When did you open your business in Tavira?

We opened our shop in September 2005, but we had already been working with ceramic crafts since 1997. At first we sold to shops and at craft fairs, but we soon decided to only sell direct to the public at the craft fairs, and this is what we did for many years. The shop is an extension of that sales strategy.

Have you both come from an artistic background?

I worked for five years as an English and Portuguese teacher to young children. I did take a course in photography. I always wanted to do something with my hands and more artistic. Mario studied Philosophy and Portuguese, and went to a workshop on plastic expression and then did a number of jobs to earn a living, before trying his hand, first at decorating ceramics and then woodcraft as a hobby.

What made you choose to work in ceramic?

We had begun selling the things we were making at the time at craft fairs - in , decorated ceramics and painted plaster of Paris when a colleague Donna Antónia told us that we should make our things first hand. Antónia , and that we should be able to make them in clay. The following day a 20 kilo bag of clay arrived. In the beginning we found it difficult to work with, but we perservered and began to enjoy it. An owner of a shop we were selling through had already asked us several times if we could make door plaques. They were the first things we made in clay and people immediately fell in love with them. This wonderful reception provided us with a real incentive.

What are the advantages & limitations of working in this material?

The disadvantages are that is slow and dirty to work with, and so you need lots of patience, perhaps more than skill. Working with clay you soon realize that it has a will of its own, so you have to learn to adapt, to be able to do what we wanted to do.There is no company in Portugal that specializes in removing all the impurities in clay, making it suitable for making our products in ceramic. So, like every other Portuguese ceramicist, we use Spanish clay. Besides the superior quality, it has a wide variety of colours and textures which we like a lot because we prefer to keep the natural look of clay instead of hiding it beneath a lot of colours and other sophisticated materials that end up by taking away the character of the clay. The main advantage and pleasure from working with clay is it is both exciting and addictive. It is also a relatively cheap material to work with.

Where do you get inspiration for new designs?

We pick up ideas from anywhere and everywhere. That's part of the enjoyment of this work, always making new things. When we were just doing the craft fairs we were always being asked for the same things, as if we were a factory, but that would stop us from making the many new things that we wanted to make. It was also for that reason we decided to open the shop to the public. Having our work displayed and always open to the public, obliged us to be always offering new things. This way, our interaction with the public keeps us open to new products and fresh ideas, so we are always introducing new designs.

What are your most popular designs?

The door plaques are always popular with everyone. Even the visitors to Portugal often ask for the plaques to be worded in Portuguese, as a reminder of where they bought them. Our competitive prices also help of course.

Where do you exhibit your work?

We prefer to exhibit at craft fairs all around the East Algarve. Strangely, Faro is one of those few areas that have an international fairs venue but it does not have anywhere for Portuguese crafts people.. But against that Tavira has a number of places. We intend to open a blog online and at a totally different level do a themed exhibition.

What level of personalization do you offer?

We offer a number of alternatives in colour, size, shape, names, and special commissions for prizes and promotions. For example the local town council have already asked for promotional gifts, and we have already bride and groomfigures for the top of a wedding cake, and many other things. We also think that the gift wrapping is very important so everything that leaves our shop is specially gift wrapped in handmade paper, tied with and tagged with a small ceramic heart or flower. If we had a personal motto it would be "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful" (William Morris)

What makes your business special or unique?

First of all we do not view ourselves as artists but as ceramicists. To be commercially successful in this field we both have to work full time with enormous patience and adaptability. We design to customer tastes and specification, and take great pride in offering a hand made product at a reasonable price. We avoid moulds whenever possible and it is easy to prove that things have been made without them - at the craft fairs we often work live and we have done workshops for the youngsters many times. Unfortunately we now have less time for these.
As we are a pair, all our gifts are signed by M & A as we always inspect every product that leaves our kiln with the greatest of care.