to mass industrialization.
They are part of a small responsible community that preserves the memory of pieces that have fallen into oblivion.
@faunacollect
1 — What's your favorite corner of your home, and why?
(Isabel) "Our favorite corner of the house is the book area, because books are part of our life and also say a little about who we are, our personality, within our interests."
2 — Is there anything precious you keep for its meaning?
(Isabel) "My father is an artist and I could start there, I have paintings of my father. At this moment of my life, as I am away from my country, they are special because they transport me a little bit to my family, to my home. I brought them here with me, because it was important for me to bring some things that were part of my day in Lisbon."
3 — Any favorite book?
(Isabel) "Hard question. I read a lot of poetry, I really like it, if I could choose some books to always take with me I would choose some poetry books that I have here, maybe one of Juan Margarit, a Catalan poet."
4 — What about your favorite place to eat?
(Txema) "There's a format of restaurants that we really like, they are not the ones that are in vogue, where everyone goes, they are those restaurants of a lifetime, old bodegas with consistent breakfasts. One of them is Bodega Massana, in Barcelona, and the other is in Lisbon: Essencial."
BODEGA MASSANA (BARCELONA), ESSENCIAL (LISBON)
5 — If you could live in any other part of the country, where would it be, and why?
(Isabel) "If I lived there in Portugal, in another area of the country, I would choose Beira Baixa, because I think there's a lack of people, in addition to having my roots there, because my grandmother was from there. I feel a very strong connection with that area and I think it needs new people, it needs to diversify, it has very few things. I would like to contribute to it making this area a little richer in cultural terms. When I look at the villages here in Catalonia where I am I see a big difference. I see a lot of people, I see a good cultural offer, the restoration is also good, but these areas like Beira Baixa are very few explored at this level, not with tourists, but with Portuguese."
BEIRA BAIXA (CASTELO BRANCO)
6 — Any favorite Portuguese song?
(Isabel) "Cinco Sentidos, by Bandua — a band of two boys who seek out samples of traditional Portuguese music and mix them with electronics, a traditional sound that brings back the nostalgia I feel for home, that nostalgia that only an emigrant knows. When I go to Lisbon, I do those tourist things, I go to the viewpoint and walk through the streets... I miss the streets, the light of Lisbon, it's cliché, but the truth is that I miss it, because it's really special."
7 — If you had to offer a Luz Editions product to someone, what would it be and why?
(Isabel) "I would offer the barro negro candles, because it's black clay. By chance there's an area here in Catalonia that sells many pieces in black clay, I really like it and I really like candles, so I would buy them, they are very appetizing."
CANDLE LUZ (CITRIN WHITE TEA)
8 — And finally, a word to define your home.
(Isabel) "Love. A bit cliché, but true. We feel love for life, it's all about loving. So, love."
@faunacollect
