An invitation to look closely at the women of the Algarve
March brings with it an official day to celebrate us: International Women’s Day. And there is something undeniably powerful about dates, about the meaning we attach to them and the faces we choose to turn into symbols. But what if we started closer to home? What if, instead of looking only at distant stories or almost unreachable figures, we shone a light on the women right beside us?
The Algarve is a fertile ground for creation, autonomy and reinvention. Far from major urban centres, the region has increasingly become a place chosen by women who transform personal ideas into businesses with a strong sense of identity, deeply connected to the territory where they are rooted.
Daniela and the conscious ceramics of La Brava Studio
Name: Daniela
City: Faro
Instagram: @labravastudio
Website: www.labrava.pt
Daniela has always been driven by making. Working with her hands, testing ideas, shaping what once lived only as intuition. In the midst of the pandemic chaos in 2020, this impulse took form: La Brava was born.
From the very beginning, nothing was designed to be identical. Each piece is handmade and unique, with subtle variations that reveal both the process and the person behind it. Daniela draws inspiration from the light, the slower pace and the colours of southern Portugal, transforming place into creative matter. Consideration for impact is equally central to her practice: reusing materials, reducing waste and choosing conscious packaging. Everything is done with time and intention.
In 2023, La Brava took a step further with the opening of La Brava Studio. What could have been simply a shop quickly became a meeting point – a living space where ceramic and painting workshops take place and where other women makers are invited to experiment, share and collaborate.
Here, women gather to learn something new and reconnect with their creative selves. From kombucha to natural cosmetics, from character design to hands-on craft, the studio hosts a wide range of initiatives and encourages knowledge-sharing, building a supportive network among women who create.
More than a brand, La Brava mirrors Daniela herself: attentive to process, open to encounters and deeply aware of what can emerge when women occupy the same space.
Joana and imagined worlds shaped by the Algarve
Name: Joana Rosa Bragança
City: Olhão
Instagram: @joanarosab
Website: joanarosab.com
There is no art I enjoy hanging on my walls more than Joana’s. All it takes is one of her drawings for something to shift internally: my mood lifts, my gaze softens and my thoughts travel straight to one of my favourite places in the world – the Algarve.
Born in Sagres, at the south-westernmost point of Europe, Joana grew up facing what was once believed to be the end of the known world. The idea that the sea beyond the cliffs hid strange creatures never felt threatening to her. In her imagination, they were simply curious companions, ready to inhabit invented worlds. Today, she lives in Olhão, a fishing town where everyday life remains her raw material.
A freelance illustrator since 2005, Joana is a multidisciplinary artist by nature. She works with watercolour, Chinese ink, paper cutting and hand printing, moving effortlessly between analogue and digital practices. Illustrated books, posters, magazines, labels and editorial projects all form part of her path – each marked by a sensitive and instantly recognisable signature.
In recent years, her curiosity has led her into new creative territories. Ceramics and animation have become part of her process. Maré, her first animated short film, won Best Animation at the Caminhos do Cinema Português Festival in 2020 and travelled to festivals around the world, carrying with it the quiet, imaginative universe Joana builds in silence.
Beyond the studio, she is an active presence within Portugal’s creative circuit. She can be found at local makers’ markets, in galleries across the country or leading workshops for those eager to step away from routine – curious, restless souls searching for new languages and a touch of colour in their daily lives.
Her work does not depict the Algarve literally. Instead, it appears as atmosphere – in the light, the rhythm, the unlikely encounters and the coexistence of the real and the fantastical. Joana creates from what she observes – and from what she imagines – reminding us that paying attention is still one of the most radical and beautiful creative acts.
Anna and the blossoming of The Weekly Wow Club
Name: Anna Selter
City: Monchique
Instagram: @weeklywowclub
Website: www.weeklywowclub.com
When I first came across The Weekly Wow Club – a project offering bouquet workshops and weekly deliveries of locally grown Algarve flowers – two thoughts crossed my mind at once: I want to take part, and I want to meet the woman behind it. That woman is Anna Selter.
Born in Germany, Anna grew up spending her holidays in the Algarve. Years later, she chose to stay. The colours, scents, light and rhythm of the landscape continue to inspire her daily – not as a backdrop, but as raw material.
Creating has always been her instinct. “I like watching things grow – plants, ideas, people.” A conventional career never appealed to her. This is her third business, and perhaps the one most closely aligned with who she is: a flower farm that begins in the soil and reaches people with intention.
Anna grew up among gardeners and was given her first flower bed at the age of four. Perhaps everything was simply waiting for the right place to bloom.
The idea emerged from something missing locally. In many European countries, fresh flowers are part of everyday life. In the Algarve, despite its generous climate, they remain surprisingly rare. The response was immediate. Giving or receiving flowers almost always triggers the same reaction: joy. Sometimes tears. For Anna, that’s the best possible outcome.
Building a living project takes time, patience and resilience. There were challenges, frustrations and even storms – quite literally. But giving up was never an option. “Every plant took root for us,” she says, neatly summing up her deep connection to the land.
Today, what drives her remains beautifully simple: to care, to create and to pay attention.
And for anyone longing to get their hands into the soil, learn something new and spend meaningful time surrounded by flowers, Anna’s invitation is clear – drive up to Monchique, grab a coffee and watch people, ideas and flowers grow.
Perhaps humanity’s greatest mistake has been looking up at the sky, waiting for something impossibly rare. When, in truth, the real falling stars are much closer than we think. They are part of our everyday life by the sea. They’re in the corner café, at the school gates, holding the lift door open, creating safe spaces, insisting on ideas nobody asked for – but the world clearly needed.
In the Algarve, they are not confined to the sky or to distant admiration. All it takes is lowering your gaze. Meeting their eyes. Paying closer attention. They walk among us.
May this International Women’s Day make you feel seen, loved and valued – as you deserve. Because somewhere in the world, often very close to you, someone believes your story is worth telling.
All images are courtesy of the women featured and were sourced from their official Instagram accounts.
