ISSUE NO. 50

An August Issue

When we really see ourselves—our habits, triggers, needs—we lose the excuse of not knowing. Awareness makes us responsible to live by what we know, not what’s easy. Our values should show up in small choices: how we speak, how we rest, where our time goes. When we slip, we own it, repair it, and change the setup so the same mistake is harder to repeat. Integrity is quiet work: one honest reply, one boundary kept, one kind act that only we take notice in.

ARCHITECTURALLY CURIOUS

La Salvada: A Kasbah in Pink

Rising from the Alentejo landscape, La Salvada looks like a fragment of a Moroccan kasbah dropped into Portugal. The villa’s plaster walls glow in a soft shade of salmon pink, catching the light against the ink-blue pool at its edge. Brass-framed loungers and fringed parasols add a touch of playful glamour, while the architecture keeps its form simple and monumental. It’s a reminder that color alone can carry architectural weight when paired with restraint.

Geometry Meets Vernacular

The second villa’s stepped façade reveals how architecture can turn pattern into structure. Blue ceramic tiles trace sharp zigzags across the pink walls, creating a bold rhythm that feels both ancient and futuristic.

A carved stone bench sits beneath this backdrop, grounding the geometry in something tactile and timeless. The effect is like standing in front of a stage set where history and imagination collide.

La Maison des Bateaux: Stories at Sea

Inside the whitewashed boathouse, the design whispers of voyages and coastlines. A wicker sleigh bed curves like a ship’s hull, while miniature boats and maritime art line the walls in quiet tribute to Melides’ fishing past. The palette—navy, white, and terracotta—anchors the space in both sea and shore. Every detail here feels like a fragment of a story, waiting for you to lean in and listen.

GLOBAL GLIMPSE

Shadow Play

The living room sets the tone: a sculptural black velvet sofa anchors the space, its curve softened by patterned pillows and a richly textured rug. A low wooden table, layered with books and small vessels, feels like a personal library unfolding at your feet. The wall-to-wall shelving blends function and beauty, displaying ceramics and framed memories with restraint. Even the louvers—slats of wood filtering sunlight—add rhythm, painting the room with shifting lines of light and shadow.

Quiet Drama

The fireplace wall highlights how simplicity can still hold drama. Pale stone frames a niche of firewood, while a chair with an exaggerated split-back design introduces sculptural tension. Candles and greenery break the stillness, balancing the hard surfaces with softness and life. The arrangement creates a setting that feels ceremonial yet lived-in, like a stage for both quiet rituals and warm gatherings.

Cultural Layers

In the final vignette, art and artifact shape the atmosphere. A bold nude painting leans into modern expression, while a carved wooden figure rooted in tradition stands nearby, placed on a marble pedestal as if honoring ancestry. These juxtapositions tell a story larger than the room itself—of cultures meeting, histories overlapping, and identity layered across objects. The home becomes not just a place to live, but a mirror of memory, belonging, and curiosity.

VISUAL COMFORT

Ponder the Bigger Picture

Placed by a wide window that frames fields and sky, the Dream View Bench is an invitation; which, yes, we could say about all forms of art. Its smooth, wave-like curve mirrors the shape of the human body, encouraging the sitter to lean back, look up, and let the mind drift. Designed by Danish creative Lise Vester, it’s meant to transform ordinary moments into daydreams, where the sky becomes both ceiling and canvas. The piece captures how furniture can move beyond function into something meditative, shaping not just space but mood.

Steel-fullness

Crafted from brushed stainless steel, the bench balances toughness with touch. The material is industrial by nature, yet softened through finish—its surface catches light, reflects its surroundings, and warms under the sun. What could feel cold instead feels inviting, as if steel itself learned to breathe with nature. In this way, the bench doesn’t just sit in a room—it changes with it, turning sky, shadow, and season into part of its design.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

What I'm Listening to in August

We don’t owe perfection; we owe alignment. So it poses the question—did we live with a sense of knowing?—I’ll see you next week, my friend.

Warmly,
/shane