This story originally appeared on the Gents Cafe Newsletter. You can subscribe here.
Meet Pedro Teixeira (@pedrodteixeira84), living in Cascais, near Lisbon, and working as a Continuous Airworthiness Specialist in the field of Business Jets and Helicopters.
What are your main passions and how do you cultivate them?
Besides spending quality time with my family, my main passions involve what I call “the immortal things” – things that are not necessarily vintage or traditional, but have the power to endure throughout time. It’s a broad category, in which I include things ranging from ancient cooking techniques and vintage memorabilia passing through objects of daily use or leisure items such as vinyl records and old cameras. I try to cultivate this passion on a daily basis by simply using them… Let it be by baking my own bread or making a slow meal with some old blues record playing in the background.
How did you first develop an appreciation for style?
My father has always been a well-dressed man. Now he is retired, but when he worked, he never missed a suit and tie, even if the workplace didn’t require it. Growing up looking at him with his attention to detail and style planted the seed for my appreciation.
What does “being well-dressed” mean to you?
For me, being well dressed means dressing in a way that gives you the confidence to enter a room with the certainty that you will never be underdressed. This confidence in dressing, then, should be aligned with comfort and your own personal signature items.
How do you find time to unwind and slow down?
Every day I force myself to have a well-defined line between the “Work Day” and the “Personal Day”. I work from home most of the time, and it is not always easy to establish this clear line, so every day I sit down for 15 minutes, reading something light with a drink in hand and some music to fill the room. These 15 minutes give me the opportunity to slow down and unwind from the work stress, allowing me to dedicate more fully to myself and my family.
What do you value most in a conversation?
For sure, the authenticity. For me, it does not matter if it is a deep talk or a light one as long as it is authentic and honest. I love to talk and to discuss every subject… when I don’t have the knowledge about a certain one, I take the chance to learn. There is nothing better than a joyful talk, sitting at a bar by the beach on a lovely summer day.
Do you collect anything? If so, how did that passion start?
I collect vinyl records and old cameras. The record collection is something I inherited from my father. I’ve “stolen” his records and just continued growing it. Regarding the vintage cameras, it all started when my father handed me his Canon AE1, a film camera from the 80s, with which I’ve learned some photography skills and developed my inclination for old cameras. Now I count a few of them, both digital and analog, all fully working.
Where do you primarily draw your style inspiration from?
It mainly comes from online influencers. Depending on the mood, I inspire myself with more up-dressed fits from @the.styleconsultant (for example) or more lively items from @petersprism. I also like to draw inspiration for more vintage-oriented tips from @benton.down or @damienbroderick.
What’s the first watch (or meaningful accessory) you ever owned, and what does it mean to you?
A vintage Omega Geneve that I bought for a few Euros in a flea market. I wanted to buy a nice watch, but I did not have the money to do it, and I spent my days dreaming about it. One day, while going through a flea market, I saw this Omega watch in very nice condition. It looked real, but I was a bit skeptical about its authenticity, and I had it evaluated. It turned out that the watch wasn’t just authentic, it was working like a charm. I am not the superstitious type, but it seems that from the moment I bought that watch, things started to go pretty well in various aspects of my life… It became a bit of a lucky charm. Of course, I still own it and I can certainly tell you it is one of my most-used watches!
What are your three favorite books?
The trilogy of The Lord of the Rings is for sure the book that marked me. Besides that, The Metamorphosis and Frankenstein from Mary Shelley are books that I loved to read.
What are your three favorite movies?
I would have to go with Top Gun, The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather.
