OUR GUESTS

Many are those that join us at Big Day to share their artistry and talent. Sharing is at the core of this event, after all. Amongst them, musicians, producers, chefs and artists with whom we identify and that have many stories to tell.

Here you’ll discover the guests that help us to make this day even 'bigger'.

Illustrations by Cláudia Guerreiro©
Passa ao futuro
Passa ao futuro
Passa Ao Futuro is a non-profit association, looking for artisans in Portugal who work with traditional techniques, to create an online database in order to support the preservation of tacit knowledge, transmission of know-how as well as innovation social, environmental and design. We want to unify and activate this network through various initiatives that include: residences, exhibitions, social innovation programs and sustainability training. Passa Ao Futuro was founded in 2016 by Astrid Rovisco Suzano and Fatima Azzahra Durkee and is formed by an international interdisciplinary team that works in collaboration with partners such as: UNESCO Chair; FRESS: Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva Foundation; Michelangelo Foundation; CEARTE: Center for the Professional Training of Handicrafts; TASA Project; Positive Benefits Impact Innovation Association; Eco-Intelligent Growth; AOW Handmade; National Museum of Ethnology and Museum of Popular Art.
Diogo deCalle
Diogo deCalle
Born in Lisbon, he is a multidisciplinary plastic artist who divides his time as a creator and art-educator. Along the way, Art and Nature are a constant in its ephemeral, aesthetic and poetic presence and, in his work, he follows his permanent desire to draw, guided by the pleasure of evoking creativity and poetry within each individual. Diogo is an enthusiast who sees art as a way to inspire and be inspired, to communicate and to intervene.
Inês Meneses
Inês Meneses
Broadcaster and communicator of unparalleled sympathy, Inês Meneses has been doing "Fala com Ela" ("Talk with Her") for 10 years on Radar and, in Antena 1, "O amor é ..." ("Love is...") with Júlio Machado Vaz. She made gastronomic review on Saturday and signs the "10 Perguntas a..." ("10 Questions for ...") in Revista E. Now, in a Radar / Expresso partnership promotes the connections in PBX, together with Pedro Mexia. This Big Day, she'll be with us to moderate the Talks.
Joana Astolfi
Joana Astolfi
Artist, architect and designer who draws visual inspiration from a broad universe of found objects. Porcelain statuettes, miniatures, vintage chairs, toys, diaries and photographs of people she never met populate and shape her creative vision. Her artworks, installations and window displays are inspired by imperfections, mistakes and the irrepressibility of humor. In 2009, created the Studio Astolfi with a team of artists, architects, and technicians who specialize in telling stories, evoking memories, and captivating the curiosity of our audiences. Together they've created projects for Hermès, Belcanto, Bairro do Avillez, Claus Porto, A Padaria Portuguesa, amongst many others. In this Big Day she'll be joining us for the Talks, to share her project "Árvore da Esperança" ("Hope Tree").
Chef Carlos Teixeira
Chef Carlos Teixeira
He started his cooking course at the age of 14 at the Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo (School of Hospitality and Tourism) in Lisbon. After completing his degree, he entered the Food Production Catering Degree at Esht, where he had the opportunity to practice with Henrique Mouro, at the Restaurant Assinatura and, last year, at the Hotel Claris (5 stars) in Barcelona. After graduating, he started working at the Grémio Literário and later at Rota das Sedas in Lisbon. In 2014 he moved to London where he worked for a year at the Clove Club (1 Michelin star). Back in Portugal he came to work at the Restaurant Herdade do Esporão, where he spent 2 years as a sous-chef. Now, at the age of 25, she takes the lead in the kitchen of Herdade do Esporão.
Chef Bruno Caseiro
Chef Bruno Caseiro
Bruno Caseiro was taken to the kitchen universe by his passion for food. After finishing the Escola de Hotelaria he traveled the world to learn from some of the best: Nuno Mendes, Nuno Diniz, Tom Sellers, Leandro Carreira - always keeping a close eye on what was happening in his country. He likes to cook what gives him pleasure to eat and found in Alentejo the perfect scenery, where time stretches and prolongs, in lively evenings and full tables. He seeks to reflect in the dish and on the palate the biodiversity that characterizes the region.
Chef António Galapito
Chef António Galapito
António Galapito, 27 years old, returned from London especially to open the Prado, a restaurant that offers dishes with national, seasonal and fresh ingredients. In London, he worked in several renowned restaurants, two of which were awarded with Michelin Stars: 'Viajante', 'The Corner Room' and 'Taberna do Mercado', by Nuno Mendes, and 'Lyle's', by James Lowe.
Chef Hugo Brito
Chef Hugo Brito
Hugo Brito began his training in Sociology and Fine Arts. He was a Fellow of the Gulbenkian Foundation and made numerous exhibitions, both in Portugal and internationally. In the midst of a post-graduate degree in visual arts, in Amsterdam, he began working in gastronomy and, initially without that intention, he eventually made of it his profession. He worked in numerous restaurants in Amsterdam, London and Lisbon before opening, in 2014, the Boi-Cavalo restaurant in Alfama, which he defines as a relaxed restaurant, but politically and culturally committed. He has a 4-year-old son who likes 'farinheira' a lot and many plants at home.
Chef José Júlio Vintém
Chef José Júlio Vintém
Born in Portalegre, he is passionate about the countryside and traditional and regional cuisine. Self-taught, he made his way studying techniques and products that allowed him to develop a simple kitchen like the regional one, but full of charisma. He has the TombaLobos restaurant for 18 years, in Portalegre, where he creates dishes always respecting the seasonality and the origin of the products. Also in Portalegre, he opened the tavern Boca do Lobo, where he recreates and presents his snacks. He is a consultant chef at the Hotel São Lourenço do Barrocal and is in charge of the kitchen of the new project in Lisbon - Pica Miolos, at Cais do Sodré -, opening this year.
Chef Leopoldo Calhau
Chef Leopoldo Calhau
Before he clung to the pots, he was an architect. It was when Leopoldo returned to Lisbon, after six years of practicing in Alentejo, that he decided to enroll in the Escola de Hotelaria of Estoril and 'architect' a change in his life. The past seasons in constant contact with Alentejo gastronomy and an old passion for the kitchen were the basis of the decision. In 2014, after gaining practice in other restaurants, including Belcanto, he opened his first restaurant, the Sociedade, in Parede, where he was when he accepted the invitation of the D. Maria II Theater, in Lisbon, to have his space there. Regional food is the daily dish at Café Garrett: "I find it funny when they say that I do Alentejo cuisine because the idea was not this, but the truth is that the Alentejo always comes to the plate."
Chef Rui Martins
Chef Rui Martins
The detail is essential to understanding his personality, as it manifests itself in everything in his life. Rui Martins is a strong spirit, always feeling that life is to be lived intensely. The kitchen inspired by different regions of our country and in his journneys, is a kitchen full of contrasts. He participated in the TOP CHEF in 2012 reaching the final, received the Trophy 'Portugal Sou Eu' in 2015 and the distinction 'Chef Cook of the Year 2016', and worked in the Celler de Can Roca - with 3 stars Michellin and considered the 3rd best restaurant in the world. He believes that sharing and the experiences with colleagues are moments of constant growth, and that the demand has to be constant - those who do not look, hardly find.
Chef Vasco Coelho Santos
Chef Vasco Coelho Santos
It was without fear, with only 29 years and a baggage already full of experience and inspiration, that Vasco Coelho Santos opened the Euskalduna Studio, in Porto. As a good son, back home he came after some years travelling the world and building his knowledge in Lisbon, the Basque Country, London, Singapore and Japan. He learned with the best and came back wiser. But with his feet firmly on the ground. His humility enables him to imbue a little of each place he visited in his identity as a chef.
Chef Joaquim Saragga Leal
Chef Joaquim Saragga Leal
Joaquim Saragga Leal graduated as a mechanical engineer in England. After some years working between Volkswagen and as a helicopter mechanic, he eventually went to work in Alentejo, at his grandmother's property. It was at this time that he entered the University of Bordeaux to take the DUAD (Diplome universitaire de aptitude à la degustacion). In an act of curiosity and encouraged by friends, he entered the cooking course at EHTL. After finishing it, he continued on to the master's degree in Gastronomy Sciences, at FCT / Nova de Lisboa. After finishing the first year of the master's degree, he acquired the number 22 of Calçada do Forte in Alfama, where he opened the Sal Grosso tavern and amuses himself between Portuguese gastronomy and artisanal beer, his latest project.
Tiago Pereira
Tiago Pereira
Following and deepening the footsteps of Michel Giacometti, Tiago Pereira is possibly the ethnographer who knows Portugal better. His project "A Música Portuguesa a Gostar Dela Própria" is a hymn to the pride of our customs and traditions. The success was such that now he's also doing a survey of our gastronomy - a theme that brings him to Big Day.
Madalena Martins
Madalena Martins
Madalena Martins explores a universe dedicated to the design and imagery of Portuguese culture, reinterpreting objects, materials and stories, returning emotions in the form of design objects. The craftsmanship and rigor of production are very present in her works allied with a strong social component, being mostly developed by inmates of prisons in the north of Portugal and users of social reintegration associations. Environmental sustainability is also very much present in the creative and production process, transforming waste from industries or museums into new pieces of work. Photo by ©Vitorino Coragem
Mezze - Associação Pão a Pão project
Mezze - Associação Pão a Pão project
They asked a Syrian student living in Lisbon what she missed the most. She replied: "Syrian bread!" This was the starting point for an absolutely pioneering integration project in Portugal: an Arab food restaurant, the Mezze, where training and employment are given to refugees from the Middle East. Because bread is one of the elements that connect us to home, Mezze is a space where bread is produced as well as several of the dishes that accompany it. It is much more than a bakery and much more than a restaurant: it is a meeting place and a place of sharing. 'Pão a Pão' association thus generates solutions for sustainable employability and contributes to a true inclusion in a model that they intend to replicate in various parts of the country. And because integration is a bidirectional process, they also organize workshops and debates, which help to approximate, reduce ignorance and eliminate prejudices.
Mafalda Capela
Mafalda Capela
Mafalda Capela was born in Porto in 1977. Stories and history, have always been the place of his attention. Since 1998 he has collaborated with the Perdigões project. Above all, it seeks to expand knowledge about the archaeological complex and the involvement of all in its construction.
Amal
Amal
Amal is handcrafted by Syrian women living in Portugal. Our soap is consciously made from highly natural ingredients to ensure a genuine enriching touch on your skin, our largest organ. We want to take care of our body's natural energy, nurturing it with what it deserves: natural, non-cruel and energizing ingredients.
Fogo Fogo
Fogo Fogo
Fogo Fogo is a tribute to Cape Verdian rhythms with eyes set on the vastness of those who speak Portuguese and, of course, who dances or is attracted by movement. The homage, which already lacked another strand of African music, began to give evidence, coincidence or not, in Largo do Intendente. Five musicians, now contribute to make it more than a space of sharing. And so it is created. João Gomes (keys) invited Francisco Rebelo (bass), Marcio Silva (drums) and David Pessoa (guitar), together with Danilo Lopes (in a guitar even more knowledgeable of the musical panorama of Cape Verde) give voice to the interpreted themes. All of them are choosing new knits to weave the night of Fire Fire, and so, every night have a different fire, but never soft.
JP Simões
JP Simões
Singer, composer, lyricist, storyteller and playwright, JP Simões has been editing albums since 1995 with Pop Dell'Arte, Belle Chase Hotel, Quinteto Tati and solo or in collaboration with other composers. His last self-titled album, Rome, was released in 2013 and earned a long national and international tour. In late 2016, he released "Tremble Like a Flower" on behalf of his alter-ego "Bloom".
Gonçalo Jordão
Gonçalo Jordão
Gonçalo Jordão lives in Mourão, in the Évora district, and says about himself that "Alentejo has always been an integral part of who I am. I carry it as one of my references and this is reflected in my work, the simple greatness of those horizons. " Graduated in Painting, his curriculum includes interventions in several palaces, churches and convents and hotels. In 2014, he saw his work in the direction of art, in a team led by Anna Pinnock and Adam Stockhausen, referring to the film Grand Budapest Hotel, by the American cult director Wes Anderson.
Fátima Durkee
Fátima Durkee
Born in Saudi Arabia in 1980, she grew up between New Mexico (USA) and Egypt. Before beginning her studies in Architecture at Parsons New School for Design in New York, she traveled for four years working in the Fashion field. Later she worked at the M & A company in New York and Colômbia, in the Urban Planning Department of New York City and was involved in several philanthropic projects such as: Nutrir Baranquilla and Women Together. In 2014 he came to live in Lisbon as Liaison International's artistic residence PointB. In 2016 he co-founded Passa Ao Futuro. The result of the need to create a comprehensive and accessible resource for linking artisans to designers as a means of preserving, promoting and activating the rich heritage of the intangible cultural heritage that they perceived to be in Portugal.
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