The Project: Breathing New Life into Soul
My clients most dear project, named “Soul”, is a 6 room apartment in the heart of Vila Franca de Xira. She put her heart into building the space, and we both started to strategize what soul can offer to the people.
Soul is a center for artistic expression and well-being, with the aim of intiating & nurturing connections, creativity, growth, and renewal.
Souls purpose is helping people to:
— live pain free & healthy
— gain frictionless clarity of vision for their dream life’s
— discover their natural gifts, talents & tools along the way
— awaken the delight & freedom of their inner child
Early Stages
Above you can see the reel of Valentina publishing the start of business of “Soul Moradia Criativa”. At first she hired me for marketing & branding services. I helped her carve out the brand’s core message and tone. Valentina told me that at first after opening the space she needed more traffic.
She put her number on to google business and the traffic occured.
But it is never as easy as that, isn’t it?
Carving out Character
It it turned into a more immersive project, where the real challenge lied in acquiring the right kind of people for mid- to long term rent.
So we went into her real motives and characterised the brand attributes:
/purposeful:
The vast ocean of the future world will be shaped by those who have clear vision and go this path with mental health and foresightedness. We aim to nurture clarity, discernment and the ability to draw boundaries to individuals seeking the path.
/creative:
Without unbound play, we will never be truly able to tap into our full potential. Let‘s find ways people think there aren‘t any, by breaking out of the limiting box we tend to think in. Creativity for us is like creation itself limitless, and so are we as creators.
/whole:
The human experience is meant to be diverse. We perform our best in balance and healthy. We provide as much movement, healing and wellbeing as needed for reaching equilibrium. Before we get to work, we make sure we are and show up as a whole.
/conscious:
Being conscious of our ever evolving realisation of wholeness. The more Inclusive we can play, work & rest, the more the surroundings can benefit from our actions. We expand further through creating every part of the sum as the sum of the part.
/caring:
When we come as a whole, naturally we want to share our experience. Caring is the natural byproduct of us having all our needs met with abundance. Thats why we fundamentally care.
We worked out a Brand Identity Guideline PDF, that you can download via the button below.
Soul Brand Guidelines 24th May 24.pdf
Here is how you can build a Brand Identity.
Retreats at Soul
In Soul, there were already amazing events happening.
One of them was the Yoga & Toursim retreat with Yoga Instructor Carla Exposito
RETIRO DE VERANO CON CARLA LISBOA 2024-3
RETIRO DE VERANO CON CARLA LISBOA 2024-3.pdf
In this retreat, all the guests were spoiled with amazing food, a yoga program and trips to special places around Lisbon.
If you are looking to host a retreat like Carla did, have a look at our dedicated landing page for retreat facilitators, which we designed:
https://retreats.soulcoliving.com/for-facilitators
The apartment offers a range of areas perfectly suited for
— movement practices,
— creative expression,
— education & healing arts
— professional development
— design & photography
— and the development of spiritual tools.
The Details Matter
As we dove deeper into the nitty gritty of how we can make this beautiful place even more beautiful, we identified key details that has to be worked on before this place can be called a “home” by many, and not just a room to rent for one night and crash by.
What I learned from being a certified Feng Shui Intructor is
“The surroundings are the resonant field of our soul’s.”
I use this quote often.
But what does it mean?
Well, everything that you create in the outside world, is a reflection of your inner world. In Feng Shui we have to be in balance, in order to create balanced places.
That’s why I became a personal coach as well as a creative director/strategist.
There is no outer balance without inner balance.
So looking into Soul (no pun intended), I saw that this place had a lot of potential, but she needed help with the last details and positioning in the market for revealing this project’s true potential.
As soon as I stepped in, I did not see it as a short term stay, “booking dot com” type of rental, but a co-living for creatives.
That word was new for Valentina.
What’s a Coliving?
Coliving is a modern form of shared housing; it’s a way to live and share a home with other like-minded people. The biggest value of coliving is access to the community. Coliving is quickly gaining popularity across the globe as people increasingly value living flexible and convenient lifestyles.
It’s important to note; modern coliving spaces come in many different shapes and styles. The term has been used loosely for different kinds of living arrangements: from “big box coliving” (buildings with hundreds of pod-style rooms) to family-style apartments turned into coliving homes (imagine living in an episode of “Friends”). What all these coliving concepts have in common is the desire to offer a more community-oriented lifestyle.
Since I was working in 3 different hospitality concepts over the span of moving to Sâo Miguel Island, I learned about what it takes to create community. The last volunteering project I did was in a coliving called Lava Coliving.
And that’s exactly what was her intention from the beginning.
Sometimes, we just not found the right word for it.
And then boom, it makes sense.
From there on, I knew what we have to do. We went from room to room, detailed out the composition, build furniture pieces, installed isolation with contractors who happen to be friends and family of Valentina (thanks to Arlindo, Aristides, and Miguelinho) & made sure lighting details and amenities are present.
We turned a room into a living room, established rules like “no shoes” and changed the name from “guest house” to “coliving”. We put out targeted advertisement for a artist in residency position, and we successfully found a community manager for this beautiful space.
Website Design
I have also the build the website for www.soulcoliving.com, and since then, we are on our way to doing the same numbers, with less traffic, more cultivated guest selection, creating space for community events, and a overall better experience for Valentina.
Soul Coliving in Vila Franca de Xira for creative nomads
Soul Coliving – We are Soul – Coliving space and Cultural hub for creatives
Work in Progress
It was an honour to work with Valentina.
Let’s create more spaces like this, where the vibrancy of life communicating through the space. I am thrilled to work further into the details of this space.
kiss kiss,
Tarkan and Valentina
Soul Co-living
hi@tarko.io
+351910371999
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