The best encounters are the ones you don't expect to meet. I met Teresa almost two years ago in Porto, through a very dear friend. He was convinced that we could make fantastic collaborations together because we have in common the love of Portuguese lands and traditions. He was not mistaken, since then a great friendship was born and pieces full of beauty and authenticity. Today Teresa tells us a bit more about her and her house.
About 10 years ago she asked herself where she would like to be in the future. Her desire was to be a ceramist by profession, to be inspired by nature. Today she's a ceramist; she has a workshop and she loves what she does... giving shape, inventing inversions, caressing the air that gives her structure in the pieces and dreaming about them, projecting them in color and sound... this is who she is! "People should do more of what they like and what defines them", she said, "there's a better world made of dreams"; she loves living in hers.
1 — What's your favorite corner of your home, and why?
"My room and part of my bed, because that's where I usually travel through my books. I have a chronic habit of reading and this is my favorite corner."
2 — Is there anything precious you keep for its meaning?
"Recently my parents gave me my maternal grandmother's gold chain, of course it has value because it's made of gold, but also because it bridges four generations. I'm in the middle: my grandmother, my mother, me and my daughter. It's an object that I will surely pass on to my daughter; it's something very Portuguese with a very strong symbolic reference, which is for generations to pass on something valuable and very feminine too."
3 — Any favorite book?
"I'll say Shantaram, because it was offered to me at a certain age, after two very important trips. Is an iconic book, a biography of an Australian who runs away and goes to Bombay. It's about the underground of that city in India, which is a country that changed my life at a certain point in my travels and changes, I highlight this book. The book is fabulous."
4 — What about your favorite place to eat?
"At this moment, I can say where I like to eat the most is my home, because we make very alternative foods. But I can highlight a restaurant here in Porto, which is also really beautiful, very interesting: Tokkotai. It's in the area close to the Palácio da Bolsa, a fusion restaurant, but it also has chef food and Japanese. The space is beautiful, it's a historic building in Porto all in granite with several unevenness and in fact I really enjoyed the gastronomic experience and the space as well."
5 — If you could live in any other place of Portugal, where would it be, and why?
"I'm not from Porto, but I live there, and I wouldn't live elsewhere. That whole area of the country between Caminha, Viana de Castelo, inspires me too, Ponte da Barca, Ponte de Lima, Minho Litoral, yes, but my place is here in Porto."
6 — Any favorite Portuguese song?
"Lots. I really like fado, Portuguese music, whether contemporary or not, and I think we have more and more quality in what we do. I would say maybe Vejam Bem, by Zeca Afonso. But another Portuguese song that I like, which is wonderful, is by Márcia, A Pele Que Há Em Mim. Absolutely beautiful."
7 — If you had to offer a Luz Editions product to someone, what would it be and why?
"I love the tea towels with the photos. The impression of a past so close, so Portuguese, so innocent. Those printed photos remind me of the innocence of the humans we are; I really like it."
8 — And finally, a word to define your home.
"Insolubility. For the tonalities, for the warm materials, for the travel objects... because everything is related. I don't have anything at home that is devoid of meaning, everything has a right place. That doesn't mean that I'm a fundamentalist, that's not it, but it's almost like a sanctuary without a god, I have objects that are part of it, they themselves have to be together. They found a space between themselves."
Thank you for inspiring us, Teresa.