PORTO – the debut title from Livraria Lello Curates
To curate is to care. To publish is to eternalise
From the cobblestones that echo ancient footsteps to the cloisters where light whispers. From embroidered linens to the sound that rises in an alleyway. From fado to the laughter passed down through generations — we are a country that is felt.
With this collection, we turn that presence into a book — and the book into art.
At Livraria Lello, we believe that cities, like books, are meant to be read. Porto is our first poem.
.webp "Porto, da Livraria Lello Curates")
Porto
There are cities you visit. And then there is Porto — it walks in uninvited and stays.
In this first volume of the Livraria Lello Curates collection, the soul of the city is eternalised through a delicate curation of photography, illustration, and words.
Porto reveals itself in fragments: façades weeping with dew, shadows dancing on stone, streets that keep ancient secrets.
This is not a guidebook. It is an act of listening.
A tribute to the visceral beauty of a place that is never quite the same — and yet always Porto.
Each chapter opens with a local idiom that resists translation — it can only be felt:
“Vergar a mola,” “Andar no laréu,” “Ir p’rá gandaia.”
Three ways of living Porto — through work, through leisure, through celebration.
Launch Event – April 11
This marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Livraria Lello, reaffirming its role as both publisher and cultural agent — asserting the book as an object of art, and heritage as a living language.
The session will open with the official presentation of the Livraria Lello Curates label by Aurora Pedro Pinto, Administrator of Livraria Lello, who will share the editorial vision behind the collection: a project grounded in emotional and aesthetic curation of the Portuguese territory.
The book’s visual identity will be unveiled by the team at international design studio Happycentro, responsible for the concept and design of the collection. They will reveal the creative process behind this inaugural edition, where visual language takes on poetic and narrative dimensions, reinforcing the book’s uniqueness as an object.
The event will also include the signing of a collaboration protocol between Livraria Lello and the Porto City Council, integrating the bookshop into the Cartão Porto programme — a renewed commitment to the city and its people.
A special panel titled “Porto, Granite Poem” will bring together Pedro Abrunhosa, Ana Neiva, Rui Paula, and Germano Silva for an intimate and evocative conversation — a tribute to the city, made of voices, paths, and perspectives.
The session will be moderated by Jorge Sobrado, Vice President for Culture and Heritage at CCDR Norte.
- Pedro Abrunhosa reflects on the spirit of independence, a defining trait and condition of Porto’s identity.
- Germano Silva evokes a time when “Porto was a will” — forged in strength, presence, and action.
- Ana Neiva presents the city through line and landscape, where architecture meets daily life.
- Rui Paula brings to the table the flavours, memories, and sensory identity of Porto.
.webp "As novas montras da Livraria Lello")
The Window Displays
To mark the launch of the new editorial imprint Livraria Lello Curates, Livraria Lello unveils two installation-style window displays designed by the Italian studio Happycentro. A scenographic gesture that invites contemplation and discovery — between analogue and digital, impulse and memory.
The concept is built around three core ideas: the fusion of the physical book with digital language; the balance between the passer-by and the lingerer; and the coexistence of static and dynamic elements that challenge the gaze and awaken the senses.
One window is entirely dedicated to Porto, inspired by the cover of the first book in the collection. It recreates, in paper, the view of Ribeira from the hillsides of the Douro, with three-dimensional buildings and a moving backdrop that evokes the passing of time. A scene crafted entirely from paper — and therefore fully recyclable.
The second window dives into the universe of the collection: enlarged books as portals, animations framed alongside static images, and handcrafted objects inspired by the covers — all executed by hand, with precision and purpose.
Inside the Bookstore, during the collection’s unveiling, an interactive piece created by the studio will also be on display: a small analogue machine, built in wood and 3D-printed elements, invites visitors to turn a crank. In doing so, they activate a paper sequence that creates a hand-driven animation — like the old flipbooks. In one scene, a seagull takes flight, rising from the pages of the book. A simple, poetic, and tactile gesture that brings movement back to paper and invites a slower gaze.
With this installation, Livraria Lello extends the spirit of its new imprint to the windows: to curate Portugal as it is felt — with time, with beauty, and with memory.
.webp "Equipa do Happycentro")
Happycentro
The visual concept behind Livraria Lello Curates was created by the Italian studio Happycentro, internationally renowned for its distinctive visual language and multidisciplinary approach.
For this edition, the studio developed a comprehensive editorial project — from the cover design to the layout structure, including all graphic elements that shape the book’s identity. Among these is the exclusive Manoel typeface, created specifically for the collection: a signature stroke that lends rhythm and character to the reading experience.
The original illustrations incorporate emotional symbols from Porto’s collective imagination — from camellias to francesinha, from azulejos to São João’s hammers, with nods to leeks and the D. Luiz Bridge.
The book’s visual identity also extends into the physical space of Livraria Lello. The launch window displays, also conceived by Happycentro, turn the bookstore’s façade into a curatorial extension of the work — visible, inhabited, and alive.
There are cities you visit. And then there's Porto — it walks in uninvited and stays.