A special nativity scene

This charming crowd traveled all the way from the Azores to Lisbon to set up shop at A Vida Portuguesa’s newest store, at number 2 Rua Ivens, in the Chiado area.

In "The Shopkeepers"

"In the age of online shopping, opening a store and becoming a shopkeeper seems like a bold move. Yet from Vienna to Vancouver, storefronts are emerging once again as worthy opponents to commercial corporations. Customers embrace individual businesses that share the distinctive knowledge, personalities, vision, and humor of their owners.
Whether brand new and based on innovative ideas or passed down for generations and revamped, the stores and their shopkeepers featured in this book stand out for the singular experience they provide to their customers and the personal selection of items they sell.
The shopkeepers celebrates the diversity and creativity of brick-and-mortar businesses, telling the stories of the shops and their unique owners."

"Have to stop myself from buying"

Rachel Khoo, the new star of British cooking, was in Lisbon shooting and preparing for her food and travel program for the BBC, "A Cook Abroad". She fell in love with the Portuguese custard tart, Bordalo Pinheiro's ceramics and Cortiço e Netos "tile heaven". And she had to force herself to stop shopping Ach Brito soaps and José Gourmet tined sardines in our shop in Intendente. Even back at home she kept posting on Instagram about the beautiful packages by Creme Gordo and Couto toothpaste. Not only has she got talent, she's got a keen eye for design as well.

Unrivaled merry cherry

João Manuel Lourenço Cima died in 1925 but left behind one of the most charismatic establishments in Lisbon, now in the hands of his offspring’s fourth generation.

Reinventing the Christmas tree

Right on time for the jolly season, Laboratorio d'Estórias reinvented the Christmas tree. Using different modeling techniques, from handmade to digital prototyping, they achieved excellent results in terms of textures. For a decorative piece that, depending on the size, can turn into three, provideind a set of containers, perfect to hide small surprises or presents.

Produced in Caldas da Rainha, the ceramic pine tree with a wooden base, is available in three different sizes and colors: red, white or green.

To all future pilots out there

"This shop is a delightful return to the past, in which numerous brands and Portuguese products that populated our childhood and adolescence appear gathered in one place. Take a walk around the site and find that doll, that book or that car that were so special in your life. Then, from as little as €1.20 and never exceeding €20, offer it to that child who behaved really well.
Tip: the toy we rejoiced the most to find once again was the small plane. And we love to know that, for €6.70, we can embark on a flight with no limits to the imagination! "

Wedding gift lists

Nowadays, with all the extra shelves in our Intendente shop, we have everything for the home; which means we also have everything that is required for the happiness of a couple. From textiles to toys, from the bookstore to the ceramics or from the wooden spoon to the wood stove. And that means we have the most delightful wedding lists, available year-round. Ask for it to our staff in Intendente, the shop that is the most convenient to you or online.

40 items to have before turning 40

Spanish decoration magazine AD put together a “must-have” list of items every young person should have in their home before they turn 40. And among them, at the top of the list in fact, feature the Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro cabbages.

Lisbon, sad and yet joyful

Freshly re-edited and originally published in 1959, "Lisboa, Cidade Triste e Alegre" is a symphony about the city of the fifties, showing the city in its different aspects. The “graphic poem”, as Victor Palla and Costa Martins liked to call it, constructs a new city with (photographic and poetic) images, a city in the process of assimilating an international style.

To those who came before us

Found in a book belonging to the Marquis of Mariaval Library, these prints from the Palhares Collection and by Englishman McPhail depict Portuguese Customs from the late 17th century until the early 1900s. They show the baker woman from Braga, the eel peddler, the yokel, the girl selling oranges (but not the famed fado singer Amália) or sweet wafers (pictured above).

These characters from another time made a living from trade, the same way we now continue to sell brooms, lavender cologne or pencils. We would like to pay tribute to those who came before us, by featuring them on our bags, boxes and gifts. This too is the Portuguese life – since forever.

Humanitarian Aid Caravan

A Vida Portuguesa shops performed as collection points for donations towards the Aylan Kurdi Caravan campaign. Ten days after the first call for action was sounded, over 60 tons of donations had been raised all over Portugal, through 25 strategic spots run by hundreds of volunteers, and later sent in three HGVs to meet the needs of Syrian refugees arriving in Europe.

In the Porto shop, for example (see picture above, from the Público newspaper article) several people coming to drop off bags stayed behind to help sort out items of clothing and foodstuffs. They rolled up their sleeves and became actively engaged in the cause. Thus, the numbers are impressive but fail to quantify the extent of people’s generosity. To everybody involved, we thank you, and so does Mankind.