When we started the discussion about what this book should be, we knew from the beginning it couldn’t be a mere translation of the website as a city guide, all the facts and basic information were already there so the book should be yet another way for the public to perceive, experience and understand the shops.
It is organized in two parallel narratives — thematic chapters that delve into different ideas and questions about Lisbon’s history and commerce, and each shop’s text: as the thematic text unfolds the shop’s text intrudes, in a lighter weight and smaller body arranged in two columns, forcing an interruption of the linear reading of each chapter.
Apart from this start-to-finish linear reading, anyone who wishes to know more about a specific shop can look it up in the alphabetical index of shops and in the maps to jump directly to it. There is yet a third way to experience this book, by following the hyperlinks scattered within the text, the reader has a more organic experience jumping from shop to shop, idea to idea. Here the act of reading mimics the physical exploration of the city and its history as it makes the reader stop and observe, go back, revisit, and discover.