Plant Lisbon Trip
May 11, 2009
I'm lucky enough to work for a creative company, and one of the ways in which they support creative thinking is by taking excursions away from the office to experience things outside our own small sphere of reference. The best part of last week was spent in Lisbon, Portugal, where the entire company attended the OFFF Festival along with spending time in the streets, restaurants and bars of the city.
The central area of Bairro Alto where we stayed was an inspiration in itself. The colourful tiling present on many buildings, the narrow, paved streets and various hills and inclines that make up the centre of town combine in a way that is so organic and alive that it's almost impossible to not feel in a constant state of excitement.
The festival itself was also a huge inspiration with plenty of exciting work on display from numerous impressive designers, a note-worthy example being Stefan Sagmeister who presented his impressive series of works titled Things I have learned in my life so far in which he creatively expresses a series of sentences that he jotted down in a diary one day that he now uses as a guide for living. His book of the same name is already on it's way to my door thanks to Amazon.
All in all a fantastic and inspiring trip, despite the fact I will likely have permanent liver issues for the next few weeks due to excessive drinking.
