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Ana Águas article
Terra.Cotta Handmade: Hand-embroidered Lisbon in Arraiolos
On the city's facades, in tiles that cross generations and resist time, Lisbon holds a unique visual memory. It is from this careful observation of the territory that Terra.Cotta Handmade® was born, a Portuguese brand that transforms urban patterns into handcrafted textile pieces.
Designed in Lisbon and hand-embroidered in Arraiolos, Terra.Cotta Handmade® pieces breathe new life into Lisbon’s graphic heritage, preserving ancient crafts through an avant-garde and timeless aesthetic.
Founded in Lisbon by Sónia Almeida, graphic designer training, Terra.Cotta Handmade® arises from the desire to unite two traditional Portuguese arts at risk of disappearing: the Carpets of Arraiolos and the Tiles of Lisbon. The result is a work where design works as a bridge between past and present, between territory and home.
The process starts on the street. A pool. To observe facades, patterns, colors and repetitions that are part of everyday life in Lisbon. Each collection is based on a photographic survey of the city's tiles., followed by work on the interpretation and translation of these motifs into the Arraiolos Carpet technique.
Before final production, test pieces are created to fine-tune colors, contrasts and reading patterns in wool. Only then does the manual embroidery begin, point to point, in Arraiolos, by experienced rug makers who have mastered this ancient technique.
Each piece is embroidered entirely by a single artisan, respecting the time involved in manual work and accepting the small natural variations that make each object unique..
It is from this process that rugs are created., cushions and decorative paintings Terra.Cotta Handmade®. Inspired by the tiles on Lisbon facades, The pieces are produced exclusively to order, allowing customization of measurements, colors and patterns, according to each space and each client. Embroidered on jute canvas with pure Portuguese wool, are tributes to the streets of Lisbon such as Bacalhoeiros, Olivete or Douradores — places that served as visual and emotional inspiration.
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More than decorative pieces, are fragments of the city transformed into soft matter, are objects that take Lisbon into the interior of the spaces, preserving the identity of the place and the value of manual work.
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