SARDINES

It was just an anonymous and pale Sardine. It sought colour and participated in the “Festas de Lisboa” (Lisbon Festivities). As the event’s icon, it deserved a monumental illustration. So, I tried to create a symbiosis between the sardine and the Santa Justa Elevator. The Santa Justa Sardine, once anonymous and pale, now parades in colour and tradition. Designer: Frederico Lencastre

The sardine, with its silvery blue and black hues, darker on the back and lighter on the sides and belly, is found in the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, where it dwells on coastal areas, between 25 and 100 meters deep. It undertakes migrations in large shoals that protect fish from predators during the day, in deeper waters, and move at night-time to shallower waters to feed on algae and small crustaceans. It reproduces from October to April, a time when sardines are leaner and not so tasty. The sardine is the most popular fish in summer festivals and fairs in Portugal, as well as the main species used in the Portuguese canning industry.

The first Sardine was not a laboratory experiment. She didn’t come out ‘all nice and lively’ from some advertising think tank. She jumped from the fish auction onto the scanner and turned into a serious case of communication by an editorial design studio, Silvadesigners. Lisbon offers her the honours of a city trademark and people painting her every year by the thousands. Designer: Silvadesigners

The Tagus Sardine has the best view of Lisbon. From the river she sees the people, the roofs and the Castle; she sees the bridge and the boats, and the departures and returns that make the city live. She is a lucky Sardine – and, as Amália used to say, She has water, she knows how to swim / I wish I were a sardine. Designer: Sofia Fischer

The Tenório Sardine is a true portent of the Portuguese guitar. Known in the most exclusive world of Fado for being a bon vivant, irresistibly seductive and a confessed lover of the nightlife and “escabeche” (pickle), Tenório oozes charm through all of his scales. And no gilt-head bream, mullet or ray can resist his charms. Designer: Paulo Galindro

Because it is of the Portuguese, father of broad seas, to want, to be able to simply:be nothing. And be someone in a sea of people. Be a person. Flood. Dry out. Cry. Float. Come up and dive in again. Be fished. Be gutted and survive: the whole sea, or the empty destroyed waterfront – The whole, or its nothing (In D. João Infante de Portugal, Message, Fernando Pessoa). Designer: Maria Miguel

The High Tide Sardine is an allusion to deep sea fishing, symbolizing both the lull and the storm that diminishes us. The whole of the sea inside of a sardine. Designer: Filipa Oliveira

Rendez-vous in Paris, Pont des arts, 16h13, the wind blows gently… Designer:Rebecca Dautremer

Rendez-vous in Paris, Pont des arts, 16h24, the sky becomes overcast… Designer:Rebecca Dautremer

Zé Povinho is now a superhero. After having courageously faced the austerity policies, the interference of Troika and the corruption scandals, behold our Zé is still standing. Standing tall, he shows courage and perseverance and is ready to face all tempests with a sole purpose: to succeed. Super Zé, who is alive inside each one of us, resists, persists and never gives up. Designer: Ana Gomes

Inspired by the street vendors of the popular roasted chestnuts, this sardine, still sizzling, is made of tradition, filled with flavour and taste for what is ours. Designer: Rui Fazenda

The Constellation sardine
Has the soul of an artist
Has the guts
Optimistic Salero;
Boasting cheerful bright colours
Wandering across Lisbon
In love with such beautiful light
That echoes throughout the city Designer: José Serrano

Inspired by the love verses that the girls of the Minho region embroidered on handkerchiefs for their boyfriends, this sardine represents the promise of endless love. The Sweetheart Handkerchiefs are recognised by their strong colours, love symbols and spelling errors. It was a romantic allurement ritual where the sewing needles were the keyboard at that time. Designer: Oupas! Design

Patron symbol of Lisbon, St. Anthony brings in the lap the Child Jesus and bless marriages. Offers to the city a traditional party without rival, in which joy is adorned with sweet basil and the greatest figure is His Highness Dona Sardinha. Designer: Ana Gil e António Caetanio

Bartina is a surfer sardine that dreams of swimming in the warm waters of Mexico. It has fire in its soul but is also very aware of the fragility of life. It’s a Portuguese sardine, but with “salero”. Designer: Ana Lisa Luças

This sardine conveys the festive spirit of a typical Lisbon quarter. Is a window of Alfama full of life, adorned with precept, ready to receive Lisbon festivities, the city’s most colorful nights. Designer: Ana Sofia Gonçalves

This Sardine in his black gown likes to work and play hard. She is defiantly top of his class! When he is not studying and collecting the colourful university ribbons she likes nothing better than play Fado de Coimbra with his “Guitar” late into the night. This sardine presents the youthfulness, energy and romance that is unique to this city. Designer: Craig Wheatley

Avant-gardist and revolutionary the Porto sardine is a patchwork of landmarks contrasting from classical to modern, decorative to graphic, art nouveau to industrial. Azulejos (tiles), Ponte D. Luis, Barco rabble, the river Douro, multi-coloured houses, the hustle and bustle of the markets reflecting a fun cosmopolitan city that likes to move and shake with the times. Its own time! Designer: Craig Wheatley

In the universe of sardines, there is always a cat as a black hole… Designer: Elena Ospina

Tribute to the novelist, poet and dramatist Miguel de Cervantes y Sardina (1547- 1616), the greatest writer of the Spanish language, author of Dom Quixote. Javier Carbajo e Sara Rojo

The sardine from Seville tastes like hazelnuts; the sardine from Andalusia tastes like hake; Galician sardine is not to eat, even in Norway; the Catalan sardine wants to dance the sardana; the sardine from Extremadura tastes like wood; the sardine from Madrid is worse than Extremadura… Therefore, Spanish sardines, when they arrived in Lisbon, wish to change nationality. And, “Olé”! Designer: Kap (Jaume Capdevila)