The Journal
Leaf through the Design Escapes travel journal & read postcards from us and Portugal’s creative communities. Make notes on both their, and our, memories & methods & accrue aesthetic anecdotes to guide you on travels of your own.
New Openings
Welcome to Casas da Quinta da Cima, a beautifully authentic, new small hotel opening nestled within the picturesque landscape of Cacela Velha, just a stone's throw away from the sandy waterways of the Ria Formosa.
Step Inside
Open House
OPEN HOUSE is a series that seeks first access to some of Portugal’s most intriguing and inspiring homes and hotels.
Step inside Paço da Gloria, a majestic Gothic Revival style manor house near Porto with an eccentric past. Discover the secrets of its slew of owners who, through two centuries, have shared a passion for creative gatherings, extravagance and the decorative arts as it opens its doors to the public.
Dine Escapes
A POP-UP edible experience by chef JOÃO RODRIGUES, the protector of Portugal’s ‘prados’, producers and patrimony.
A foodie foray into the most Northern region of Portugal, Tras-os-Montes where Portuguese chef João Rodrigues gathers guests from near and far for the first of a new series of experiential and edible events for 2023 that find focus on the best of the countries producers. This is Residencia João Rodrigues.
A Postcard from
THE ALENTEJO by JÚLIA JUSTE, founder of hotel curation platform Outliers.
Júlia Juste is a Design Escapes Muse from Barcelona, Spain and the creator of ‘Outliers’, a personal curation of off-the-beaten-path & beautiful places to stay around the world. Here, she takes Design Escapes on her trip to the rural Alentejo to discover the enigmatic dwelling, Casa no Tempo, deep in the countryside to experience the natural beauty of this region of Portugal.
Design Directory: The Algarve’s best Farm-to-Table restaurants
Dine Escapes is a collection of our must-eat spaces and places on your journeys across Portugal. From hidden quiosques, tascas and tabernas to restaurant’s run by rising stars of the countries culinary scene.
This episode explores the best farm-to-table restaurants and experiences in the Algarve that forge a connection to the land, it’s agricultural traditions and culinary culture.
Open House
OPEN HOUSE at THE GREAT ELEVEN, an art deco home for sale in Reguengos de Monsaraz.
Design Escapes discovers a sleeping beauty in the Alentejo countryside that once represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.
Step Inside
A Postcard from
THE SILVER COAST by ELODIE writer and travel obsessive.
French-born Modernism enthusiast, Elodie lived in London, Switzerland & Tunisia before finally landing in Portugal, so perhaps it’s safe to say that the instinct to travel runs through her blood. Here she sends us a postcard from the Silver Coast with some of her favourite architectural finds & hangouts from her new home.
A Postcard from
THE ALGARVE by JOSÉ MIGUEL DE ABREU, founder of Portuguese menswear brand LA PAZ.
José’s laidback, straight-talking design aesthetic has always been always about the Atlantic, its people & its traditions. With a tagline like ‘The Sea is our Soul’, Design Escapes asked him to tell us about his last seaside holiday in his home country. He writes us a postcard from the Algarve, telling us of surf, good books, goose barnacles, listening to a soundtrack of waves & 70’s soft rock.
A Postcard from…
TAVIRA, ALGARVE by SUSANA LOURENÇO, Director of Communications for São Lourenço do Barrocal.
Beyond the day job, Susana is, by accident, a travel tastemaker. Her hazy Instagram is a scroll happy selection of snapshots of Portugal & a sub-conscious exploration on the way in which we can move through the world in a more thoughtful direction. Here, she takes us to the Algarve’s Tavira, to potter about on boats, to feel the sea breeze & to bird watch on the Ria Formosa.
A Postcard from…
ARRAIOLOS, ALENTEJO by JOÃO GAMEIRO, founder of Studio Gameiro.
With his own multidisciplinary architecture & design studio based in Lisbon, João explores the relationships between traditional artisanship & sustainable contemporary design, primarily in Portugal. Interested in preserving the past yet pushing dying craft to new limits, his work has been featured in publications such as The New Mediterranean, a book by Gestalten. Here, João writes a postcard about the Alentejo’s tapestry town of Arraiolos, where the sunsets are as soft as the light that disappears over megalithic structures.
A Postcard from…
THE DOURO by JULIANA CAVALCANTI, art director & creative consultant.
Juliana Cavalcanti lives in Lisbon, where she curates & consults on beautiful environments & projects that seek to create lasting connections; telling stories through sensory experiences, interiors, set design, branding & content creation. Here, she takes Design Escapes to the Douro for a stylish adventure at the flux of design & nature.
Makers & Shakers
TASTE TRIP with MORGADO DO QUINTÃO, the organic Algarvian vineyard.
Morgado do Quintão is a restored family-owned vineyard estate, located where the Monchique mountains meet the Atlantic ocean in the Algarve, Portugal. Founded in the early 1800s by the 1st count of Silves the estate is still owned by the same family - the fourth generation; a family whose unerring & resilient passion for the land, food, adventure & entertaining merges with a love of local heritage, beauty & conservation.
Design File
IN THE BEATO DISTRICT of Lisbon sits an 18th century, Neoclássic sleeping beauty, Palacio de Grilo.
Punctuated by baroque expressions & motifs, & filled equally with historical significance, & mural paintings signed by Cirilo Wolkmar Machado, step foot inside a palace being given a new life as one of the capital’s hottest event venues & photoshoot locations...
A Postcard from…
MADEIRA by COCO HEAVEY, founder of cult Portuguese basket brand Bonjour Coco.
Inspired by Jane Birkin’s infamous woven bag & Portugal’s time-old basketry traditions, Coco Heavey created & cultivated Bonjour Coco, seen on everyone from Leandra Medine to Jean Damas & the catwalks of Alberta Ferreti. Here she takes us on holiday to the Portuguese island of Madeira for a few days of island frivolity.
Dine Escapes
OUR FIRST PHYSICAL SPACE is a design-led, farm-to-table restaurant in the Algarve.
In August 2023, Design Escapes launched the first culmination of our jourey thus far and the brands’ first physical space; a design-led, farm-to-table restaurant, coffee shop and creative community with a connection to the land, its thoughtful producers and craftspeople in the Algarve, Portugal.
The Aesthete
CURATED CRAFT with FELIPA ALMEIDA, art director & interior designer.
Felipa Almeida is a Lisbon-based interior designer & creative connector whose passion for the in-depth interpretation of art & craft in Portgual knows no bounds. Exploring her emphasis on timeless methods & materials, Design Escapes speak to her about her artisanal finds and her renewed vision for creating authentic spaces.
The Aesthete
ART DIRECTION with FILIPE ÁLVARO, creative director & interior designer.
If you follow Filipe Alvaro on Instagram, you’ll know him for his moody & ethereal scenes of Portugal; art-directed details from his travels and inspiration as a multi-layered interior designer. Here in ‘The Aesthete’, Design Escapes talk to him about his own personal style & his passion for multi-disciplinary design.
The Aesthete
TALKING TASTE with PETER ØDEGAARD, ‘flower man’, writer & art director.
Self-proclaimed ‘flower man’, Peter Ødegaard is a writer, creative consultant & mentor living in Lisbon with his husband Johan & dog, Olga. After 30 years as a floral designer in Stockholm & Copenhagen, he found solace in Lisbon'’s creative scene as a curator of interiors, exhibitions & boutiques. He talks taste with us, about writing book about living with flowers & travel, visiting artists’ homes & gardens around the world.
Image by Casa Ceu
Makers & Shakers
SEEKING SUSTAINABLE DESIGN with JADE PASSEY, founder of escolhido.co design studio.
Design Escapes meets maker & shaker Jade Jasmin, founder of escolhido.co, a sustainable interior designer & stylist seeking to change the way in which we see our homes. Living in the Algarve with her fiancé Dan, Jade loves swimming in the sea after days spent trawling local flea markets. She tells us what inspires her way of life.
Image via Picnic for Lunch
The Aesthete
EXPLORING THROUGH AESTHETICS with FRANCISCO VILLA DE BRIRRO, founder of interiors publication Picnic for Lunch.
Picnic for Lunch started as a fun experiment for Francisco Villa de Brito whilst confined at his grandparents’ estate in Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha, a historical village in the centre of Portugal, over lockdown. Here, he talks with Design Escapes about antiquity & eclectic maximalism on a journey through Portugal.
Makers & Shakers
BUILDING A HOME BY HAND in the mountains of Portugal with MAISON DE BASE.
We meet makers & shakers Ebonie & Martin, ceramicists, natural winemakers & the founders of dreamy interiors Instagram, Maison de Base, who swapped their lives from bustling streets of the 9th arrondissement in Paris for the foothills of the Serra da Gardunha Mountains in central Portugal to build their dream house using local, natural materials & ancient methods.
Makers & Shakers
ADDRESSING NATURE & BEAUTY as agents for healing in design with Natsly.
Interested in how our personal surroundings can impact the way we feel & live our everyday lives, we meet Lisbon-based maker & shaker Natalia Sly, co-founder of the dreamy interior design duo, Dora Daar. Here she talks about redirecting our creative energy & reflecting on what our homes can give back instead of what we can take from them.