Azulejos de Azeitão – Traditional Tile Workshop

Azulejos de Azeitão, also known as Leiveira, is a small factory in Vila Fresca de Azeitão, in the Setúbal district, that makes Portuguese tiles the traditional way. It works with Portuguese clay, moulds and pigmented glazes, and every tile is painted by hand. The workshop specialises in reproducing historic designs, not only from Portugal and the rest of Europe but also Islamic and Chinese patterns, and keeps a library of books on tiles and ceramics that the painters use as reference.

Three old techniques are in daily use: corda seca, in which fine lines keep the coloured glazes apart; aresta, in which small ridges moulded into the clay do the same job; and majolica, in which the design is painted by brush on a white glaze. The workshop makes flat hand-painted tiles as well as relief tiles with glazes of several colours, in the style of the Hispano-Moorish tiles of the sixteenth century. All tiles are made to order, so the size, the colours and the design are adapted to each client, from a handful of tiles to a complete installation.

Visitors are welcome. Guided visits, given in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish, follow a tile from the clay to the kiln and show the painters at work. With advance booking, individuals and groups can paint a tile themselves. The workshop stands beside the Bacalhôa estate in Vila Fresca de Azeitão, on the northern side of the Arrábida hills, and a visit is easily combined with the wine cellars of Azeitão. By car it is reached from Lisbon across the Tagus and from Setúbal by the N10 road.