Caldeireiro
The copper industry in Loulé is an art that respects the traditional and ancestral molds of production.
The precision of the fine beat – a technique mastered by Loulé’s craftsmen – has distinguished the quality of the pieces in fairs and exhibitions.
This type of craftsmanship revolves around the manufacture and repair of mechanical components, reservoirs, tanks, pipes, equipment and other utensils in copper and brass. This is a very old profession, but it is still alive today – the sounds of hammering on copper and brass, which were a feature of the city of Loulé for many years, were reactivated with the opening of the “Oficina de Caldeireiros”, in the same space where the “Caldeiraria Louletana” operated in the past with master Ilídio António Marques. The recovery of a trade lost to the city was possible because Analide Carmo, a master at the age of 26, after 14 years of apprenticeship at “Caldeiraria Barracha”, one of the most renowned in the city, lent herself to transmit her knowledge, after 35 years of interregnum. This space has rehabilitated one of the most important crafts in the city, which had disappeared from the city and the region, and currently houses four boilermakers who manually produce pots, cataplanas, bracelets, lamps, among others.
Oficina de Caldeireiros is one of the traditional workshops of the Loulé Criativo network, a project by the Municipality of Loulé, which focuses on enhancing the identity of this territory located in the Algarve, having creativity and innovation as its driving force. It supports the training and activity of artisans and professionals in the creative sector, contributing to the revitalization of traditional arts and the promotion of new approaches to intangible heritage.
This distinction has earned Loulé recognition in this traditional art. The cataplana is the most sought after utilitarian object of this workshop distinguished by the great resistance and durability that is conferred to it by the process of confection. Currently, there is only one workshop in the municipality of Loulé working in the ancestral molds, implemented by the Municipality of Loulé under the Creative Loulé Project and run by boilermaker Analide Carmo, former master of the now extinct Barracha Workshop.
