+351 x mantraste

Bruno Reis Santos, aka Mantraste.

Illustrator, graphic designer, and author Mantraste found paradise with a drawing pen in his hand - in nature and the studio - free from prejudices and misconceptions, just like Adam and Eve. We met him at Stolen Books in Lisbon, his haven where he sometimes works and teaches, for a chat.

Can you tell us your story so far?

My name is Luísa, I was born and raised in Lisbon, and I love this city. I took a Design degree and I am extremely passionate about color and graphics. Music has always been a big part of my life, it helps me to focus on work and to never stand still. Ever since I was little I have experienced a lot of different genres of music. My mother was always listening to Fado at home, so it’s a genre that I keep very present.

Four years ago I received my first vinyl record, an album and ever since then I haven’t stopped buying music. After that I took some beginner lessons in Djing with a good friend of mine and have become more and more interested in this craft. New opportunities to play started coming up so I began to focus more on Djing, playing mostly in events and clubs. Nowadays I have a monthly program at an online radio - Collect Radio - where I play lounge and dance music.

I fell in love with Surfing couple of years before and had the idea of designing my own home in shipping containers, send them to Portugal and start my new life together with my girlfriend and daughter close to the sea.

Why Pt? Because I was travelling Portugal in my Van for more than 12 years and every time I was spending a couple of weeks at the coastline, first Zambujeira do mar, later I went South where I started to surf. The amazing nature, the Portuguese lifestyle and surfing, it was a dream for me to come there. So at the end I got things done and moved close to Budens / Vila do Bispo, where I enjoy my time, improve surfing day by day and working on my creative projects.

Son to a hairdresser and a shepherd, Bruno was raised in the woods between Nadadouro, Caldas da Rainha, and Nazaré. Mantraste, a nickname given to him by a friend from Faial, firmly anchors his work in the records of popular art, particularly Portuguese. A fan of popular mysticism and nature, his childhood is his greatest inspiration.

For our collaboration, Mantraste took inspiration from the epic Paradise Lost poem of the late John Milton. Inspired by the idyllic paradise, he expresses the irony of a perfect world with drawings and popular symbols that lead us to reconnect with nature and with our most basic feelings: love, connections, and the established. Like Adam and Eve, Mantraste found paradise with a drawing pen in his hand - in nature and the studio - free from prejudices and misconceptions.

His seemingly naïve lines, candid color patches, and rough figures often exalt the pride of the "rude country folk" and have become hard to miss among exhibitions, author's editions in his name or collectively, award-winning book covers, murals, illustrations for books and magazines, record covers, posters, corporate identities, collections of ceramic pieces.

What motivated you to get started with The Peak House?

The Peak House was a dream come true. Since a long time ago when we both started traveling around the world, chasing the perfect wave, most of the times we ended up staying in places with the same feeling as The Peak House, where the contact with local people was always a priority to us. These people and friends inspired us to embrace this lovely journey