Today, as they did 15 years ago, Fernanda and Pedro Mendonça’s main goal is to add value to people’s lives. With that in mind, they wanted to create an interior design showroom dedicated to creating spaces that do so. “The original idea of Desenhabitado is to create intangible wellbeing, to make spaces meeting and with a lasting authenticity,” the founders explain to SPEND IN. “It’s a process of self-education by the attunement of the space with their experience, leading the person to identify with themselves.” Fernanda Mendonça is an interior architect, specializing in kitchens. At Desenhabitado she is responsible for creative and project development and leads the internal team of architects and designers. Pedro Mendonça is an industrial engineer and is in charge of external relations and new business. The team now works with seven other employees, but it wasn’t always like this. In 2005, the duo’s first solo space opened in Estoril, already focused mainly on kitchen equipment and with brands that were dedicated, within the interior area, to furniture and lighting. “Our existence brought to the Portuguese market the access to brands from anywhere in the world, and a clarified support”, they add. Seven years later, the address would move to Lisbon, with the inauguration of the showroom that, after some changes, is what clients find when they walk through the doors. Located in Amoreiras, in Lisbon, the current space has 400 square meters and is divided into two floors, being simultaneously an exhibition space, a project atelier and a place for experimentation. “We wanted to understand and adopt brands to provide, from Lisbon, an accompanied choice to those who seek an answer to an inner, often tireless, call to practice the originality unique in us,” justify Fernanda and Pedro Mendonça. In the exhibition, stand out brands like bulthaup, which occupies much of the showroom and offers kitchens to be lived in, or Rimadesio, which presents a sustainable and innovative vision of room storage. “In these 15 years we are proud of the brands’ confidence that good practices and respect are practicable with viability. It is proof that in a global market, an individual is not a number, that an object or a concept is not a commodity or a simple idea,” the founders note. “We are also proud of the realization of the beautiful replacing the cute, funny or spectacular, the adoption of the authentic timeless versatile.” But in these 15 years, Desenhabitado has grown to be the place to come for those who, in addition to good products, want to see a custom designed project, authentic, quality and timeless. The brand provides project development and implementation services, both to private clients and to architects’ and interior designers’ offices, among others. “We do not make the choices, but we provide the right choice and its realization,” they define, stressing that, for this, “just make an appointment or come have a coffee or a good wine with us.” And with a space of 400 square meters and models of fully functional kitchens and spaces, Desenhabitado debuted, at a time when there was little or no talk of workshops or live cooking, in boosting these spaces to show not only the products, but also how their application in everyday life is so central. One of the last events, in 2020, was an art exhibition in partnership with Gallery 111, and at the opening there was a chef cooking live. “Over these fast 15 years we have had events with the experience of cultures from different parts of the world, from the East to the Americas, which we will continue to cultivate broaden alongside a universal culture,” the duo points out.