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A Oficina

A Oficina is a shop, gallery and inclusive artistic community in the heart of Guimarães, where certified artisans preserve traditional techniques such as Bordado de Guimarães, ensuring that living heritage stays relevant.

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A CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL LIGHTHOUSE

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Located in the heart of Guimarães, A Oficina is a store, an art gallery, an artistic co-producer, a sponsor of creation grants, and an inclusive artistic community. A true contemporary cultural beacon in a city rich in History.

Inside the space, you can find artisans like Sameiro Fernandes or Maria da Conceição Ribeiro working on the Bordado de Guimarães (Guimarães Embroidery), using 21 stitches, reproducing 19th-century motifs, with a strict palette of six colors (red, blue, beige, grey, white, black). Sameiro and Maria are two of only eight certified artisans to execute this technique that combines refined and popular embroidery.

Guarding stories, gestures, and time, A Oficina is more than a physical space. Here, heritage and modernity are not kept behind display cases: they live, they are touched, and they are passed from hand to hand.

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The journey

A Oficina

Identity and Role

In the heart of Guimarães, A Oficina is a shop, an atelier, an art gallery, an artistic co-producer, a sponsor of creative scholarships and an inclusive artistic community. In essence, a contemporary cultural beacon in one of Portugal's most iconic and historically rich cities.

Inside the Space

If you step inside, you might see master artisans such as Sameiro Fernandes or Maria da Conceição Ribeiro sewing a distinctly local embroidery in 21 stitches to reproduce 19th-century motifs, using a rigorous palette of exactly six colours (red, blue, beige, grey, white, black).

The Bordado de Guimarães

It is called Bordado de Guimarães (Guimarães Embroidery), and they are the only two people in the world currently certified to execute this traditional technique, which blends rich embroidery with early popular embroidery.

A Living Heritage

As a keeper of stories, gestures and time, A Oficina is more than a physical space. Here, heritage and modernity aren't stored behind a glass storefront; they are lived, touched and passed from hand to hand.

The technique

ABOUT EMBROIDERY

Guimarães embroidery is a craft technique that allows only six colours: red, blue, beige, grey, white and black, applied in isolated stitches to reproduce stylised motifs.

Handmade by A Oficina

The pieces

A Oficina represents the continuity of Guimarães’s craft tradition, a place where past and present merge in constant dialogue. By housing artisans who master centuries-old techniques, such as Bordado de Guimarães, this space ensures that nearly lost knowledge is carried on and reinvented. Every piece created there is a testament to the city’s history, but also an expression of contemporary creativity. A Oficina is not just a guardian of heritage. It is a breeding ground for innovation, where artists and artisans collaborate and where the community is actively involved.

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