Mafalda Tenente is a qualified independent Supervisory Board Member and Strategy Advisor. Sectors covered include premium consumer goods, healthcare, hospitality, and arts on topics related to strategic brand marketing, user-centric innovation management, and digital strategy. She currently serves on the board of Casino Interlaken AG, Kursaal Interlaken Holding AG, and as president of the board of the Swiss INSEAD Alumni Association.
For the Swiss INSEAD alumni association she led the Swiss INSEAD Gala in 2024 and founded the INSEAD Women in Business initiative as well as the national mentoring program. She has previously served as Global Marketing Director for divisions of Novartis and Eli Lilly, and Advisor to startups and leading premium consumer goods companies. She has a degree in Economics from University of Porto and a MBA and executive certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.
When she is not helping boards and global companies drive their innovation and strategic agendas to craft more beautiful experiences for their users, she paints the world in Japanese ink (sumi) and creates her own objects of beauty, often in book form. She regularly exhibits in Switzerland and Japan, and also speaks on Japanese ink painting and creative practices. Mafalda is a member of the International Sumi-e Friendship Association, chaired by well-known master Kobayashi Tohun. In 2020 and 2024 she won the Judge’s Special Award and Special Friendship Award, respectively, at the international ink painting exhibition “Art Beyond Boundaries” in Tokyo, Japan. Her 2024 fiction short story “Lotus” has been shortlisted by the jury for the “Fedrigoni Top Award 2025”, nominated for the Volumes Awards 2024 and is her second book to tour Switzerland with “The Most Beautiful Swiss Books” exhibition. Her “Eight Views of Kanazawa in Winter” solo exhibition at the Ishikawa International Salon in Kanazawa, Japan received the nominal support of the Hokkoku Shinbun and Swiss Embassy in Japan in 2025.
Mafalda was born in Porto, and is also a Swiss citizen. She has lived in five countries, speaks 5 languages fluently (English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese), and is working her way through intermediate level Japanese. She still loves and practices classical ballet regularly.
You can reach her here and receive updates on her art by subscribing to “The Art Journey” letter.
Exhibitions and Events:
Upcoming
2028 October 3-16, Solo Exhibition, Ishikawa International Salon, Kanazawa, Japan
2027 May 14 – June 25, Collective Exhibition, Switzerland
2026 November, Volumes Zurich, Gessnerallee Zürich, Switzerland
2026 June 17-20, I Never Read Art Book Fair, Basel, Switzerland
2026 June 13, Mini Volumes, Löwenbräukunst, Zurich, Switzerland
2026 January 22 – February 01, International Ink Painting Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
Ongoing
2025-26, “The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2024”, Touring Exhibition, Switzerland
Past SOLO SHOWS/EVENTS
2025 February 04 – February 16, Eight Views of Kanazawa in Winter, Ishikawa International Salon, Japan
2024 August 24, Artist Talk and Ink Painting Workshop, Hōmu, Basel, Switzerland
2024 June 15, “Lotus” Book Introduction and Artist Talk, I Never Read Art Book Fair, Basel, Switzerland
2023 November 25, Artist Talk and Exhibition Finissage, Hōmu, Basel, Switzerland
2023 October 28 – November 25, Solo Exhibition at Hōmu, Japanisch Wohnen, Basel, Switzerland
2023, “Autumn in Japan” Artist Talk, I Never Read Art Book Fair, Basel, Switzerland
2021, Solo Exhibition and “The Tea House Diary” Book vernissage, Altstadthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Past Collective SHOWS/EVENTS
2025 November 22-23, Volumes Zurich, Gessnerallee Zürich, Switzerland
2025 June 18-21, I Never Read Art Book Fair, Basel, Switzerland
2025 June 14, Mini Volumes, Löwenbräukunst, Zurich, Switzerland
2025 June 14-22, The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2024, Helmhaus Zurich, Switzerland (feat. “Lotus”)
2025 January 23 – February 02, International Ink Painting Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (Jury’s Special Friendship Award)
2024 November 16-17, Volumes Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2024 June 12-15, I Never Read Art Book Fair, Basel, Switzerland
2024 June 8, Volumes Zurich Summer Edition, Löwenbräukunst, Zurich, Switzerland
2024 May 03 – June 21, Bilder aus tiefstem Herzen, Japan Information and Cultural Centre, Bern, Switzerland
2024 January 25 – February 5, International Ink Painting Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (International Honor Art Award)
2023-24, “The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2022”, Touring Exhibition, Switzerland
2023 November 18-19, Volumes Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2023, AIMPE, The Hall Awa Japanese Handmade Paper, Tokushima, Japan (Honourable Mention for “Winter Sunset at Kenrokuen”)
2023 June 23-25, The Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2022, Helmhaus Zurich, Switzerland (feat. “Autumn in Japan”)
2023 June 14-17, I Never Read Art Book Fair, Basel, Switzerland
2023, International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2022, Volumes Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2022, Die Poesie der Tusche, Japan Information and Cultural Centre, Bern, Switzerland
2022, International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (International Honor Art Award)
2021, AIMPE, The Hall Awa Japanese Handmade Paper, Tokushima, Japan
2021, Volumes Zurich Summer Edition, Zurich, Switzerland
2021, Art Beyond Boundaries International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (International Honor Art Award)
2020, Art for All International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (Judge’s Special Award)
2019, Sakura Japan Festival, Ink Painting Exhibition by Atelier Margot, Zurich, Switzerland
2019, Torch of Asia International Creation Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (Special Award)
2017, International Sumi-e Friendship Association, Sato Design Living, Zurich, Switzerland (Jury’s Special Award)
Books:
Lotus, Switzerland, June 2024
“Autumn in Japan: An Ink Painter’s Travel Journal”, Switzerland, 2022 (Volumes Awards Nominee, MBSB Nominee)
“The Tea House Diary”, Switzerland, 2021
“One Moment, One Drawing, Twelve ink drawings to chase the seasons”, Switzerland, 2018