Tuesday 9 November 2010

A first: azulejos!

Azulejos

Azulejos :: painel

Sometime ago my friend A. asked me to design a panel of portuguese traditional, hand-painted tiles ("azulejos") to match the coat-hanger she wanted to have by the main door in her new flat.

I was thrilled with this project! Not only it was the first time I ever designed an azulejo - I studied lots and lots of designs when I was in university, but unfortunately never got to design my own -, but also because I love, love patterns and that chemistry that happens when you put modules side by side and repeat them.

The brief was to design something that was based in traditional patterns, but with a modern twist. I came up with a design and crossed my fingers. The tiles were brilliantly executed at Azulejaria Santiago, where they were brilliantly hand-painted and later installed in their spot.

I´m thrilled with the result and looking forward to working again with patterns and azulejo!

(Not so much a) sidenote: if you´ve ever been to Lisbon and rode the subway or just wandered around the streets, you´ll know how much azulejo tiles are used in public spaces. One of the greatest panel designers is the living legend Maria Keil, a huge inspiration to me. Check out some of her work by clicking here.

All images by Christophe Sauvage.

7 comments:

mm said...

Pois eu bem me parecia que reconhecia a maison que os recebeu:-))) ... estão fantásticos!!! bjoss

Anonymous said...

Muito lindos.Parabéns.
They were handmade here.It's a small world.
beijinhos

Billy said...

O mundo é uma ervilha, não é verdade? Por um lado, uma casa que conhecemos; por outro, um artesão numa localidade que também conhecemos! :)

Anonymous said...

So pretty! I would love to have something like that in my house. And what great light there is in that house!

Jesse said...

This is so beautiful! What a lovely project to work on.

Billy said...

The light is beautiful, isn´t it? That´s the famous Lisbon light. It´s beautiful and I miss it. :)

Billy said...

Jesse, thank you! :)