Júlio Faustino
A CRAFT
IN THE BLOOD
OF GENERATIONS
Júlio Faustino runs Roficer Lda, a family business dedicated to producing floor tiles, in the Tavira area. His grandfather and great-grandfather worked in a “telheiro”, the local word for tile workshop, and family life has long revolved around this profession. The clay used is sourced from his clay-pit, in Fonte Salgada, “of exceptional quality”, according to geological tests made of the soils. The Faustino family is determined to keep this ancestral activity alive, and to this end combines tradition with the innovation of productive factors than allow it to respond to the needs of the market. It still produces floor tiles by hand, one at a time, and alongside this, has started the production using dies and machines, which introduces other opportunities. “A touch of modernity without ever losing its authenticity,” the company explains. Recreating is what keeps the company enthusiastic after 30 years. As to the future of the craft industry, the Faustino family believes that it will always have “a place outside mass consumerism” and in league with those who “increasingly value culture, knowhow and customs of regions through which they travel”.
