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Estudio Destra
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Estudio Destra Internationally renowned Ceramics/ Pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

 Workshop based in Silves, Algarve, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

.

Specializes in handpainted murals on tiles.

Estudio Destra was founded in the 1980s by the artist Katherine Swift
Katherine Swift (artist)
Katherine Swift was a painter, illustrator and ceramicist.- Biography :Family: Katherine was the first child of Patrick Swift and Oonagh Ryan. Her uncle was the artist John Ryan; Her aunt the film actress Kathleen Ryan. Born Dublin: Katherine was born in Dublin in 1956...

 (1956–2004) and the ceramicist Roger Metcalfe. They had both previously worked in the famous Porches Pottery (Olaria Algarve)
Porches Pottery (Olaria Algarve)
Porches Pottery is a producer of hand-painted pottery in the town of Porches, in the Algarve region of Portugal. The pottery was founded in 1968 by artists Patrick Swift and Lima de Freitas, in order to revive a traditional Algarve pottery industry that was rapidly dying out in favour of more...

, founded by Katherine's father, Patrick Swift
Patrick Swift
Patrick Swift was an artist born in Dublin, Ireland. Patrick Swift was a painter and key cultural figure in Dublin and London before moving to the Algarve in southern Portugal, where he is buried in the town of Porches...

.

It is located in a 16C Jewish townhouse in the historic town of Silves, Algarve. Silves was once the capital of the Algarve and an important Moorish city that rivalled Lisbon. Among the very few buildings to have survived the earthquake of 1775
1755 Lisbon earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that took place on Saturday 1 November 1755, at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by fires and a tsunami, which almost totally destroyed Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, and...

 in Silves were the Cathedral, begun in the 13th and completed in the 15th century, and the building that today houses Estudio Destra. During the building's restoration a small indentation was noticed on the doorpost where a mezuzah
Mezuzah
A mezuzah is usually a metal or wooden rectangular object that is fastened to a doorpost of a Jewish house. Inside it is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah...

- the little case containing a handwritten scripture from Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...

 and a fixture on
a Jewish home- once hung.

It has gone on to gain international repute and work from this studio is bought by collectors from around the world.

For images and info: Images

Estudio Destra, Studio Tiles Website: Web

Sources and further reading

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