Azulejos and Archives: Designing the Ferreira Family History
Have you ever opened a book and felt a whole household breathe?
That’s the Ferreira family volume, a chorus of voices, history and carefully kept memorabilia that finally found a home between this book’s covers.
When Jo-Anne and Norbert invited us into their remarkable archive, we found a living museum: meticulously researched family histories, earlier interviews, photographs soft from handling, vinyl records, Granny’s famous garlic pork recipe, and artwork by greats, such as Louison and Hinkson. Our brief was deceptively simple: make it coherent, honest, and beautiful… a book the family’s future generations would actually want to hold.
Over months, we pored through their archives, conducted interviews, crafted a storyline and curated archives to interweave over 65,000 words with 437 images over 356 pages.
The design language borrows the geometry of azulejos (coloured Portuguese tiles) translated into grids and a multitude of blue accents inspired by the Caribbean sea.
We paired those with warm creams and soft greys, and a typography that let the Ferreira family’s voices sit comfortably beside images and ephemera. Marginal notes echo Jo-Anne’s careful scholarship; and generous white space gives the memories and thoughts room to breathe.
Inside, you meet a community: the Portuguese community in the Caribbean, shown in menus, letters, and studio portraits; Sunday tables dense with stories; faith kept in small objects and Bible quotes; and those ever-practical family notes.
We’re grateful to our co-pilots: the funny, generous “Uncle” Norbert, and the knowledgeable and passionate Dr. Jo-Anne Ferreira. Together we shaped a volume that feels personal, contemporary, and was printed at a high-end press so the paper, colour, and binding honour what’s inside.
If you’re sitting on a box of “someday,” this is your sign. Bring us the photos, the scribbled notes, the treasures. We’ll give them a house they deserve.
Warm wishes
