{local markets} :: simplesmente branco

hello there my friends, how are you? we woke up to a very rainy tuesday and i did my very best to appreciate it… took a long walk (before the rain!) with mr kobe, and then spent almost all morning shopping on ikea! oh i missed these mornings! we now have a brand new white table on our living-room, once i stole the one we had to my office corner… that is actually a whole wall! but moving on, today we have a brand new guest in our {local markets} feature! what else could we have, right? and again, i bring you someone that is wedding related. i know, i have noticed that i am surrounding myself with wedding related topics and work lately… so even though wedding were never on my horizon for myself, i think i might end working in something wedding related! and this lovely woman might have something to do with it… because she is such an inspiration in so many ways. she has a tremendous sense of aesthetics and style. she is an incredible blogger and i love how she manages to do so many things! we never met, but i think that soon we will! her name is susana esteves pinto and she is the one behind {simplesmente branco}… who has also launched #2 of {s magazine}, a truly inspirational magazine filled with beauty!

how it all started… it all started with an idea and a question,  “what if…?” i’ve started {wise up weddings} (my wedding invitation line) in 2005. through the years the brand grew, earned awards and wide visibility in the press, but i felt it was time for taking a bigger step. i was not happy with the existing digital platforms, not just because they were expensive but mostly because their communication approach did not fit my standards. i wanted quality, innovation and ellegance, simplicity and attention to the details. they had none of these. along the way i met other people whose position with respect to the market and their brands was similar to mine, who were also unhappy with the state of affairs. hence, i thought, if we don’t fit over there, why should we not create our own thing…? it seemed to be the obvious next step.

for a while i chewed on the idea, having {style me pretty} in mind as my goal and “carrot”. i contacted {éter}, where i knew rute porto back from our days in college, and i added a little pressure on the idea, so that they would join me in the project. while {simplesmente branco} was gaining form, i decided to create and promote the blog {happy hour ideias frescas}, for increasing our visibility and gaining momentum. i exchanged ideas with friends and business partners, and started dropping a few hints on our project. since the very beginning the feedback was extraordinary, and i had always felt a strong support. when the big moment came and the adventure began, officially, i closed the {happy hour} and definitely shifted towards {simplesmente branco}!

{simplesmente branco} because… because less is so much more! what matters is love and the people around us, everything else is unessential! it sounded like the right name, it connected the wedding market with our vision of it, clean and elegant, you just need to add your own personality, and you’re up for it!

challenges… lots and lots…! each new vendor, each new contact, each new idea or post, is the reader going to like it, is the vendor getting results, what shall we try next, the stats (oh the stats…!)… balancing this new role of editor with the business woman i have to be, keeping on track and being fresh and optimistic in these hard times we are living.

a very important conquest… statistically, after a year and a half, we have more than 1000 unique daily visitors, 42 vendors, 2500 facebook fans, and s mag #1 was visualized more than 56000 times. on a personal level, my idea, my vision and all the hard work i’ve put in to this (with the love and support of the people close to me) have brought me here… and that’s a pretty cool place to be!

a very wild goal/dream… my wild dreams are personal ones (and include travelling, spending time with the people i love, vertical gardens and a dog). work is “just” work and i have more modest dreams for it… to grow comfortably (and in these days, that might be considered quite a wild dream, no?), gain some free time and focus only in the creative and strategic part of {simplesmente branco}.

why a magazine… why not? ana jordão, from {pinga amor}, challenged me, and when the time was right, we set it up. s magazine shows what we, as vendors, do best, gives light to our most creative ideas, to the way we work together and express our vision, without boundaries, trends or limits. it’s our playground and it carries out the {simplesmente branco} style and name around the world. that’s übber cool!

s magazine in three words… vision, “think outside the box” and  team work.

all these images are so beautiful and fresh… i feel like going around on {simplesmente branco} again and again, and then the magazine for a huge dose of beauty and inspiration! i loved reading {simplesmente branco} story… and mostly i loved reading susana’s point of view on so many things, with which i relate myself. i strongly suggest that you visit this amazing blog and never-ending source of inspiration. and if you are thinking of getting married, please allow myself to warn you that you will need a lot of time to do this, but following such elegant and colourful ideas from all the vendors, your day will be really special!

images: 1, 2 photography by piteira photography, flowers outras flores, styling susana esteves pinto 3. photography by piteira photography, brooch by vera joão espinha, from perdi o fio à meada 4. photography by telmo ferreira, tablescape pinga amor with wise up weddings, 5. photography & tablescape brancoprata, 6. photography by piteira photography, tablescape éterwedding.7. photography by arc | fotografia, styling wise up weddings

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Claudia Casal