The carpet village

We were deliberately searching for rugs, although we had no idea where our search would take us. We felt like young truffle pigs that have to stick their noses everywhere. Be it traditional markets, boutiques or regional shops: we have been everywhere. And all of a sudden, we did not only find the exact shape of carpet we were looking for all along- we were also talking to the right person.

That is how we ended up in a village full of carpet manufactories, which could not have been more Portuguese: old, simple and beautiful houses stand next to new, less beautiful ones. There are no traces of tourists, just a lot of tanned faces, who watch you with curious and questioning looks. The fact that this is a „rug village“ is not obvious at first glance and it took us a few trips to figure it out ourselves. Fatima acts a as a kind of assembly point. She is gruff but secretly kind. She collects and distributes the rugs, which are woven by her family, neighbors and friends. They sit in front of their wooden looms in their garages, their living rooms or their gazebos. The fabrics used are leftovers from the regional fashion industry and are repurposed to weave the traditional carpets. It is an eclectic collection of leftover fabric, which gets a new purpose this way. The rugs then find their way into a multitude of different households. The tedious work of sorting the colors is done on site

atima's "workplace" offers a glimpse into her pátio. It is shaped like a "U" and in the middle there is a large, very old lemon tree, which exudes a warm feeling even in bad weather. In the distance you can see the ocean. We are truly grateful for this authentic, warm place, which we have chosen to be the production site of our onomao rugs. We are Fatima’s first customer outside of their region. And that is something we are all proud of.