Casa Macao is a family-run brand selling exquisite Macao crockery. Delicate blue-and-white teapots, dinner sets, cutlery, lamps, cake platters, serving dishes and more, are all available at their two stores in North Goa. The best part: They retail at wholesale rates.
Soon as you enter the stores, you’re in for a sweet throwback; to a time when making tea cakes and sandwiches were a family activity and siesta was sacrosanct. The vibe of the shops is unhurried and with all the Macao crockery, you’re likely to spend a lot more time browsing than you’ve planned for.
Now, you’re probably thinking why Macao crockery of all things, right? Well, since both Goa and Macao were under Portuguese rule, Goa saw an influx of fine crockery imported from Macao by the Portuguese. In time, this glazed and shiny selection of fine crockery was being lost in time and Johnson and his family decided to keep the tradition alive. From then, they’ve found enough takers to renew their stock every two weeks, making sure that new plates and bowls are always being added to the collection.
While Casa Macao caters mostly to five-star hotels in Goa, a lot of folks also approach Johnson for wall plates too. He tells us people are bored of paints and posters and are now using these crockery pieces as wall mounts, to lend a vintage charm to their homes. This apart, the pieces, of course, make for great gifts or just gorgeous additions to your crockery cabinet. We love that Johnson isn’t fussed about selling dinner sets in pre-decided packages either. This leaves scope for you to mix and match and pick crockery based on your tastes and family size.
All this fine clay business and you’ll be surprised that you can find tiny pieces for as little as a couple of hundreds while the bigger vases go up to INR 15–20k.