Vera's work

Vera currently has two jobs that link well  her passions for vegetarianism and creating ways to make things more sustainable. She cooks at the vegetarian restaurant Nakite and she designs and makes products for women and children.

She started working at Nakite a few years ago, although she is not a chef by background. She was making smoked vegetarian sausages at home and wanted to see if Nakite would be interested in buying them. As Vera has been a vegan for several years, she has acquired her cooking skills from experimenting herself. One thing led to another, and now she cooks at the Nakite several days a week.

When she is not at the restaurant, she is often behind the sewing machine. Vera studied fashion design and tailoring and she used to work in a shop making wedding dresses. With her environmental awareness and desire to make something useful she started sewing reusable products that replace disposable ones. Her most popular product is sanitary pads and panty liners made of cotton, but she also makes baby slings, bags for reusable diapers, baby wipes, and more. Vera also creatively upcycles material by taking old clothes or fabrics and turning giving them a new life as something else and by making accessories.

Vera sells her products in two places in Porto, the cultural center Casa da Horta and Compasso.  She also sells in the shop Centro Vegetariano in Oliveira do hospital, but that is mainly an online shop. Her products are also on ebay.

See more of Vera's creations on her blog