Diva Cruz has always wanted to open a store, and there it is, a showcase for the lesser-known designers and authors and a store. It's called Suuuper, and it also works as a gallery and workshop space.

On November's 2018, architect Diva Cruz opened the Suuuper concept store. In fact, this is more than a store, because it also functions as a gallery and workshop's space. The goal is to introduce new designers and authors that are less familiar to the public - mostly Portuguese, but also from other nationalities.
The space has a high ceiling, which raises our eyes to the ceiling, and is decorated with objects full of memories. Like the screen made with doors that went to waste; the dolly, which was a cart used for defoliation; the furniture of an old grocery store.

The items on sale range from ceramic pieces to wild hand-printed linen cushion covers or baskets made of reeds and leather. Values ​​start at 2 euros (a postcard), and can go up to 449 euros (a crochet lamp).

"I always wanted to show new products, and I've already made a crafts blog," says Diva, who also sells food products. Something I already did in the Cantos da Casa project, represented here.
It is an online store of Portuguese products that he created with a fellow architect at a time when he had friends emigrated with homesickness for things here: cheeses, sausages, wines, olive oil.

At Suuuper, everyone can fill their box in the shape of a house with whatever they want: with cans, craft beer or honey.

In the background is the gallery, with works by young artists - now it's Luís Carita's turn. In the pipeline, there are illustration and origami workshops.

This is also a place of creation. Sometimes, the mother of the store's owner, Manuela Freitas, makes live knitting rugs. For some reason the Suuuper logo incorporates the phrase «creates like a lab, sells like a store».

11/03/2019