English Version | Editor's Letter: Arts & Crafts, May 2025

07 May 2025
By Sofia Lucas

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist." - Louis Nizer

All that glitters is not gold — sometimes it’s hand-embroidered linen, soulfully molded ceramics, passionately printed paper. When we talk about arts and crafts, we need to start by understanding the difference between art and crafts. Art dreams, craftsmanship executes with mastery — but when they meet, magic happens. Art is an idea, craftsmanship is hands. And Portugal has hands that tell stories.

Monica Bellucci
Ricardo Abrahao

In a country where stone is carved as if it were soft and wool is woven as if poetry were written, craftsmanship is not a trend, it’s a heritage. From filigree to tiles, from island basketwork to mountain embroidery, Portuguese know-how is a living heritage. It is a national treasure, true wealth. Not the instant shine, but the shine that comes with time, with use, with touch.

Today, more than ever, we need to keep this knowledge alive. Because tradition, if it is not passed on, fades away. And fashion — that eternal reinventor — has a vital role in this mission. Through design, curation and storytelling, it gives a stage to the invisible hands that weave the backstage of beauty. And the new generations, thirsty for purpose, find a new luxury here: what is done with time, with soul, with meaning.

Elza Matiz
Élio Nogueira

In this issue, we celebrate this alchemy between art and craft. And at Lighthouse Publishing we are also celebrating our tenth anniversary. For 10 years, we have been printing ideas with ink and love. Each piece created by our team is an object with character, designed to last — as if it were a small graphic treasure. Because true luxury is not having what everyone else has, but keeping what is rare, what is unique, what is made with dedication and love. A piece that you collect, that you inherit, that becomes part of someone's story.

This May, candles are blown out at Lighthouse and hands are celebrated. Ours and everyone else’s who, like us, believe that the future is built with memory, details and beauty. Long live craft. Long live art. Long live Portugal.