{"id":26527,"date":"2025-07-27T04:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T04:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/26527\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T04:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T04:58:11","slug":"our-lisbon-house-works-as-a-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/26527\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Our Lisbon house works as a lab\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvery time I have creative work to do, I choose this dining room,\u201d says Paula Amorim. A fourth-generation scion of the family behind Portuguese multinational Amorim Group, she is sitting at the table, clad in tailored double denim, her surroundings colourfully eclectic. Myriad paintings, books, photographs and objets d\u2019art crowd together, all atop a gleaming marble floor. It\u2019s bold, and sensorily intense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the elegant Lapa district of Lisbon, Amorim and her husband Miguel Guedes de Sousa\u2019s home makes a grand statement on all levels. The late 19th-century building that the couple bought in 2012 used to be the residence of the Canadian ambassador. Though they gutted much of the interior over the course of a three-year renovation, the original marble floors remain, as does the sweeping central staircase, which connects the upper three floors. The smaller back stairs that twist down to the basement have become a striking feature too, their underside painted bright orange \u2014 one of the details they planned alongside Spanish interior designer L\u00e1zaro Rosa-Viol\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

From the tall stairwell windows, a glimpse of nearby Estrela Basilica\u2019s rococo dome provides a tangible link to the Amorim family fortune. The church houses a famous nativity scene, created from cork \u2014 the material that, in 1870, Ant\u00f3nio Alves de Amorim began trading in. \u201cI was born in nature; my history and legacy are cork,\u201d says Amorim. She began working with her father, Am\u00e9rico, in the family business at just 19. Today, Corticeira Amorim is the world\u2019s largest cork producer, and the bedrock of the Amorim Group\u2019s portfolio, which spans finance, real estate and telecommunications, and has more than 5,000 employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AIn the dining room light streams through the windows. Above the fireplace hangs a Tracey Emin neon: \u2018I don\u2019t believe in love. But I believe in you\u2019 \u00a9 2025 Tracey Emin. All rights reserved,\u00a0DACS<\/p>\n

In her quiet, considered way, Amorim leads me along a basement corridor, next to the wine cellar, where a series of archive black and white photographs show cork being collected and processed on the family estate. \u201cI wanted to bring a part of my past to Lisbon,\u201d she says, having been born and brought up in Porto, only moving to the capital after she married.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lisbon\u2019s dynamism and increasingly global feel was a draw. According to a 2024 Statistics Portugal report, foreign nationals now make up more than 10 per cent of the population (more than double in a decade) \u2014 and it\u2019s good for business, says Amorim. \u201cWe\u2019ve welcomed new residents who have fallen in love with our city, and they are actively contributing to its growth and economy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amorim herself \u201cfell in love with the Lisbon light\u201d, she says. \u201cHaving spent all my life in Porto, which is cloudy and humid, I find the light here gorgeous.\u201d In the dining room, it\u2019s easy to see why; light streams through the windows behind her, illuminating the vast antique table, paired with metal-spoked Warren Platner armchairs. Above the fireplace, mirror panels are the backdrop to a Tracey Emin neon: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in love. But I believe in you\u201d \u2014 pulsating in fluorescent pink.<\/p>\n

\"AMuch of the interior was gutted over the course of a three-year renovation, but the sweeping central staircase remains <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an ideal spot for working from home, says Amorim. While Guedes de Sousa tends to head out of the house \u2014 to the gym and then the office, dropping off their five-year-old son Manuel at school en route \u2014 Amorim often stays put.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As well as being a shareholder in the family group, she is on the board of directors of Amorim Investimentos e Participa\u00e7\u00f5es \u2014 the private holding company of the Amorim family. In 2005 she acquired Fashion Clinic, which now has eight stores across Portugal. In 2010 she created the Amorim Luxury Group, which includes her eponymous womenswear collection, PAULA, and the House of Capricorn: a homeware line, launched in 2024, which celebrates Portuguese craftsmanship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes our house works as a lab,\u201d says Amorim. \u201cWhen we are doing things for PAULA\u2019s collections, the models come here, we set up the clothes racks and we can go in and out of the garden to see how the colours work in the natural light.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"OfficeOne of several sitting rooms, each designed following advice from a Vastu Shastra consultant <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like an embassy for our brands,\u201d adds Guedes de Sousa, a Lisbon native. With a background in hospitality, he is now president of the Amorim Luxury Group and co-founded offshoot brand JNcQUOI (pronounced je ne sais quoi), a stable of businesses aligned under the tagline \u201cwhere food meets fashion meets hospitality\u201d.<\/p>\n

Its roll-call of glitzy clubs and restaurants are timely additions to Lisbon\u2019s increasingly buzzy social scene. The ripple effect is palpable on Avenida da Liberdade \u2014 Lisbon\u2019s most chichi street, where JNcQUOI has four restaurants, including the Frou Frou private members\u2019 club and a hotel in the pipeline. The same can be said of the seaside village of Comporta. There, a beach club and a deli will be joined by JNcQUOI\u2019s biggest project to date: a \u20ac680mn complex of residences and a hotel, designed by Vincent van Duysen, which will open in 2028.<\/p>\n

At their own home, the couple are frequent and consummate hosts. \u201cI love arranging the table, inside or in the garden, choosing the flowers and the place settings,\u201d says Amorim. It\u2019s an area where \u201cwe compete a little bit\u201d, laughs Guedes de Sousa. \u201cI choose the food and wines. Could be a scarlet shrimp cocktail with pomelo, followed by fresh cod with a butter of clams. The wine might be something from our JNcQUOI label or a Condrieu from my cellar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AnPart of the cellar: \u2018I choose the food and wines,\u2019 says Guedes de Sousa \"AThe striking stairwell that twists down to the basement was planned alongside Spanish interior designer L\u00e1zaro Rosa-Viol\u00e1n <\/p>\n

With its geometric cement-tiled floor, dark wood and soft lighting, the cellar houses not only wines but also a selection of sakes. Guedes de Sousa\u2019s many years spent in Asia working with Aman resorts are a lasting influence. In the garden, the planting is inspired by Geoffrey Bawa\u2019s House No 11 in Sri Lanka, \u201cwhere indoor and outdoor worlds blur\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

Another takeaway is the ancient Indian practice of Vastu Shastra. The couple worked with a specialist in their home to configure living spaces in a way that is believed to bring prosperity and wellbeing. \u201cAnd it works!\u201d Guedes de Sousa exclaims. Between 2018 and 2024, Amorim Luxury Group revenues grew from \u20ac28mn to \u20ac60mn. <\/p>\n

\"AIn the dining room, a blue Birkin handbag embellished with crochet by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is housed in a Perspex box \"AThe guest bathroom features a beaded head, with green eyebrows and rope hair \u2014 a souvenir collected during Guedes de Sousa\u2019s time in Africa <\/p>\n

The small silver dragons you see when you step in through the front door are Vastu Shastra in action; there to attract positive energy. On the wall nearby is a large photograph by German artist Candida H\u00f6fer of an empty theatre. \u201cI grew up surrounded by beauty,\u201d says Amorim. \u201cMy father invested in houses and had amazing properties \u2014 in Porto, but also in the Alentejo \u2014 and my mother loved decorating them.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along the hallway is a cloakroom where the walls are decadently lined with brown-tipped feathers. In it hangs one of Guedes de Sousa\u2019s souvenirs from his time in Africa, where he was general manager at Amanjena in Marrakech: a beaded head, with green eyebrows and rope hair. \u201cI always lived in hotels,\u201d he says, \u201cbut there are a few things that I have collected for myself\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack and white photographs surrounded by paintings and drawings, titled \u2018Elephant Memory, Kenya\u2019 by American artist Peter Beard \u00a9 2025 Peter Beard \/ Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York \/\u00a0DACS, London<\/p>\n

Their art collection ranges from Paula Rego to David LaChapelle. In the dining room, a blue Birkin handbag embellished with crochet by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is housed in a Perspex box. Above a marble mantelpiece is a piece by American artist Peter Beard, titled \u201cElephant Memory, Kenya\u201d, with black and white photographs surrounded by paintings and drawings. \u201cIt took me years to get a Beard,\u201d says Amorim, \u201cbut it was worth the wait\u201d. Two cheetahs topped with fringed lampshades, by House of Hackney, stand sentry either side of the picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am obsessed with getting the light right,\u201d says Guedes de Sousa. \u201cWe worked with lighting designers from G2J Design, bringing [its founder] Gan Leehanantakul over from New York. The lighting in this house at night gives peace, beauty and magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bold design perhaps also plays into their bold plans. From the dining room table they\u2019ve been plotting to take the JNcQUOI brand global \u2014 specifically to Miami and Dubai, in the first instance. Where could it take them from there? Je ne sais pas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Find out about our latest stories first \u2014 follow @ft_houseandhome<\/a> on Instagram<\/p>\n