Kung Hei Fat Choi II.

Here you have more photographs of my friend’s home.
Hope you like it and get all the inspiration to style your house for this new Chinese New Year.

I love this photograph. I think it’s so magazine style. Somehow I like the unbalanced light in it.
The painting is beautiful – it’s like a patchwork of stories.

This photo and the following 3 are the same space, but from different points of view.





What I find amazing about Isabel’s home is that the deco is extremely elaborated and colourful, yet relaxing. For any moment you feel overwhelmed with the oriental energy. I’m sure it’s the Feng Shui in balance.

What do you most like about Chinese style?
Colour? Design? Materials?

Kung Hei Fat Choi.

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI means Happy New Year in Cantonese – It should have been yesterday’s title, but my friend Isabel just told me that today. Apologies for the delay.

I had planned to post Isabel’s living room today and tomorrow her bedroom. But I have so many photographs showing so many beautiful details that I’ve decided to dedicate two days to her living room and towards the end of the week her bedroom and other little secret spaces. They’re too many and too good to not share with you all.

I love this view. Great painting: so many stories to tell.

This cabinet has the most interesting curiosities in it.
In the Chinese culture a cage (on top of the cabinet) is an object to exhibit in the streets. The same way we walk dogs to the park, they walk their birds. Therefore cages are precisely and beautifully made; even the little bowl to pour the bird’s water is made in porcelain.

On the right there's a cabinet pharmacy made in Korea. Each drawer corresponds to a different tea. How much perfect can this be?
I find amazing the level of detail in Asian’s furniture.

This rich yellow brings together so perfectly the deco, doesn’t it?

Hello Isabel. Thank you for sharing your home with all of us.
See you soon for a nice cup of tea.

Welcome Tiger’s New Chinese Year I.

When I was drafting my 2010 blog posts the first one coming to my mind was a special feature on the Chinese New Year as I knew I would have the perfect home to photograph. It belongs to one of my Portuguese best friends – Isabel da Mota.

Isabel lived in Macau for 15 years, among other countries. When she moved back to Portugal, she took with her every single piece of furniture and decoration she had collected in that energetic and colourful country.
Her home is one of the warmest, cosy and very welcoming I’ve ever been to. Everything is in the right space with the right colour and background. Nothing is over decorated because she knows how to do it in style.

Today I’ll post about her hall, a very important space in the house as it’s were we gather the first energy. And I can tell you this one has a very good Feng Shui.



The walls are covered with beautiful prints and photos telling interesting stories about somewhere in China.

Love this poster.



Detail everywhere.

The first frame from the top displays two envelops which married people give to single ones to wish a happy new year, as they believe the more you give the more you receive. Today this tradition has spread which means everyone gives the envelops to whom they care about to wish luck. In Cantonese they say KUNG HEI FAT CHOI LAI SI TAI LOI.

Hope you like it as much as I do.
Happy Metal Tiger’s New Year!

Next two days I'll post her living room and bedroom. Stay in touch.

Windows Design for Valentine’s Day.

Windows design was always a big passion to me. Well, it still is, but for now I just appreciate it. Back in Portugal, alongside with my interior design projects I always had what I used to call my little side projects. That included windows design.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I take the opportunity to post 2 photos of a windows design project I did back in 2003 – long time ago.

Happy Valentine’s Day.




My perspective on windows design – is like a TV commercial, but in a static version: tells a story in 30 seconds.

Alexander McQueen.

Design. Spatial Design. What is it space? How can we define space? Does it need to be in between walls, or can it be within other physical boundaries?

Sometimes I like to think a dress creates a space as well. Not sometimes, actually. They really create spaces, though different from the ones we automatically imagine.

I’m a fashion lover. I always say the way we present ourselves to the world through fashion has exactly the same essence as the way we do it through a chair or a simple cushion at home – it’s just a matter of scale.

Today I've decided for the first (and maybe the last) to post 3 photographs of Alexander McQueen's creations. With this post I want to express my admiration for one of the most creative persons of the imaginary world. Alexander's dresses were little imaginary spaces full of confidence and aspirations.






These dresses were on display at Selfridges, London.

You might be interested in this article.

Design by Eliana Tomás | 1 – Am I a designer?

First of all I would like to thank everyone for the fantastic feedback on my previous post: great comments, emails and tête-à-tête discussions. You all make me feel full of energy and proud to carry on my little side project: this blog.

As I said before I want to post every Wednesday a column about my design and my business, in other words what design and business means to me and how we, creative beings, can contribute to this world we live in, starting within our own world.

Going back to what John Maeda debated about last week I want to transcribe the way he defined designers and artists.

Very straight to the point he basically said:

Designers are constructive people – problem solvers, communicative, understand people’s needs, make things happen.
Artists are destructive people – if they want to come up with a sculpture made out of the most corrosive material, no matter what that makes to the environment or the people around them; it doesn’t matter because they’ll do whatever it takes to achieve that moment of narcissism believe.

Better definition then this one I can’t find. Can you?

(I feel the need to make a parenthesis here: I am not criticizing anyone; I’m just very naively describing what the main difference is between a designer and an artist. And I believe it’s because of this great difference that these two “types of professionals” can contribute so much to the world by combining strengths and knowledge in different fields.)

Now, this is exactly where I answer one of my biggest existentialism questions: Am I a designer? Yes I am. I remember a few years ago talking to a few people about this subject and on the back of my mind I had this strong believe: “one thing I’m sure is that I’m not an artist. I don’t have an artistic soul. I know that I am a designer – period” And many times I was told something like: “Eli, don’t be so ‘narrow minded’. If you can’t say why, it’s maybe because you are!!!” – That time I couldn’t define things the way John Maeda did. I could only hear what was within me. I could feel it so deeply but I couldn’t theorize, which has been always my problem. I can’t theorize what I feel; probably no creative one can, actually. And let me take this opportunity to say that I really hate when I have to backup my believes with philosophers and other thinkers, otherwise my opinion is worthless. Thinkers are the ones I find inspiration to think and question why and why not, not to quote what they say.

A designer is not only the one able to draw, hand sketch or talk about ergonomics and materials. She & he is as well someone who can apply the creative thinking and leadership to different fields, someone who can understand and solve problems within businesses without the need to draw sections, plans or perspectives. The way a designer (or an artist) thinks doesn’t follow standard rules or mathematical methods. It follows intuition and emotion. Because creativity is a free mind, fearless with no preconceptions, the world can really benefit from it. As I commented on my first post of these series, the rigid world needs to bend a bit towards us, as well as we need to bend to it.

For now I leave my wish as a proud designer: give us the opportunity to prove it all. Somewhere in between is the beginning to find solutions for old problems.


PS – The more I read this column, the more it sounds a bit clumsy. Apologies for that, but that’s the way I feel things – back and forward thoughts on a curved line - that’s the way.

Related articles
John Maeda @ The V&A Talking About Creative Leadership – Values Based in Art + Design.

Thoughts On Seating.

A chair for me is that object I always like to admire the aesthetics, comfort and texture. I buy a chair as if I’m buying a bottle of wine (just bought three last Saturday, chairs I mean).
Of course I end up with more chairs in the house than any other furniture piece, but then it gives me an excuse to use them for other purposes than to seat people on, and I must say this is one of the things I love to do with objects: to give them different functions.
Try to stack one on the wall pretending it’s a bookshelve – it’s really interesting engagement, I must say. Well, I have one!

This is the type of sketches I would love to draw.

Where I took these photos, there was a very nice food for thought text to go with the display, which I’m going to quote. Hope you find it interesting as much as I do.

“A chair, described as simply as possible, is an object that people use to sit in. Over the centuries, though, we have learned that the “common chair” serves far more complex purposes than than just providing seating for people.”

“There is, for example, the long tradition of thrones, ranging from relatively simple to grand in their design, whose effect is determined by their symbolic power. Today, however, when a chair for everyday use is monumentalized in a museum display and transformed into a celebrated “star”, we ask ourselves if it is important as a utilitarian item or as a work of art.”

“This applies particularly in cases where the chair articulates a truly unique combination of technical innovation and design expertise. Fantasy and humour, with which designers also approach the everyday object time and again.”

“As objects that are representative of their era, chairs generate images in our mind’s eye that inspire us not to judge them on the basis of how comfortable they actually are. After all, they have a very varied history, which is reflected in the acceptance they have gained (…)”

“So what do we expect from a good chair? What should it provide, what should it represent?”
Text by Dr. Thomas Schriefers - Cologne, Germany.





Now that I’m thinking about my work, I realized I’ve never designer a chair. Only armchairs and sofas. I’ll post soon an armchair I’ve designed many years ago in leather and stainless steel.

Two Different Chairs but both very beautiful.
Marcel Wanders
Michael Young @ Dezeen

Art installation with chairs.
Wallpaper Chair Arch Installation 1
Wallpaper Chair Arch Installation 2

Sketching & Brainstorming My Living Room’s Layout.

I was very reluctant to post these sketches (because they’re not perfect) but then I thought: this is my style, the way I think, these are my sketches, although in my mind they’re always perfect.

Sometimes I wish I could sketch beautifully, with perspective, depth, colour, volume… those kind of sketches that look like photograph’s rather than drawings. But then I think “I can’t be good at everything, can I? I’m good doing other things like technical drawings, come up with concepts, starting projects, improve details, presenting ideas to clients, find the right furniture for interiors, among other little things.
So, these are sketches/ideas to change my living room/home office layout. As you can see they’re not in scale, which is something that drives me nuts, but I thought I should do it to challenge my comfort zone.

I have to say I haven’t measure my living room because I know if I did I would draw straight to autoCAD, but I promise I will update this post in scale (sometime soon).

I’m not sure if it’s better to get into the room straight to my ‘office’ or to my living space, as the first get’s very easily a bit messy.

I want to have my armchairs together, so this is not a good option. I wonder if I should leave it as it is… (1st sketch).

So, what are you good at? What would you like to be good at?

John Maeda @ The V&A Talking About Creative Leadership – Values Based in Art + Design.

Yesterday evening I went to the V&A to hear John Maeda. To be very honest, I didn’t know too much about him. I had read a few things at Dezeen and the internet but nothing in depth. The main reason to make my way there was because the talk’s synopsis was very appellative: “…argues that in addition to science, technology, engineering and math, innovation also requires intuition, design, emotion, and art (IDEA).”

I left the museum pretty happy, I must say. The only thing on my mind was the answer for my endless questions about myself for many many years: “Who am I? Where do I stand in the professional world? Am I a designer? Am I a business woman? Why is my professional life such a saga? Why I am never satisfied with my professional achievements? Why do I always want to do and experiment every career path(within design and business)?” And finally I found my “raison d’être”. But this is to be discussed another time.

Back to his discussion: he questioned how technology took away from us the real 'body' feeling of things and how & why we should bring them back. How we can use art + design to improve business. How art + design is the basis to technology + business. Humanity and technology: where they do relate.

We all know art + design is the key to solve economic problems (I go even further saying it’s the key to solve political problems too). A few companies have had experienced the “art + design technique” – Yahoo, Google, Facebook, advertisement companies, etc but let’s be pragmatic to realize these are already creative businesses. In other words: we know it but it’s been difficult to apply it – the theory is written but everyone has been resistant to put it in to practice.

Now I raise another question mark, if I may.

I believe there’s something else we need to tackle: the yet gap to became a bridge to move forward. We, designers and artists must understand why everyone has been so resistant to put the car on the road. We are almost there, but not quite yet.

As J. Maeda said, this is the right time to do it. Let’s just do it.


PS – this talk and John Maeda have inspired me to write every week a column on my blog about my endless questions about my design + my business. Stay tuned and brainstorm with me on how we can make life even more beautiful through design + art together with business.

Ligne Roset @ imm cologne, Germany.

This is my last post on imm 2010. I have to say that I already miss researching on my photography archives, photographing art installations, to put mood boards together with ideas to style your space or to talk about other spaces within spaces.
Nevertheless I have more to post about my trip to Cologne, but I’ll find another opportunity to do it, rather sooner than later. Keep in touch.

Ligne Roset’s stand was really well styled. The space dragged me in. Very slick, quite smart yet inviting.

This French brand was founded in 1860 by Antoine Roset, quite well known for its collaborations with contemporary designers. Check Dezeen to read about the sofa launched by LR designed by Paris designer Inga Sempé.

Very well balanced spot.

I like the idea the surroundings are mirrored on those little niches on the wall. It expresses lots of movement.

The table’s shade is quite Piet Mondrian’s abstract art. Very nice.



They look like windows, don’t they?

For a more conservative style.