The ‘Santa Catarina’ tiles are terracotta and are still handmade in the traditional way by two people. The first tilemaker puts the clay in the frame and creates the tile; the second person then removes the frame and neatens the edges before moving the tile to the drying the trolley. You can see them both working on their respective tasks below, with the drying trolleys behind.
The picture was taken at one of the few remaining tile factories in the east Algarve.
Prior to our recent and fascinating visit to Terracota do Algarve we had presumed that the local tiles called ‘Santa Catarina’ were so named because they were produced by one of the tile factories around Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo using local clay. However the local clay and factory locations are only half the story.
‘Santa Catarina’ tiles are so named because of their unique white finish. It is created by the second tile maker immediately after they have removed the frame. He adds it by dipping his hands into a white clay mix before running his fingers down the tile, creating white stripes on the surface. You can see him doing just that below.
And if you want to see it closer up, here are a few seconds from a video made by Terracota do Algarve which shows what happens in more detail.
Apparently the tile factories introduced this technique so their tiles would have the same high status as tiles made in the far west which were made of white clay. Tiles made of white clay were apparently once more highly regarded than terracotta tiles. However Ângelo who showed us round shared he wasn’t too sure how accurate this story was.
It could easily be one of those myths, such as the one about the Santa Catarina roof tiles once being made on a man’s thigh. Ângelo has placed a roof tile on his thigh and in doing so realised that if thighs were once the mould, then the person had very unusual sized thighs!
Obviously these were not the only photographs I took this morning, but I am going to keep the others for another day as if I go into any more details on tile making in this post I am afraid might lose you! Don’t fret though my follow up post will be out soon as I am keen to share the complete process with you as well as some lovely photographs of the full range of tiles we saw this morning. Here’s one now to tempt you back to my follow up posts!
PS Please note this was a one-off tour that I was able to arrange. If you are interested in going on a tile factory tour then I recommend you contact one of the specialist tour companies, here are details of one. If you are after tiles for your home then do contact Terracota do Algarve they do export!
This is real craftmanship that I hope will always continue.
So do we 🙂 they seem to have a good export business so hopefully they will. Going to do what I can though to also help promote – few more posts lined up this month 🙂
Great that there are some old practises left..;-)
We were delighted to discover it, just hope they can find some younger people who are as enamoured and so it can be passed on to the next generation.
Another lovely tour. Yes, the thighs of that man must have been quite big. Thanks Becky 🙂
And how would you get it off thigh to dry?!!!
That would be a trade secret 😏
🤣
That panel is gorgeous. Beautiful, traditionally made wares.
Seriously tempted by panel, but was reminded need a house first!!
Can’t wait to share more of the decorative ones 😊
Great. We love it. And its all handmade.
Incredible how little of the process has been mechanised. Wonderful to watch them at work 😊
That’s an awfully nice tile panel. 🙂 🙂 I need to think about where it might best work. Thanks for the tour, hon. You picked a good day for it.
It’s wonderful isn’t it! We were doing the same 😊
Weather has certainly changed! Hope you were not caught by the shower xx
We had a brolly and it was such warm, gentle rain. You did wish it on us 🙂 🙂 And it’s only for a day or two. Back to the decorating! 🙁
I know, I know!!!! We desperately need it though, quite worrying the water levels in the reservoirs. I just wish it fell at night only!
Good post, I enjoyed reading it.
ooh how odd you ended up in spam 🙁
Really glad you enjoyed it. Was a tiny factory but so much to discover. My next tile post is due Monday, hope you enjoy that one too.
Any post about tiles is good for me. I really enjoyed them all on our journey and holiday from Lisbon to Portugal and I am looking forward to more in 2019!
So many tile tales to share 😊
Really love your posts!
Thank you 🙂
Are the tiles expensive considering the intensive labour that goes into creating each one? A roof full of them must be quite beautiful.
The standard floor tile is 15euros per square metre so we thought quite reasonable given the labour costs, and he pays his guys well above the minimum wage 😊
That’s not as much I was expecting. What a nice company to work for.
Quite a few of their team are non Portuguese as local youngsters don’t want to undertake this type of manual work. It can be dusty, hot, cold and of course is hard work.15years ago there were more than 20factories here, now only 4!
PS and they also source old ones, so if you are looking for the weathered look they can assist! Such a great company and he was so helpful today.
Fantastic. I love this. Your photos are brilliant.
Thank you so very much and even more for joining us today. Was such fun, and so interesting. Next post the whole process!
Looking forward to it!