Antje Weber

We first met Antje Weber on a winding, tile-lined street in Lisbon, where her studio sits like a small, orderly cabinet of curiosities. Inside, shelves brim with objects she has sourced — each one waiting for its next life. Antje is a restorer, metalsmith, and artist whose work is rooted in the idea that objects carry memory. With a background in fine metalwork, she repairs, refines, and reimagines domestic artifacts with sterling silver, stone, and quiet artistic interventions

For PORTA, Antje created a series of Curiosity Boxes that feel like small works of art. Each one began life in the 1950s or ’60s, carved from richly grained African woods and given as treasured gifts to Portuguese families living abroad — tokens of memory and status from a complex chapter of Portugal’s global history. Decades later, Antje has sourced and restored them, adding subtle new details that honor their past while transforming them into something entirely fresh.

Beautifully weighted and full of presence, these boxes hold more than just keepsakes — they hold stories. Part of a rare collection, no two are alike, and each invites you to look closer, to admire the quiet dialogue between past and present. Consider them the ultimate gift for the ultimate giftee — rare treasures for the people who deserve something unforgettable.