The Shop
Opened in 1957, this antique shop was founded by the current owner’s father. When he purchased an old apartment, he realised he would need old azulejo tiles. It was impossible to acquire the exact amount – there was either too few or too many, and so the business was born out of this buying and selling process. “He had been bitten by the bug,” says Manuel Leitão, who now represents the third generation of the same family dedicated to antiques and the Portuguese decorative arts, with a focus on the azulejo tile.
The pleasure with which he talks on the topic reveals his mastery of it and the products he offers his shop are an extension of the values that the shop safeguards.
He is the host in a space that functions like a museum for which no entrance ticket is required – hence the “no pictures” signs one sees everywhere. The shop receives many visitors a day, and hundreds each month. They come out of curiosity, or because they are collectors, or are looking for a unique present – the motives are diverse and justified by the encounter with the largest and oldest antique shop specialising in original azulejo tiles, with a range of Portuguese produced tiles that is peerless in the branch.
