For Keeps: Luena Gama

a tour of trinkets, ceramics, tablewares, and more

May 21, 2025

Images provided by Luena Gama, collage by keepsake

I love the voyeuristic tradition of the home tour, but where are the keepsake tours? The intimate looks at a souvenir collection? The deep dive into someone’s jewelry box? In the series For Keeps I’m asking cool and creative people to share their keepsakes with the world, and by the transitive property also share their hearts.

Today we’re going through the keepsakes of Portuguese It Girl and fashion creator Luena Gama as she takes us through her world of ceramics, designer, and collectibles.

Simone Rocha Bag

One of my best friends is the queen of mindset one liners and as we were reaching the end of our uni degree she pointed out I never celebrated anything. I take failure to heart and success as an expectation so I'm pretty much not left with much to be proud of. So a couple weeks before my graduation ceremony I decided I wanted something BIG. I got myself a custom dress from a small local designer studio and bought my first fashion girl purchase, a Simone Rocha perspex egg bag...in XL. My mom told me I should tone it down, I was graduating from Law school, not going to a fashion show. It's been a few years now and oh how the tables have turned!

That bag has become a conversation piece, the first in what has become a collection, the finishing touch on some of my favourite outfits. It has brought me opportunities I could only have dreamt of. It has become one of my prized possessions because it symbolizes change and me being proud enough to celebrate myself.

Ceramics

I'm Portuguese so it's almost par for the course that I like all things ceramic, pottery and stoneware and as I've grown older somehow ceramics have become my favourite thing to collect whenever I have a chance to travel. Especially table wares. You know how food holds such significance across cultures? I feel like by bringing these little bits of mismatched ceramics into my own table is like bringing little forever fragments from all across the world into my home.

My Own Creations

If there're any perfectionists looking for a character building activity reading this, let me suggest you try pottery wheel throwing. It is the single most frustrating, humbling and rewarding exercise in understanding that despite your best efforts you cannot control every single aspect of everything ALL THE TIME.

My partner gifted me a pottery course while I was in uni, and I genuinely think it was one of the reasons I actually managed to graduate. It taught me how to self-regulate, accept mistakes and persevere in a very gentle way and it provided me with a mindful outlet.

So the little bits and bobs I create in my local studio are now part of my ever growing collection of ceramics.

My Journals

I've never been a diary keeper or very good at verbalising my feelings but lo and behold, one too many breakdowns during law school will have you seeking help from wherever you can find it and I ended up with this psychotherapist that advised me to start journaling. At first it was about micromanaging my way into being functional, then it turned into a creative outlet where I allowed myself to decorate daily pages, and slowly but surely it became a record of my achievements, a place for my to do's and random thoughts, a place to put my aspirations and dreams. Hell, I even mapped out my final dissertation on a Hobonichi weeks.

Perhaps I'm far more emotionally attached to my hyper decorated habit tracking pages than I should be, but me and my journals have been through it and I keep them very close to my heart.

My Stationery

I used to be the type of kid to get crazy excited over the start of school because it meant stationery shopping and this is definitely not something I've grown out of.

I love collecting pens, washi tapes and stickers at an alarming rate and it's something that gives me a lot of joy.

My Trinkets

I just know a trinket shop hates to see me coming! At my big age I have a problematic collection of trinkets and toys that ranges from a giant vintage tamagotchi, a few too many Labubus, Butter Bear blind boxes and a mini Kewpie Mayo baby from the 60's which frankly looks more like a haunted plastic doll than a cute trinket. But as the little sister in a big family of rowdy teens, growing up I was always conscious of not overextending my parents finances and of course that mindfulness would always end up with me low key salty over my never ending gifting of socks and undies during Christmas.

But clearly I was biding my time because now I have adult money and clearly nobody can stop me from getting a little trinket and a treat.

Luena (Lu for short) unintentionally became an internet fashion girlie, but she comes from a Law and Human Rights background. She has appeared in several fashion publications, notably in British Vogue for her looks at Copenhagen Fashion Week, and Elle Mexico where she was interviewed on personal style.

She is currently working on part two of her collection with Grandpa Shirts, which comes out this summer. The two partnered up to create a sold out collection of upcycled whimsical shirts last year.

She is also working on Atelier Itä, her ceramics brand.

You can find Luena on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for a better look at her colorful and eclectic world.

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xo, Julianna