JornalT- MariaMiguel: from the children's universe to the home living

Installed in the Fashion and Design Incubator of the Santo Thyrso Factory, the MariaMiguel Baby Kids brand, created in 2022, quickly took off. It works for a niche market that values ​​100% Portuguese hand embroidery and typical baby layettes. “We want to take Lixa Embroidery further”.

“We started this first year by working on the national market in the mid-high segment, but now we want to focus on internationalization,” Vera Cunha Guimarães, founder of the brand, told T Jornal. “We already have a physical space in Geneva, Switzerland. We spent three months on trial in a store and we stayed. We are now in negotiations with a German client to place our pieces in Belgium,” says Vera Cunha Guimarães, confident.

“In Portugal, we work very well. There are families in the north of the country whose granddaughters are pregnant and want everything hand-embroidered, a replica of old trousseaus, from bedsheets to baby clothes, to duvets… All our products are certified, the inside of the pieces is made of cotton so that babies do not have allergies”, she points out. To attest to this quality, MariaMiguel surrounds itself with renowned partners such as Somelos, Têxtil Manuel Gonçalves and Sampedro for linens.

After a successful first year, Vera Cunha Guimarães decided, at the request of clients and friends, and since she had experience in the industry, to set foot in Home Living. “MariaMiguel Home Living was launched at the beginning of April, with the support of the Hotel Infante Sagres. In this launch, we produced hand and machine embroidered linen tablecloths, placemats, napkins, bread bags and tea warmers”, she lists.

“I began my career in international haute couture, with a vast experience of around 35 years in this segment. Thus, within the scope of the MariaMiguel project, we have built relationships of trust with embroiderers who, with their talent, create delicate works of art. With MariaMiguel Home Living, we want to offer quality, originality and once again promote Lixa Embroidery.”

For the market, MariaMiguel Home Living presents its first denim collection with the season we are in in mind (cheerful, relaxed), aimed at a young, demanding audience. Always maintaining its timeless collection of embroidered classics.

But her collections are “just a classic example of what we are capable of doing”, as MariaMiguel also has the versatility to develop personalized projects.

MariaMiguel Home Living works mainly with direct sales. “We have partnerships with airlines, resorts, event venues, schools, architecture firms, advertising and communication (with Publimotion) and stores in the main cities of the country, in fact these are areas in which we have know-how and we want to continue exploring”, concludes Vera Cunha Guimarães.