Before you even enter the house, most Goan households display a dearly loved art form on the gate itself. Generally blue, yellow and white, Goa’s Azulejos are famed all over. For Noah Baptista De Souza, an Entrepreneur in Azulejos and a Musician, growing up around musicians and artists inspired his love for creativity through both music and art.
Azulejo, he points out, started from an interest that was passed down from his father to him. “But that interest turned into a passion to make them myself. Souza Azulejos started after I took small orders from people over my Instagram stories,” he says, and thus Souza Azulejos was born. He mentions that later he started doing orders with a very talented woodworker called Rowan Serrao, who encouraged him to invest in his own kiln. “Today business is good!” Noah remarks.
Learning the Craft
With no formal training or workshops in learning Azulejos, it was his own knowledge that he banked on. “I followed the little I knew about it and made a series of bold experiments that led me to understand it much better. I've read and researched and experimented in many ways to get the best results,” he shares. The process of making Azulejos is tedious, he explains, and requires pre-planned execution to get the best results without mishaps. “The few challenges that come with it are the patience required to execute detailed work, as unlike painting on a canvas, it's hard to get unique designs onto a tile,” he shares.
“The feeling that what I do has purpose, which is to keep heritage, history, and culture alive for my generation and generations to come,” is what he loves the most about his work. In addition to that, he also shares his love for the process in general. “It requires an amount of intuition to understand how the Azulejos will turn out after being fired. It is always exciting to see the result no matter how many times I've done it,” he says. The process of firing takes about 14-20 hrs as the tiles take longer to cool down once fired. Some colours require a higher firing point to set. Yet another aspect of his joy at work is sharing this feeling with others by hosting workshop experiences so they can experience having an Azulejo tile made on their own.
Honouring tradition
His fascination with Azulejos has existed since childhood. “As a child, I grew up around Azulejo artefacts. One of them was a 144 tile mural of a Portuguese Carrack in the Sea, planned by my Father at a time when Azulejos wasn't very well known,” he recalls, adding, “Some of the artefacts and murals, especially of that Portuguese Carrack, inspired me to do something like that someday.”
Adding a mark of himself, he customises the designs with various colours, giving them a modern twist while still incorporating Goan elements.
Noah has numerous Azulejo designs of his own, some ranging from traditional blue-and-white, Roman-influenced designs to others with a modern twist in colour and design. “But I always prefer the traditional blue and white Portuguese/ Goan designs with a touch of yellow,” he admits. He explains that the traditional colour theme blue and white originated with the influence of Chinese porcelain being imported to Portugal during the Ming Dynasty. “Although Azulejo has its origins from the Moorish era, being an Arabic art initially having various colours of green, yellow, blue, etc. in geometric shapes, it then evolved to the Portuguese Azulejos that we know of today,” he says.
The Inside Story
“Since I make personalised name plaques, some clients like to add elements like dog paws, a logo, etc and also have different colours instead of blue,” he shares. While he has experimented with making name plaques of emerald green and full black with a gothic look, it surprisingly turned out well. “Many clients want something that stands out from the usual, while some love to keep a traditional look,” he says.
For Noah, every Azulejo is more than just a decorative tile. It is a piece of history, a work of art, and a story waiting to find a place in someone's home. As he continues to blend tradition with contemporary designs, he hopes more people will discover the beauty of this timeless craft and help ensure that Goa's rich artistic heritage lives on, one handcrafted tile at a time.
