
INTRODUCTION
OFICINA
CERÂMICA was created by António Cruz, in 1997,
who has been painting tiles since 1989. His workshop is placed at 22
Rua do Rancho Típico — 432– 3100 Pombal, a town
in the Centre of Portugal, among the towns of Coimbra and Leiria, Ansião
and Figueira da Foz.
António Cruz uses his technology, skill and experience in tiles’s handmade painting on crude glazed; on chacota (chacota is the rear side of a tile); makes preservation and restoration, as well as decoration of spaces connected to architecture, on the inside and outside facings or as an isolated decorative element. Themes vary as much as geometric and vegetal elements, historical reports, mythological scenes, daily scenes and religious iconography, put on the walls of houses, in gardens, palaces, streets, public or religious buildings. The tile goes beyond a decorative function in flats/apartments, houses, villas… It also has a utilitarian one. Where easy cleaning and durability are the main requisites, mainly outside, tiles are a good choice, too. You can see them anywhere — covering the surface of the walls, building fronts, churches, staircases, fountains, gardens, ponds, swimming-pools and barbecues outbuildings… Inwardly you can find wainscots along the corridors, in the rooms, staircases, halls, kitchens, toilets, bathrooms, in an enormous diversity of tones and patterns which can be made through photographic reproduction. In a way purely decorative you can reproduce any kind of photo as well as landscapes — wild or urban — machines, people, faces and so on… Based on different characteristics, the tile is a pattern of artistic expression and design, which is reached through technics of decoration, like the hispano-moorish, those of edge, corda-seca (dry cord), esgrafitados (scratched), esponjado (sponged), estampado (stamped works), estampilhado (stamped), and for technics of thematic decoration like the albarrada, the atlante the enchaquetados tiles, the sundry figure, the grotesque, pattern tiles, carpet, baluster, the bars and bands, border, cartela, figura de convite (invitation figure), and panels. As a mean of aesthetic qualification of the indoor and urban spaces, the concept of tiles works is expressed by the preference of a reflector light coloured material. The pleasure for a decorative involvement, a free and exuberant painting always fit to the architectonic spaces, is put across to the work in a spontaneous and creative way. We make budgets. |
|||||