CACO – Odemira Artisans' Association

CACO is the association of artisans of the municipality of Odemira, in the Beja district. It was founded in 2002, after a debate on the future of craft organised by the municipality showed that local makers needed a body to represent them, keep their trades going and help them sell their work. Its shop in the town of Odemira brings together pieces made by members from across the municipality and neighbouring areas.

The crafts are those of the land and the coast: baskets of wicker and of wild plant fibres such as esparto, wheel-thrown pottery fired in wood kilns, weaving, lace, wooden utensils and the viola campaniça, the traditional guitar of this part of the Alentejo. With the PESCARTE project the association worked with the fishing communities of Vila Nova de Milfontes, Almograve and Azenha do Mar to create objects from worn nets, ropes, buoys and driftwood, giving discarded fishing gear a second life.

Besides selling, CACO teaches. Its artisans give workshops in the schools of the municipality, take part in the local fairs and, as a registered tourism activity company, offer outings built around traditional arts and crafts. In 2024 it organised a month of esparto and viola campaniça workshops with the national Saber Fazer programme and the municipality.

The shop is on Avenida Teófilo da Trindade in Odemira, a small town on the Mira river. Odemira is on the N120 road that links the Alentejo coast to the western Algarve, and is a convenient stop for travellers heading to the beaches of the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast.