local markets :: marta mourão

hello ladies, how are you doing today? my day is going great, i am on my lunch time already and have made it to my vehicle inspection and wandered on the botanical garden on my street… yes, i have a botanical garden on my street, ain’t i a lucky girl or what? well, let’s get going to the business, and as today is our weekly feature about {local markets}, i will present you with a very springy work. my guest today is a lady that sews… and sews several original pieces, original fabrics… and her favorite way to look for fabrics is traveling. well, i can understand that… completely. her name is marta mourão and she is a fashion designer.

“desde sempre gostei de trabalhar em moda. é uma área que me inspira especialmente, pelo seu lado criativo e mutativo. o que mais gosto no meu trabalho, e, creio que é o que o caracteriza, são os tecidos padronizados. adoro conjugar cores e padrões improváveis, criar peças “bem-dispostas”, com atitude. o meu objectivo é dar a oportunidade a uma pessoa de ter uma peça única e especial.”

“i have always loved working with fashion. it’s quite an inspirational field, particularly for its creative and changing side. what i like the most about my work, and what i believe is its main feature, are the patterned fabrics. i love to match colours and patterns that are not likely to match, i like to creat “good-mood” pieces, with attitude! my goal is to provide with a uunique and special piece for that person”

can you tell us something about yourself? hi, i’m marta and i’m a portuguese fashion designer. i live in lisbon in a sunny apartment with my husband, son and our 3 cats. i work in my studio, where i design my {collections}. i absolutelly love to work with fabrics from around the world.

how did {atelier marta mourão} start? i went to fashion school some years ago. after this i worked with a portuguese designer and in a portuguese textile company. meanwhile, i started to design skirts. why skirts? it’s my favorite garment: feminine and always a classic. so i made skirt collections with african fabrics and created a blog. i was proud to see i had many clients and i soon realized i was designing other clothes beside skirts, so i created {atelier marta mourão}. now i design for women, kids and i also have a home collection (aprons, bread bags, etc).

what inspires you? everything. i get inspiration from a movie, walking around a stylish neighborhood, going to the supermarket, traveling, reading books, in the internet… the most important thing is to keep my eyes open to everything.

what advice can you give for those small business owners in our country? this is a general advice: i think that if you want to build your own business you have to be an entrepreneur, have the will and power, and be focused on what’s really important. speaking about my work, it’s not easy to have a small design business in portugal. design isn’t recognized in portugal. somehow, design/art isn’t worthy or culturally important to many people, which is a mistake. design is everywhere! We need it more than we think. also, do not work for free! a small business owner can’t be compared with industrial products. we take our time to develop and create. everything is designed as something unique and all the work involved has its value and needs to be appreciated. people have to learn that unique design pieces and massive production can’t be compared and each one has a different price for a specific reason.

what do you think would be helpful for small business owners in our country? more finantial support would be good. also, buying from portuguese manufacturers. portuguese economy needs growth and stability.

these interviews arfe always inspirational and on the other hand after writing these i often feel a need to scream. why? because i could not feel more angry at our own government and the support they provide for small business owners, young people and whoever needs support. we are the daughters and sons of those who fought for freedom. and now we really need to do something. it makes me cry whenever i see the news and i see young people with degrees and no place to work or lousy paychecks. when i see people that have knowledge that should be useful for this country and they are forced to leave because they cannot find a decent job here. it makes me sad…

marta is one of these talented people that could use more support so that art and design could be appreciated in a different way. she is right. art and design are everywhere. just open your eyes. ok, and now breathe… breathe claudia… well… and in order to appreciate more of marta’s work you can browse through her {shop} and her {blog}. have a delightful day!

what is {local markets}? a community dedicated to the very best portuguese talented & independent artists that strive for an original work and exquisitely executed handmade design & photography. once a week, there will be a special feature for these artists, to spread the word about their talent, to introduce you to new & fresh work. {local markets} is an original feature from {a place for twiggs}.