Claus Porto awarded merit prize in New York

Claus Porto, the 131-year-old Portuguese fragrance house, which opened doors in New York last year, was granted the merit award in the interior design category by AIA New York Design Awards 2019, which was held on 14 January in New York. Over 200 architects and experts in the design sector attended the ceremony.

The historic "venerable beauty and fragrance house" of Porto, Claus Porto is located at the Nolita ("North of Little Italy") neighbourhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is lodged on the "ground-floor storefront of an early 1800's building, one block off of NYC's Bowery, creating a portal through which visitors may immerse themselves in the world of Claus Porto's unique scents".

The building's design and the 42-foot-long freestanding archway are a tribute to Portuguese architecture and a subtle reference to Porto's São Bento train station, which was first projected in 1887, the same year that Claus Porto was established.

This multifunctional space, with crushed cork coated walls and ceiling, embodies culture and commerce, where fifty square meters are home to soap, toilet waters, hand creams, candles and accessories, all of which still crafted using mechanical, old-world methods.

Architect Jeremy Barbour of Tacklebox Architecture is in charge of interior design.

Claus Porto's factory is installed in its home city of Porto.