The new creatives moving to Portugal

Claire Sá and Max de Rosée, architects and hotel owners, Sintra
London-based architect Claire Sá and her husband, Max de Rosée, were looking for a holiday home in her native Portugal. It’s a land she loves. “We had always gone there several times a year, and it was getting to the point where it was like a crazy storm,” she recalls. “Our five kids would come, and friends, and my parents, who live there, are getting older… Finally we thought, ‘Let’s buy our own place.’” 

It proved more complicated than they had imagined. “We went through ‘Should we buy a big house? A little villa? An apartment by the sea?’ Then a friend called – ‘I’ve found this wonderful place in Sintra. Come and have a look.’ We ended up with this huge listed 18th-century farmhouse in ruins, overgrown with brambles. And I said to Max, ‘I know we’ve got all these children, but we don’t need 30 bedrooms. What were we thinking?’” 

The size of the project demanded radical plans. Though the couple are used to working on a grand scale at their architecture and interiors studio in Notting Hill, DE ROSEE SA, this felt different. “It quickly went from being ‘This will be something we’re going to turn into our home’ to ‘This needs to be a bit more serious,’” Claire says. The nature of the building meant that before she drew up the plans, she needed to have a conversation with the heritage department, the Direção-Geral do Património Cultural. “There was a wonderful woman who said, ‘You guys need to turn this into a tourism project, open it up to the public.’” Thus the idea of a hotel was born.

Slated to open in 2027, Quinta de Valmarinha will have 32 rooms and suites, a restaurant, spa, treatment rooms and gym, five hectares of gardens and a vineyard producing grapes for DOC Colares. The couple set up a Lisbon outpost of their studio to look after the hotel, but now the multinational team of seven, complementing the 22 in the London office, is taking on independent design projects. So Claire and Max find themselves running a Lisbon architects’ office and are on site in Sintra every couple of months. The bureaucratic realities of running a business here have been challenging, but there is a wealth of creative talent in this nomadic hub.

So how will the hotel feel? “We need to preserve the character and the architectural language of what’s there externally,” Claire says. “Internally, it won’t be minimal – it will feel very much as if you’ve arrived in someone’s home. We’ll be working with local tradespeople and designing the furniture. There’s a lot of manufacturing in the north of Portugal, so it’s an opportunity to do that.” 

Fifteen miles from Lisbon, Sintra is a Unesco World Heritage Site high on a hill, overlooking the Atlantic coast. “It’s magical, like a kind of Disney World with all its castles,” says Claire.

Once a summer retreat for the nobility, it retains a wealth of grand palaces and historic villas surrounded by lush greenery, thanks to the singular microclimate. From the hotel, it will be a 10-minute walk to the sea. 

Is a more permanent move to Portugal on the cards for the couple? “The kids think we’ve been talking about this for years, and it’s never going to happen,” Claire says. “And I don’t think either of us necessarily wants to be a hotelier. But these things are only ever a success if you’re all over the details. So we shall see. We’ll build it, then the show begins.”

deroseesa.com

Manon Crouzoulon and Victor Levy, lifestyle entrepreneur and software engineer, Algarve
When Manon Crouzoulon and her husband, Victor Levy, decided three years ago that they wanted to move to Europe from California to be closer to family, they had a list of boxes to tick: “We wanted a sunny place, close to the ocean, that felt open and friendly, and where there were business opportunities,” Manon recalls. “The only place that matched all of those criteria for us was Portugal.” 

Both have roots in Paris, but they have travelled and lived all over the world, including 20 years in the US for Manon and time in Colombia and Australia for Victor. Victor works remotely as a software engineer for an American company while pursuing his musical passions; Manon has worked in fashion, real estate and interior design. Part of their Algarve dream is to develop a rental portfolio with a holistic lifestyle offering. 

After arriving in Portugal, they began their search in Lisbon and “started working our way down the coast”, Manon says. ­They found the ideal spot in Santa Bárbara de Nexe, near Loulé, a pretty hillside Algarve town that is increasingly popular with incomers. “It’s in the countryside, so we get the benefits of the land, the fruits and the beautiful views, but we’re only 15 minutes from Quinta do Lago and the amenities the coast offers, and the same from Faro airport.” 

Th­eir first home there, O Sonho House, was a renovation of an old quinta. “It was magical and unspoilt,” Manon says. “It was a dream place – we got married there.” But it didn’t have the potential for the kind of business she is hoping to build, so they sold it and are now renting while developing a larger site nearby, with a footprint of 900 square metres: “House of Uma is an old manor, but there are also two other buildings of 200 square metres each that we can develop for hospitality.” Manon hopes to run yoga and breathwork retreats. ­

There’s more than a hint of California about the life the couple are building in this pocket of rural Algarve. ­They value the beauty of the landscape, the year-round sunshine, the abundant farm produce and the backdrop of mountains and ocean. “It reminds me of Malibu,” says Manon, and you have to agree when the pair reel off their favourite places to eat, including a vegan ice-cream shop, a French-run bakery and a Japanese-run fish/sushi restaurant. “We love the sense that we can bring ideas, maybe things that haven’t started here yet, and make them happen. We don’t just want to build a business, but a community.” 

It is this “sweet spot” – combining peace and quiet and the unstressed Portuguese approach to life with an openness to the rest of the world and an ease with other languages – that makes the country so welcoming. “There are more and more people coming who are our age or have young families, because the international schools are so good,” Manon confirms, explaining that their social circle includes French, Portuguese, British and American friends. “The people here take care of their environment,” Victor adds. “They don’t trash it, and that feels special.”

Anja and Phil Burks, gallerists, Algarve
When Anja and Phil Burks met in the Algarve nine years ago, a shared passion for art drew them together. “I’d been collecting photography for several years and had just made my first really serious purchase – the large contact sheet of the Bowie Aladdin Sane shoot by Brian Duffy,” Phil recalls. “They call it the Mona Lisa of pop. It was from a gallery in Berlin, where Anja lived.” 

Today, the couple – who got married in Portugal two years later and now live in a villa in Quinta do Lago – own In the Pink, a fine-art photography gallery in Loulé. “It’s all intertwined, how we met, our love for art and for Portugal,” says Anja. “We love it here. It’s such a relaxed, healthy, friendly place. Running the gallery has deepened our relationship with the country.” 

In the Pink displays work by big names such as David Yarrow, Albert Watson and Rankin, as well as showcasing Portuguese talent. It is a third-act career for both: Phil was originally a property developer and co-founder of the UK self-storage company Big Yellow. Anja was a banker in Germany who went on to work for a family office, a role that included establishing an art museum for her client and managing his collection of Impressionist art. 

The gallery combines all their respective areas of interest and expertise. “We had started creating our own photography collection, but we bought the building during Covid, without any plan of what to do with it,” Phil recalls. “It hadn’t been occupied for 30 years, and I would drive past and wonder what was happening. It’s three storeys, more than 100 years old, the most beautiful building in Loulé.” There was planning permission to turn the building into a gallery – and, after a lightbulb moment, they decided to open it themselves. 

“We have the best of both worlds,” Anja says. “We live on the coast and the resort is wonderful – beautiful, near the beach, with lots of really good places to eat, great sports facilities, golf and a totally international community, with friends from all over the world. Then we’ll come up to the gallery two days a week. We employ five people, but we are quite hands-on, particularly on the creative, curation side of things.”

They have “lock up and go” apartments in London and Berlin, and travel widely, often taking in art shows, but Portugal is very much home. “We spend seven months of the year here,” says Phil, who has owned property in the Algarve for 25 years. They love their house: “It’s unusual for Quinta do Lago – a Moorish villa, built in 1985, that we’ve renovated with a modern twist.” He is impressed with how the area has developed: “The properties in the coastal resorts produce a lot of income for the region, and they’ve done a good job of reinvesting in Loulé and making it really attractive.”

Plans for the gallery are constantly evolving. “Because of the level of work we’re showing, In the Pink is essentially a luxury brand,” Phil explains. “Most of our clients live in the coastal resorts, but we’re doing our first pop-up in a few weeks in Lisbon, showing David Yarrow.” 

The pair like to do things in style – they regularly host more than 100 guests at their opening parties in Loulé, and recently had a dinner for 60 at home. Not a little side project, then? “No, it’s huge,” Anja laughs. “We do like parties! It’s fun to tie your passion into what you do, but also to give back to the community. We feel we’ve brought something good to the Algarve.” 

in-the-pink.com

Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, designer, Lisbon
When Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance stopped off in Lisbon on the way back from a kitesurfing trip to Brazil in 2017, something clicked. “People were outside, and there was an energy that was so powerful,” the French designer recalls. “As I moved around the city, I thought, ‘This is exactly where I want to live.’” 

It wasn’t just the buzz of the streets that led him to pack up life in Paris and move south to the Portuguese capital, however. Though he enjoyed superstar status in the world of design, creating interiors and furniture for brands such as Hermès, Ceccotti and Bernhardt, he felt his dreams were on hold. 

In Lisbon, he discovered a city that was on a human scale and uncomplicated. One dream in particular that he had long nurtured, his Made in Situ project, was missing the all-important location he needed to kick-start it. The idea was to bring together a territory, its craft skills and materials to celebrate context through an object. “I was going out of my comfort zone,” he explains. “I couldn’t go to a place that was too wide and open – I had to be in an environment I could understand easily.” 

He scaled back his Paris studio and hired a team of six people locally, including creatives from Portugal, Mexico, Belgium, France and Spain. “That mirrors the energy of Lisbon, which is an international city,” reflects Noé’s wife, Ambre Jarno, who runs her own design house. “Young people are attracted by the possibility of doing things differently here.” 

The designer met Ambre on a trip back to Paris in 2018. Her pioneering business, Maison Intègre, teams designers from Europe and Africa with foundries and artisans in Burkina Faso, producing unique bronze pieces. She still has a place in Paris, so her life pivots between the three countries. Portugal may be the couple’s home, but their businesses rely on international travel and markets – all of which is highly manageable from Lisbon. Last year, Maison Intègre opened an exhibition space on Travessa do Roário, near Made in Situ’s gallery, so the couple feel rooted creatively. “For me, Lisbon is a place to slow down, focus and imagine new pieces,” says Ambre. “In Ouagadougou, I’m crazy busy with the craftsmen and the workshop. This is the perfect balance.” 

The couple have a six-month-old baby and recently moved just outside the city to an architect’s house built in the 1960s, which they have spent two years renovating. Here they enjoy big horizons, proximity to nature and the ocean on their doorstep. “Everything is easy,” says Ambre. “You can be hiking in 20 minutes. You can go to the beach and surf or swim. You can be outside almost all year long.” 

A cabana on the beach is the final ingredient for a life that’s as perfect as can be when the couple are often on the move. “The kids are happy and the schools are great,” says Noé, who also has children from past relationships. “People love kids here. There is still a lot of humanity in this city.”

noeduchaufourlawrance.com

Alex Mansour, property developer, Porto
When Alex Mansour arrived in Portugal 10 years ago, his plan was to visit friends for a few days. Within 72 hours, he had decided to move there. “I’m originally from Paris, but I’ve travelled all around the world since I was 18,” he says. “I studied and worked in Japan, in China, in India, and spent seven years in the US. I’d worked as an asset manager for a couple of hedge funds. So I arrived as a tourist and never left.”

What attracted Alex wasn’t the sunshine and the lifestyle, but the fact that this felt like a land of opportunity. His childhood friends had already set up a company, Lovelystay.com (now Portugal’s leading property manager), and Mansour joined them, riding the early golden visa wave, buying beautiful 18th-century buildings, developing them and selling them on to investors. In these early years, it was all work, no play, and he remembers that Portugal – even Lisbon – felt very different. “It was still mostly retirees moving there,” he says. “There were few young entrepreneurs like us, so there wasn’t a lot to do. We were just focused on our careers.”

The pandemic turbocharged the business, with a surge of people moving to Portugal and opting to stay. Alex decided to go it alone: “I set up Nomad Capital with the aim of developing large resorts, branded residences and luxury residential developments.” That is exactly what he has done, building his brand with landmark developments throughout the country. 

His latest project, Nomad Eden in Porto, is selling predominantly to locals. “The market is definitely changing,” says Alex. “Everyone was talking about Americans a couple of years ago, but I see growth coming from Portuguese buyers.” He is also developing a new concept, Nomad Reserve: “I’ve bought 12 hectares in Porto. We will build on two and the rest will be a nature reserve within the city. It’s a concept I want to take to other parts of Europe. One of the great things about Portugal is that you can experiment with ideas – it’s like a laboratory.” 

He may have come to Portugal for business reasons, but Alex talks of his attachment to his adopted country. “What I love above anything else is the sense of freedom,” he says. “People are so well mannered and educated, and you’re welcome everywhere. Everyone speaks English, people smile and say ‘Hi’ in the street. These might sound like tiny details, but joined together, it makes sense.” 

He pinpoints a key element of Portugal’s geography as part of its uplifting appeal: “It’s a west-facing country – all the main towns and cities are next to the water, and you face the sunset.” 

While Lisbon and much of the Algarve are highly developed, Alex believes that there is much potential in Porto. He hopes that the city will evolve gradually, retaining its authenticity and character. “The lifestyle in Porto is very pleasant,” he says. “The climate is good, it’s a cultural hub, a food hub, the airport is close. It’s an unbelievable place to live.” 

nomad-cap.com

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