LISBON IS OUR BYRON - WINDMILLS, UNINTENTIONALLY STONED, AND A DIY SKATE JAM
It always starts with an Ego Trip: “Wait, I’ve got an idea! Side red light, a half-full glass, and cut—it’s gone. Alright, give me a few weeks to figure out how to put what I just saw into words”. Ironically blank pages never scare me, they fire up like pollock on a few bottles of red. That’s how I see art—like a chaotic mash-up of stories and random bursts of visuals that somehow create something new.
And I knew this crew—Valerio, Paco, Pau, and the Nothend fam—would nail it. Art’s about connecting, exploring, and just sending it. Special shoutout to Pau, who flew in from Barcelona to make this magic happen — definitely the cherry on top of the cake.
Tete
THE CRU
Maria Teresa Rocha aka Tete aka PPD (Portuguese Puppy Dog)
Model, Fashion Designer, Creative Director
Born in Portugal, but my look always keeps people guessing where I am really from, specialized in creating stories and bringing the most random personalities together.
It started pretty early—As soon as my mom left to take out the trash, I turned my living room into a shit fight like a perfect Jackson Pollock painting. (Mom loved it, dad never knew.) After years of trying to convince them that I was not crazy (still not really sure about this part) I ended up finding my passion while serving coffee at Fashion Week in Portugal and since then, went from being in front of the lens as a model to backstage as a fashion designer and creator . Picking one over the other? Can't do.
Valerio Barbarossa …no aka yet
Photographer, Documentarian, Creative Director
Born in Rome, Italy…with Italian, French, and Catalan origins. Now based in Portugal, to sum it up a European Salad.
I like to say I was raised by music and the ocean. My father is a musician and loves to be by the sea, which led me to discover at a very young age the love for surfing and being close to the waves.
The passion for photography came from the urge of documenting what is happening around me. Taking photos is a constant trip…every time I press the shutter button I freeze a moment in time, it’s like being a superhero but without that cringe look.
Pau Gonzalez aka PauPau
Filmmaker, Photographer, & Creative Producer
Born in Barcelona and raised in an artistic family, creativity has been my language from the start. At 18, I moved to London, diving headfirst into the world of high-end film post-production, collaborating on projects for Chanel, Burberry, Audi, Coldplay, A$AP Rocky, and more.
London wasn’t the whole picture. Surfing had always been a part of me, and eventually, the call of the ocean became too loud to ignore. I quit the city life and took my camera on the road, traveling the globe as a surf photographer. From capturing waves to documenting cultures, this journey took me to places I’d only dreamed of.
Paco aka Dane Reynolds Lawyer
Part time editor, full time lawyer (only for Dane)
When asked about my origins I tend to lie or “semi-lie”. No one deserves a monologue that follows half of Europe, part of North Africa and randomly Central America. But all good ladies and gents, I will make it short and direct so you won’t skip my part.
Born in Costa Rica, French mom, Italian dad, raised in Portugal, currently living in Germany (true unfortunately).
I wrote this bio too late and now the others have written all I wanted to say…
One last thing about me. My “mantra”, I don’t do chakra clean ups (just FYI), but here it is “together, creating and most importantly caring about each other”
Anyway, how good is it to create with your homies?
ABOUT NOTHEND
Randomly, but some say “cosmically”, Paco and Valerio were brought together around 2017 during a surf contest in Italy (yes sometimes there are waves there). From that day onwards they, unintentionally, merged their friend groups and started “Nothend” (Not The End) — a collective based in Lisbon rooted in our love for surfing, skateboarding, music, and visual arts. A few years later, Pau officially joined the Nothend adventure, they shared a vision: to create something raw, authentic, and unapologetically creative.
WHAT IS AFENDS FOR YOU? WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THE BRAND?
We have always been fascinated by the original DNA of the brand. When thinking about Afends we imagine Deco and Jono screen printing merch in the back of a garage for local Australian punk rock and hardcore bands, and to us it doesn’t get more OG than that.
Afends and the whole Byron Bay scene were a great inspiration also for the realization of Nothend in its early stage. Australian slabs, punk rock bands, shapers, collectives, were what we all dreamed of here in Europe. We soon realized all these elements were closer to us than we thought, with Lisbon and Portugal being the perfect playground to bring that vibe and unite all these worlds under one big umbrella.
Doing this project for Afends with this dream team plus the extended Nothend family was more than a collaboration, it was a celebration of everything we believe in.
WHAT IDEAS DID YOU WANT TO TRANSLATE WITH THIS SHOOT? TELL US MORE ABOUT THE LOCATIONS.
The windmill shooting was not planned, but we had to pick up Tete in Ericeira and we thought about cruising around to quickly find a nice location to warm up. It looked nice to us and turned out to be a fun one. But the best part was yet to come.
The rest was all done at Paco’s house (located nearby Costa da Caparica) which looks like nothing and everything at the same time. It’s like a museum, from 90’s surfboards to a crazy vinyl selection, all of it surrounded by random objects, instruments, photos, and artworks collected through time from all over the world.
It translated into a crazy creative hub where ideas were blooming uncontrollably.
ANY FUNNY STORIES?
A part of the shoot was done in Rebecca’s (Paco’s mother) caravan, which had been their house while they were living on the road working for a circus called ÔCirque. In the scene we had imagined Tete had to smoke a ciggy but as she doesn’t like tobacco she asked us instead for some jazz lettuce.
Of course the first shots were not the magic ones, so the greenie got quickly smaller and smaller as Tete was smoking, until she got unintentionally stoned.
Pretty good tolerance in the beginning until she started talking Bahasa (Indonesian) and ate all the munchies in the house.
Another funny moment happened during the last day of the shooting.
The Nothend community all showed up to the house without notice and a random skate jam took place.
Crazy energy out of nowhere and lots of noise to remind the neighbours we were there. How can’t you get inspired with such a combination?
LET’S SPEAK ABOUT THE LOOKS, WHAT DID YOU FIND OF THE PRODUCTS?
AFENDS clothing is like that effortlessly cool friend who shows up looking amazing without trying too hard—like they just rolled out of bed, threw on a perfectly distressed hoodie, and still managed to make it look like high fashion. It’s all about eco-friendly vibes with a rebellious twist, blending street style with sustainable materials. So, if you want to look like you could conquer the world, save the planet, and still have time to chill, AFENDS has you covered!
MORE PROJECTS TO COME IN 2025?
The chemistry in this improvised quartet was too good to be true, so we brainstormed right after the shoot and started working on new projects right away.
But staying in context, we would love to do something bigger for Afends next year, ideally with more prep and ca$hhhhh…give us the candies (we accept Tim Tam as payment).
SHOUTOUTS
Huge thanks to Jordan Sevellec for making the connection and linking me up with Damo, who’s been riding with us since the beginning, and of course, Valerio, Paco, Pau, Rebeca and João Dias.
PS: all the BTS shots were taken by João.
