Life and design in Porto
A conversation with Karla and Leonhard Pfeifer about moving to Portugal
(Leon)
Hey there, I’m Leonhard and this is Karla. Together we founded our design studio PFEIFER and we design furniture.
We currently live in Porto by the mouth of the Douro river which leads out to the majestic Atlantic ocean. We moved here in 2019 from London with our two children and design practice.
Karla and Leonhard Pfeifer walking along the ocean front in Porto
(Karla)
So, the story of how we came to live in Portugal is a bit of a crazy one, and I still can’t believe we moved. Leonhard and I have moved and travelled a lot in our lives, both as children and as adults, so when we packed up and moved from Australia to London in 2001 we were pretty sure we could make a go of it. We founded our design studio in London two years later, and then time marched on and we found ourselves with a couple of kids and a little house in Shoreditch.
(Leon)
Karla has always been restless and both of us have a strong connection to the oceans. Her continual dialogue was one that included living by the sea and being able to learn to surf and she presented spreadsheets to me constantly showing the pros and cons of living in different cities around the world. In May 2018 I was in Porto for the first time to visit one of the furniture factories we work with and had an epiphany.
(Karla)
Yeah, Leon phoned me from Portugal and said ‘I have found the city you have been looking for!’. I said ‘Sure, sounds nice’ as we have this conversation pretty much every place we visit and thought not much more about it. I was in Australia at the time so I was happily pottering about in the sun with the kids and the snakes and spiders.
But, turns out he was serious. We looked at the photos Leon had taken of Porto’s old town - picturesque buildings, the glistening river that runs through the town, the ocean and beaches. To be honest, it looked pretty good.
(Leon)
Right! So 7 months later we arrived in Porto. Karla and the kids had never been here before and I had visited for 2 days. We knew no-one, didn’t speak the language - we pretty much landed without any expectations of what lay ahead. So, here we are and what can I say, it is beautiful, right?
(Karla)
We are lucky in that we can work remotely - as long as there is fast internet. Portugal has a reputation for exceptional production facilities and high level of craftsmanship so it is a really good fit for our design business and where we want PFEIFER to be in the future.
Our morning walk to our studio in Porto
Make sure you take a moment to watch our video and you can read more about us here.
Now you know a little bit about us and our lives here in Porto you are probably interested in our work. We are experts in the process of designing furniture and, to make it even better, we really love what we do.
If you would like a tailored PFEIFER Design portfolio presentation about how we can help your brand bring new retail products to your market please email us. We would be happy to hear from you,