From the maker

In this issue, we begin with a word that automatically evokes a sense of seclusion: Private. There’s a part of us that only exists behind closed doors. Not because we try to make the outside world disappear, but because we no longer feel the need to respond to it. This is the space where ideas mature and where identity can reveal itself, away from the noise.

For a long time, I thought that the spaces we inhabit were merely the result of aesthetic choices. Today I realise that every home, every studio, and every refuge is an extension of the self – maps comprised of memories, references, affections, and the small decisions that, as they accumulate over a lifetime, tell a story.

It was precisely this that led us to explore the worlds behind those who dedicate themselves to shaping other realities. In The Creative Act, Rick Rubin suggests creation as a process of inner listening, from which emerges the idea that the artist does not create something entirely new, but merely reveals what is already there. Could it be that our most intimate refuge is born from this invisible memory, capable of permeating our senses until it finally finds a place to rest?

Over these pages, the answers to this question have been varied. In Mexico, we found a house that dissolves the boundaries between architecture and landscape. In China, a refuge that grows with the flow of life. In Antwerp, objects that transcend the merely decorative to become part of the essence. And, finally, the certainty that even workspaces can be deeply personal.

But Private does not exist solely within the same four walls. It also finds expression in the places we choose to explore and in the way we approach them. In this issue, we listened to our instincts and travelled to Geneva, where, during a visit to the Patek Philippe manufactory, we came to understand that exclusivity is built on the time dedicated to each and every gesture. We also dropped in on Lisbon Design Week, which once again opened its doors to celebrate the dialogue between design and space. Later, the desire to return to Casa do Rio, in the Douro region, prevailed. Eleven years later, we came away with a profound lesson: the world will remain vast, and we, tiny as we are within it, should live it with intention. We travelled towards the Mediterranean to the south of France, reaching a place where light and shadow converge to compose a symphony orchestrated by the sea. And, upon returning home, we discovered Mr Mood, a Porto-based brand that chooses to turn summer into a permanent state of mind and lightness into a conscious decision.

As we wandered through these places, an idea struck us: there will never be a formula, and even less so a single answer to what defines us. There are simply unique people. The way they look, the way they cherish things, the way they choose, the way they surround themselves… In an era where so much is replicated like an echo of external reality, we invite you, through these pages, to step into spaces of every colour. To inevitably set aside the need for validation or mass audiences. A journey through places where scale encounters the BEING that brings it to life.