PORTUGAL IN ALL SENSES

Proving that are ancestral fabrics, joining the yesterday tradition with the design of tomorrow, as seen at Burel Factory. The company supports its offer in burel, a traditional woollen cloth used in the past on the capes of the mountain shepherds, now gains new life as wall covering, as shown in the new Microsoft headquarters in Lisbon, and in everyday items. «This year we are introducing new office ranges, as covers for tablets and computers, organizers, folders and bags. We are also launching a new line for picnic and garden and a new plaids collection», announces Isabel Dias da Costa, managing partner of Burel Factory.  

The newcomer Armazém dos Linhos – which chose Interior Lifestyle Tokyo to take it first steps in internationalization – highlights Alcobaça’s chita, a Portuguese traditional fabric created in the end of the 18th century. «The company’s concept is based on the transformation and adaptation of Alcobaça’s chita to create new contemporary products, innovative in technical and design terms», explains the managing partner Filipa Pinto Basto. This traditional fabric is, therefore, present not only in home textiles, namely in a table and kitchen articles, but also in accessories such as purses and bags or stationary, with its patterns giving new colours to agendas and notebooks.   

At Lona, the concept is, essentially, based on the recovery of old beach canvas, fundamentally in fabric 100% cotton with colourful stripes and its conversion on modern products such as pillows, puffs, table accessories, beach chairs and bags. «We would like to underline that our production is 100% national and often made in an artisanal way», says Filipe Rodrigues, managing partner of Brandão & Sequeira, the company that holds the brand Lona.

Conversion and recycling are also concepts of the offer presented by Vianatece. «Our rugs and pillows are produced in manual looms, with recycled raw materials, resulting in the creation of eco-products, environmental friendly», unveils the managing partner Eduardo Carvalho. From home textiles for kitchen, bed, table and bath lining, Vianatece bets on «urban and contemporary products, always with a utilitarian and aesthetic character, developed by our design department», he adds.  

Fashion for the house is something that also is not missing at Portugal’s Pavilion, with the proposals of the most renowned brands of the country. Besides its own brand Valentini Bianco, Pereira & Freitas is showing the Pierre Cardin line, for which it holds the license. «It’s a line that only by its name transports us to a special world, where form and function get together in an avant-garde and minimalistic design», sums up Manuel Rodrigues, company’s responsible.  

Home Concept, on its side, already well known in markets such as South Korea, reinforces its offer in 100% Egyptian combed cotton, satin and jacquards in bed clothing, bathrobes and pyjamas that invite to comfort and resting. «We believe that the Japanese market has a place for Home Concept. Keeping the quality that our customers are already used to, we want, once more, to surprise them and, most of all, to have a good feedback regarding the new collection», explains Odília Costa, brand manager of the brand of the company António Almeida & Filhos.

At Lumatex, the clients of The Country of the Rising Sun will truly feel at home, with home textiles in natural fibres, manufactured in jacquard looms and with patterns and colours in line with the most recent trends, designed to combine with the interior of the Japanese homes. «We highlight also our cotton quilts with a wrinkled look that gives it a very attractive and unique appearance», unveils António Leite, company’s managing partner.

Quality and luxury are also adjectives of the home textiles offer from Renaitex, painted in soft patterns and colours. «We believe that we have an appropriate product for a market that demands quality and has a good purchase power», states Liliana Kakakis, managing partner. The same feeling is shared by Lasa, which features articles of «high range, with European design to captivate the interest of this market», as says the commercial director Casimiro Lemos.

Sirftex, on the other side, bets on its «own bold designs, applied in fabrics with noble fibres such as linen, silk and cotton and exceptional finishing», unveils the manager Carlos Jordão. Ribial presents the collection of the brand Seeds Concept, with high quality jacquard bedspreads and tablecloth and Sorema shows a bathroom collection where exquisite and colourful rugs are on the spotlight. 

With a deep connection to Nature, the brand Terre de Coton proposes bed clothing in several materials, where satins and knits in natural tones are highlighted. Interior Lifestyle Tokyo is also the privileged stage for this Alda Têxteis brand launch the concept Bag4Bed, «which is a prêt-a-porter for home textiles», says the managing partner Carlos Machado.

Devilla, the brand of B. Sousa Dias & Filhos, is also directed to «a medium-high segment, with quality and careful presentation, a simple but sophisticated design», enhances the administrator Manuela Dias, adding that the bed and bath clothing lines privilege «natural materials and colours, especially linen and cotton/linen». 

Unique and perfect products characterize the offer of Cedite Tec. Specialist in printing, consulting and development of ideas and technical textiles, the company has already a success history working with renowned Portuguese designers such as Alexandra Moura and Katty Xiomara. In Japan, «the goal is to offer to the consumer a perfect product», explains the administrator Alberto Arantes. «With digital printing we can create a vast array of opportunities, since the client makes the design and we execute the final product, with a unique and exclusive result», he underlines.

Cork, with its ecological characteristics and soft touch, is at Interior Lifestyle Tokyo by the hands of Amorim Cork Composites and 3D Cork. «At Amorim Cork Composites we propose to reinvent the world every day: we reuse, recycle and reinvent completely natural and organic materials», sustains Vítor Gonçalves, from the marketing & communication department of the company, which is part of Corticeira Amorim, a pioneer of the cork industry during the 19th century and it constitutes today one of the major Portuguese companies. Among the highlights are the new collections of Alma Gémea, a line of products with cork and ceramics.

«The simplicity of the shapes, the natural, ecological and sustainable material that cork is and the smaller dimension of the pieces, adapted to the demand in this market» are the highlights of 3DCork, as states the commercial director Sara Nunes. «The Japanese market valorises products with simple design and reduced dimensions but elegant. Considering that, we think there is space and interest in the market to utilitarian pieces for the house such as the ones we’ve been developing, in cork», enhances.