Verena Maria Furtado, a natural of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, returned to Portugal recently after having lived overseas for several years. She has more than 10 years of experience as an Interior Designer, and won various awards internationally for her commercial projects. She graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, with a Post-graduate Diploma in Advanced Architectural Design in 2009, after having graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies in 2008, which was also her second bachelor’s degree. She had previously also graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design from the American University in Dubai in 2002 when she was just 20 years old.
As a child, she also trained professionally as an Ice-Skater under Atoy Wilson and Randy Winship, and took part in various international competitions (ISIA Championships) and won gold and bronze medals in Hong Kong and Dubai. She also studied music for several years with the Trinity College in London, where she learned how to play the electric organ. Professionally, she worked at international design firms such as RMJM, Elder & Cannon, Kinnersley Kent Design and Lacasa, where she was part of the team that built the revolutionary shopping mall in Palestine – the Lacasa Shopping Mall, as well as the expansion of the famous Dubai Mall Fashion Avenue, in addition to various other international chains of schools, restaurants, hotels and banks. Currently, she works in the administrative department of the Orchestra of the Municipalities of Cascais and Oeiras and assists Maestro Lalov and the musicians, while taking care of administrative functions of the department.
