It’s a pleasure to see that the year just ended was one unusually rich in significant anniversaries for long-standing Portuguese brands. For many years one of our greatest ambassadors, Vista Alegre is currently celebrating its 200th birthday, while the illustrious Topázio has clocked up a century and a half, and Viúva Lamego is 175 years young. Such remarkable and unusual achievements deserve our respect, but even more so when we discover that all of them are dynamic companies that have managed to reconcile tradition and the contemporary, while looking to the future with optimism.
Let this moment be a reason for congratulation and joy, but let it also be a pretext for reflecting upon what I have always considered key to Portuguese businesses: the imperative to invest in creating strong and bold brands. This particularly aspect involves forging their own identity, which differentiates them and enables them to compete in the expanded market in which we inhabit.
That said, we should also be aware that simply rejoicing is not enough; we need to discard the petty parochialism that undervalues what is ours. We must begin to recognise the quality that foreigners can see and cherish these rare examples, thus contributing to their preservation.
Let me finish by reminding readers that these are brands that are active in the applied arts, fields that are particularly close to Portico and Vanguard’s hearts, something that makes us even happier