Creatives In Bombarda - João Vieira

João Vieira is a musician, DJ, producer and founder of Mint Mint Record Shop, a space dedicated to vinyl records, music curation and discovering new sounds, located in Bombarda.

With a career spanning more than two decades of music-making, from bands and solo projects to club culture and production, he has been a prominent figure in Portugal's independent music scene.

From his time in London to the world of Club Kitten, from X-Wife to his White Haus and Wolf Manhattan projects, he has built a career in which experimentation, discovery and sharing music have remained constant.

João Vieira's musical journey began long before the stages and dancefloors, with homemade cassette recordings, his siblings' records and an endless curiosity for music. In the late 1990s, London opened the door to forming bands, producing music and exploring club culture, experiences he would continue to develop after moving to Porto.

“My journey in music began very early, when I was around nine or ten years old.”

Over the years, he has released ten albums with X-Wife and his solo projects, while establishing himself as a DJ and club promoter through Club Kitten. In 2023, he also published the book The Story of Wolf with Stolen Books. More recently, he opened Mint Mint Record Shop on Rua do Breiner, giving a new dimension to a lifelong passion: digging for records, discovering artists and sharing music with others.

Q: How did your journey in music begin?

A: My journey in music began very early, when I was around nine or ten years old. I started by recording cassettes using my siblings' records, taping songs off the radio and making all sorts of mixtapes. That's where my passion for music began - collecting records, going to concerts, buying music magazines and recording music videos from MTV.

I didn't form my first band until I was 21, initially as a vocalist, and only later did I start playing guitar. A year later, I moved to London, where I formed another band and started writing songs. It was also around that time that I created Club Kitten, began my career as a DJ and club promoter, and worked at Tower Records in 2000.

While living in London, I graduated in Graphic Design and went on to design most of the X-Wife album covers, as well as flyers for Club Kitten, among other projects.

Q: What inspired you to open Mint Mint Record Shop?

A: I've always had a passion for music and vinyl. I've spent hundreds of hours in record shops looking for new music to play at Club Kitten and to add to my collection. Ever since I was a teenager, I've loved making mixtapes for other people and, more recently, I've also been involved in several radio projects.

I'm an avid music listener and I love discovering new things — whether they're recent releases or records I missed the first time around. I felt this was a natural next step, a new chapter in my life.

Over the past twenty years, I've released ten albums across my various projects, and I still run Club Kitten, perform live and work as a DJ. So taking on this new project makes perfect sense.

Besides, I think the vinyl revival is now undeniable. Ten years ago, I probably wouldn't have considered opening a record shop, but the current conditions make this kind of business much more viable.

Q: What new challenges would you like to take on in the coming years?

A: I don't think about it too much. I launched Wolf Manhattan three years ago, opened the shop this year and I'm still involved in all my other music projects, alongside the music production work I currently do for theatre productions, promotional videos for brands and museums.

My schedule is pretty full and I don't have much free time, so right now I'm focused on doing a good job with everything I have on my plate.

I'm not really someone who thinks too far ahead, especially because circumstances are constantly changing. I prefer to focus on the short term and the present moment.

Q: What do you enjoy doing when you're not working?

A: I enjoy spending time with my family, relaxing on the sofa with my pets, hanging out with friends, watching films, following skateboarding competitions on TV, travelling, going to concerts and visiting art exhibitions that inspire me.

I love discovering new things and, inevitably, talking to people in the shop has become a part of my daily routine that almost feels like leisure.

That's one of the reasons I enjoy having a shop: getting to talk to people of different generations and from all over the world. Sometimes, picking a record off the shelf sparks a conversation, and we end up discovering something new…

Q: If you had to choose three albums as the soundtrack to Bombarda, what would they be?

A: I love listening to hip hop in the shop. The playlist I've put together is almost entirely hip hop, so I'd pick these three records:
- Neil Frances - There Is No Neil Frances
- Little Simz - Lotus
- Smerz - Big City Life

Portfolio

João Vieira's career spans different aspects of music-making, from songwriting and production to live performance, club culture and music curation. Through X-Wife, his solo projects White Haus and Wolf Manhattan, Club Kitten and Mint Mint Record Shop, his work reflects an ongoing relationship with music as a space for experimentation, artistic expression and discovery.

X-Wife - Feeding the Machine (2004)
The debut album by X-Wife, a band founded by João Vieira, in which he is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and co-producer.

White Haus (2012)
João Vieira's solo project, combining disco-punk, electronic music and indie, exploring a sound and aesthetic rooted in club culture and sonic experimentation.

Wolf Manhattan (2022)
A solo project created by João Vieira, built around a fictional alter ego who writes and records music with minimal resources, embracing an intimate, lo-fi sound. The album features 13 songs exploring themes such as heartbreak, uncertainty and postponed dreams, creating a distinctive musical and narrative universe.

How to Collaborate

Mint Mint Record Shop is an independent record shop offering a personalised service, dedicated to music discovery and sharing, with a carefully curated selection of more than 600 titles, both new and second-hand.

From indie, post-punk and rock to world music, disco, hip hop, Balearic, dub, ambient and experimental music, the shop brings together a wide range of genres and sounds, with a strong emphasis on curation and personal connections with visitors.

More than just a place to buy records, Mint Mint aims to be a space for meeting people and discovering music, where every visit can lead to a conversation, a recommendation or a new musical discovery.

To explore the selection, uncover some of the hidden gems in stock or simply have a chat about music, drop by the shop in Bombarda.

Contacts

Instagram
Location
Email: mintmintrecordshop@gmail.com
Address: Rua do Breiner, 32, 4050-124 Porto

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Portrait of Lígia Soromenho at her Capim Rose by mordomias space.

Creatives In Bombarda - Lígia Soromenho

Born in Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, Lígia Soromenho grew up surrounded by influences from different places and landscapes that continue to shape her creative vision. At the age of 19, she moved to Porto, where she studied Art History at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto and built much of her personal and professional life.

In 2005, she began her entrepreneurial journey, which led to the creation of mordomias two years later. The brand designs and produces furniture, lighting and decorative objects, exploring the technical and aesthetic possibilities of composite materials such as resin and fibreglass.

“Objects tell stories and quietly contribute to shaping the places we call home.”

More recently, with the opening of the showroom at CC Bombarda, Capim Rose by mordomias was launched as a complementary concept that embraces materials and expressions with a more vernacular character. Its A Casa collection includes pieces such as the Chiado chairs and Chá tables, designed for spaces of connection, sharing and memory.

Q: How did your creative journey begin?

A: mordomias was born from the realisation that we could bring together different skills and areas of expertise, particularly through Filipe Tavares’ know-how and extensive experience in manufacturing technical components, especially for the automotive industry.

This experience brought an element of technical innovation to the project’s creative dimension. The properties of resin and fibreglass, for example, make it possible to produce outdoor furniture, opening up new functional and aesthetic possibilities.

From there, we began exploring different finishes and applications of these materials, developing pieces that gradually gave rise to the brand’s various collections.

Q: What led you to choose composite materials, such as resin and fibreglass, for furniture and lighting design?

A: It was precisely the discovery of the creative possibilities offered by these materials, combined with our existing technical expertise and production capabilities.

Q: If you had to choose three pieces or objects that capture the spirit of mordomias in Bombarda, which would they be and why?

A: mordomias’ presence in Bombarda began with Capim Rose, as a natural continuation of our journey, but with a distinct approach defined by the choice of materials.

The two concepts complement each other and share the same space.
Within the world of Capim Rose, I would highlight three designs that were part of the first project developed by Capim Rose by mordomias in Braga. These pieces embody what drives us: sharing solutions and bringing design into the spaces we inhabit.

The first is a set comprising an ash wood and cane chair and a side table made from engineered wood, both reflecting the brand’s identity. I would also highlight the “Chiado” chairs, the first design created for the Capim Rose collection, and the “Chá” tables, the second design developed for the collection. (Reference images below)