KIOSK HELLO » Portugal

Portugal, Step One, a Place to Stay in Lisbon

Alisa — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:21:40 +0000

A place to stay, not fancy but nothing run of the mill either. We felt like we were at home, it made us want to relocate to Lisboa. Maria is a lovely host and the neighborhood is absolutely perfect. Perhaps not touristic but we wanted to feel like we were a local and we did, immediately. Each room has a view over Lisbon, as you can see here. Sorry we don’t have any other images. Inexpensive. Great. Go to Lisbon. Do yourself a favor.

Mi Casa en Lisboa

http://www.micasaenlisboa.com/

Calçada do Monte 50, Lisboa -+ 351 91 909 0595

Why We do What We Do

Alisa — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:09:31 +0000

It’s about the people, the places, the people… Not forgetting how to make things, how things are made, who is making them and why… showing it to others and wanting to share what we find in the world, it’s about travel and discovering and learning. Now… some images from Portugal… Later… some posts… hopefully these things we share help and encourage you to go and meet and talk and learn and see and show. You don’t have to travel far, you just have to get off the machine and take a walk , look up and around you, beauty is everywhere.

Paper Hot Air Balloon

Marco — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:28:19 +0000

Update: There is home video!

We got to bring one of the balloons outside to launch for the Sam and Jake’s birthday — our wonderful nephews. My sister and her then boyfriend made these for me when I was a kid and my friends still bug me about flying these again. Back then it was a full day of cutting, gluing, and just general papercrafting. Come evening it was time to launch. Our homemade balloons had metal cans that were filled with spirit-drenched cotton — all of the balloons we launched that way ended up in a Hindenburgesque flame — the last one flew great for a while, but since I had attached a string to it — I stupidly thought I could reign it in — pulling that string tilted the balloon so much the flames licked the paper and within seconds a scorching hot piece of metal bounced down around my feets. Well, this balloon is simpler, sturdier and frankly, the design is just much smarter. The flame sits up-inside the balloon, so during the launch phase the flame is shielded by the balloon itself, making the risk of a pretty flash smaller. You need to be at least four it seems — three to hold the balloon open, and one to light the candle from underneath. Do this on a colder day, the theory is that you need a bit of temperature difference to get this thing off the ground. That night it was maybe 65f so it wasn’t even cold. The balloon get weightless in a minute or two after lighting up. And it takes off. Silently. Fast. Beautiful. Far up. It get’s tiny. And tinier. And tinier. We hardly said anything during ten minutes of following it disappear in to the horizon. It was so simple. Hope the kids liked it as much as I did!

Excuse the crummy pictures, but no-flash pictures at dawn is not really our thing!

We found these balloons in Portugal, but I had seen them used in Mexico as well — my childhood ones were in Sweden — I have an idea that the Portuguese taught the Mexicans back in the day, and the Swedes picked it up in the good ol’ 70’s, when everyone bummed around and made kites and love. We *sell* these, how’s that for a pitch. Go get them here (and we don’t have many, but we are trying to get some more).

Swedes flying trashbags:

KIOSK: Portugal

Alisa — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:00:04 +0000

We have a new love interest and it is called PORTUGAL. Three weeks visiting turned into six, one visit into two. Impressions all around. The collection got huge, huger and hugest. To be honest we are not quite sure what happened during the time we were away, facing the sea and sitting on the EDGE OF THE WORLD. Looking out we realized that the certain amount of isolation Portugal has always enjoyed allows it to truly be it’s own beautiful self. OPENING PARTY THURSDAY NOVEMBER 5TH from 7 — 10 at our place: 95 SPRING STREET, 2ND FLOOR. Hope you can make it by to say HI, have a beer and take a look.

P.S. If you can’t come by, ONLINE will be updated on Thursday.

8 things 4 2008 (& one..)

Marco — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:46:23 +0000

8 things 4 2008 + 1 more 4 good luck

Eight things to help you through the coming year, a little bit of assistance.
Dish Brush + Pine Tea + Rawhide Mallet + Cheese Grater + Sesame Grinder + Knife Sharpener + Metal Stencils + New York Guidebook + Money Notebook
DENMARK + BELGIUM + USA + ITALY + JAPAN + FRANCE + FRANCE + JAPAN + PORTUGAL

Happy 2008!

These are all things we found during 2007 and things we feel are just the tops.
They will be in the shop and online until March and then we launch HONG KONG

SALE HAPPENING NOW TOO!