Another important thing was wich t-shirts i was going to use. I didnt wanted some bad quality t-shirts (and i have to be honest, Miguel wouldn´t let me do the work in some shity t-shirts either). So he showed me this t-shirt brand that he works with named SOL's. It´s a french brand but the t-shirts are produce in Bangladesh. But the best thing its that this company is one of the most active's in the world, in giving the best conditions of work and live to his workers and families, and they really do it. They are not the cheapest t-shirts in the market but at least we know where and how they were done.
And like in everything that i do, i dont like to hide nothing, and in this case, i could rip off the tags of the t-shirts and lie about where they were made, but no, all the t-shirts have their tag and we know that they are made in Bangladesh.
This was our work place, in Miguel & Aidi house, ID-WEAR headquarters.
They started slowly by selling some t-shirts and nowadays they design and print their own work, wich i love. you can check it out here.
Every thing that they do, have enviromental awareness, and they are really friends of our planet. It is a pleasure to have them has friends and to be able to learn and work with them.(obrigado to both, especially for the amazing bread you guys do).
Washing and seeing magic hapenning, it's really nice the process of revealing your draw into the frame. But i have to say that its not easy. Each time we had to wait 3 hours to have it dried and then reveal and then wash. We had to reveal the draw 3 times, until we made it. Miguel checking if i didn't made any mistakes.This one was good and we were almost ready to start.
A simple lettering made by me, with the word "saudade". That was it.
So picked up the phone and i called my friend Miguel (id-wear.com) that does really beautiful and quality printing t-shirts and sell them in Feira da Ladra (Thieves Market). Talked to him and said "Man, i need to do some t-shirts, but i really want to do them", he didnt understand at first and i explained " i want and i need to be involved since the begining to the end, i literatelly want to do them" and he said "ok i will help you in everything you need".
So we met and the first step was to reveal the draw i had done.
When i arrived there, this always colourful and beautiful view, was grey and sad. There was no one there, except me. Normally i do well when im alone, but this time i started to feel this strange feeling, i was still thinking in everyone but this time i was getting sad, nostalgic and melancholic. I was with saudade.
You know "saudade" it's these Portuguese word with no translation or similar word in any language in the world. Normally i say that "saudade" its hard to explain but easy to feel, when you love and miss someone or something. Its good to have "saudade", because it means that you really loved to be there or to have something, and it's bad because you still love it but you dont have it with you anymore.
I started to think about all the emails i get back from the ones that had been in the trips with us and everyone had the same feeling about us and Lisboa. So i just realized that i founded the t-shirt for the We Hate Tourism Tours.
A t-shirt that could reflect the feeling that we have about everyone we tooked on a trip with us, a unique t-shirt with an unique word, and with a beautiful feeling in it.
So i draw and i draw always with the saudade inside of me, and while drawing i was feeling that i was closer to everyone. So i didnt stop drawing. And i found what i wanted...
It all started in a day of rain, the first day of rain in Lisboa, after the summer. The sky was full of dark clouds, the city was grey, the buildings were wet and the people had a calm look in their faces. The jeep was parked, no hills for him that day, and no driving for me either.
Even do i decided to walk the streets that i usually pass driving. It was raining and there was almost no one wondering around (you know how portuguese are afraid of the rain). I faced my fear also, as i was walking to Nossa Senhora do Monte, one of my favourite places in Lisboa.
Along the walk i couldnt stop thinking in all the people that came with me on the King of the Hills. i started to remember smiles, conversations, pictures taken, faces of beautiful girls, boys, men and women... all these thoughs helped me getting there to the top quicker than ever.