Work pressure is one of the main causes of stress. But at these Lisbon coworks, there’s more to a days work than, well, work. There’s also yoga and physical exercise for your breaks.
Having studied film and theatre make-up, Sylwia Cylwik left Warsaw nine years ago. Two of those years were spent in Rio de Janeiro, where she studied fashion and cool hunting, but she ended up back in Lisbon, where she’d already lived and hoped to settle one day. “I’ve always wanted to live here. When I was asked what I wanted to do with my life, I’d say ‘Well, I want to live in Portugal’” the Pole says. In the Portuguese capital she found a second home, even in times of crisis. In fact, it was months before the pandemic that Sylwia began to think of creating a platform to publicise Portuguese brands and artists or other people from abroad, who like her had fallen in love with the country and also were living here. The project kicked off at first just online. But since October 2021 Kintu Studio has had a home of its very own, with two street-facing display windows, in São Bento. “It’s important for me to show who’s behind these pieces, which is why we also have photographs of the artists and info on how each item was made,” says Sylwia, who has brought together under the same roof everything from the decorative rugs of Teresa Lucas to the jewellery of Mafalda Vilhena Grão, side-by-side with the drawings and ceramics of Caroline Vetsmany. “These are handmade pieces, often one of a kind,” she explains, before going on to talk about the events planned for the month of November. “On the 7th, we’re going to do a storytelling workshop, with poetry and natural wines. Because this is more than just a shop. It’s also a space where people can mingle and get to know artists, do something different and make good use of their free time.” In the future, Sylwia would like to take it one step further: to share the pieces she exhibits at Kintu with the rest of the world.
@kintustudio_store
