We are based in São Paulo, Brazil, and we act internationally, creating concepts, narratives and design through the intersection of multiple disciplines. Our work provides graphic design, brand identities, websites, creative direction and environmental design for cultural institutions, businesses and individuals in art, fashion, education, architecture and publishing. We concentrate on creating intelligent design based on research, practice and collaboration.

Our work derives from a need to clarify and create relevant solutions based on aesthetics and functionality. We help our clients to realize their projects through strategic and creative thinking that aims to challenge expectations. We recognize that multidisciplinary creative collaboration is the key to a successful project, so we work closely to a range of creative specialists from varying fields such as architects, writers, illustrators and photographers.

Founded by Gabriel Finotti, in 2012, Sometimes Always started as digital platform that portrayed subcultural issues and characters of the contemporary urban environment. We soon became a publishing practice exploring printed-matter, music and video. At the same time, Gabriel started working independently as a graphic designer. The two projects ran in parallel for years until they merged into a single front in 2017. Gabriel is graduated in Architecture and Urbanism and have a master’s degree in Publishing at London College of Communication.

In addition to the studio, Sometimes Always works as a multi-format space for design research and co-creative activities coordinated by Gabriel Finotti and Hick Duarte. We believe that the balance between commissioned projects and authorial production is crucial to any creative career. Therefore, we want to continue to provide excellent visual services, but we also want to solidify a place where we can explore new possibilities through trial and error.

Our purpose is to stimulate a critical understanding of the contemporary subcultures and aesthetics through collaboration. As a non-place to disconnect ourselves from preconceptions, budgets and deadlines, Sometimes Always works as neutral zone for creativity. We are building a space of transience where we can put into practice radical ideas that would remain in silence anywhere else. A place to question design rules and beauty standards. A place to champion the inappropriate and the failure based on discussions and frictions. A laboratory for trial that works as a thermometer for ideas that could or could not be applied in a commercial sphere.

We believe that conflict is not a problem, so we work as an experimental bureau that is sometimes a publisher, sometimes a label and sometimes a clothing brand. We are always teaming up with contemporary artists, designers and writers to produce materials that can take form in many ways: a limited edition book, a clothing line, a mixtape or just a digital narrative. If you want to join us, please do get in touch.