Travels to Portugal 2023 to find quality cork bag makers

It's the European summer of 2023, the 2nd year after COVID lockdowns disappeared. We are on a mission to find small bag makers in Portugal using quality cork fabric.   A chance encounter in a market lead us to what we were looking for, a small cork bag making company producing quality cork products north of Lisbon. 

Lisbon an historic and busy city.  July was very hot so after a day trudging the streets we decided to head for Sintra, an hour out of Lisbon and close to the sea.  You can see why royalty decided to build their palaces up in the cool hills.  The Palace of Pena is the star attraction, had to get there early to avoid the crowds.

However our favourite was Monserrate, a quiet haven once owned by a British industrialist.  

Another day was spent in Lisbon wandering through Cork shops, talking to owners and staff... and then a chance encounter led us to what we were looking for, a small cork bag making company producing quality cork products.

Arriving at their workshop, you can imagine our delight when we realised the quality of the fabric they are working with and the fabulous designs.  We heard that COVID had taken it's toll on their business due to workers having to stay at home.  However they had been able to reopen the business with some work being done in their workshop and others being produced by individual producers in their home. We made a decision to source some products from this business to supplement our product range and are excited to bring them to you.  

See our New Summer Collection