06/06/2025
Mangalore Tiles: A. Albuquerque & Sons.
Some places still hold the quiet rhythm of hands shaping earth, and at the Sun Brand Tiles Factory in Mangalore, run by A. Albuquerque & Sons, that rhythm hums along a literal lifeline. A conveyor chain threads through the entire factory, connecting spaces like arteries moving raw clay, half-formed tiles, and finished pieces along their journey. It’s as if the factory itself breathes through this chain, each part quietly working in step with the other.
We stood by the kiln, burning at 1000°C, watching the chambers loaded with care, each tile stacked by hand, each piece perfectly placed. And the fuel? Dried cashew kernels, a by-product turned into slow, clean-burning energy- waste turned into fire, tradition turned into resilience.
But as beautiful as this process is, it also feels like we’re witnessing something fragile. The art of hand-making these tiles is slowly fading, replaced by machines and mass production. Across the country, the warm red slopes of Mangalore tile roofs once so common, are giving way to flat, standardized concrete structures, their uniformity erasing the character that these roofs once brought to our towns and coastlines.
In a world rushing toward the temporary, it felt rare and humbling to stand in a place where things are still crafted slowly, shaped by hand, and made to last. And maybe, in their quiet way, these tiles are still teaching us about endurance of craft, of place, and of beauty that doesn’t shout but simply stays.
