Gifts From Goa? Shop For Handmade Tiles, Jewellery & Art From This Gallery

Azulejos De Goa isn’t just a gallery-meets-home. It’s an experience. A 20-year-old shop in Panjim, housed inside Orlando De Noronha’s 250-years-old house, this is a great place to shop for gifts and souvenirs…. Port wine and hand painted tiles from Goa. Really doesn’t get better than that.

How do we describe Azulejos De Goa? It’s an intoxicating walk through art, culture and history. Right from the crooked lamp post outside to the rickety wooden stairs, the generous use of teal and yellow and a door that’s just enough for one person to walk inside, this store is a rare find.

Its story goes back to 1988 when Orlando De Noronha brought back a bag full of ceramic hand painted tiles from Portugal when he'd gone to study music there. Today, the gallery is choc full of artworks, jewellery, crockery, furniture, fridge magnets and ceramic tiles in gorgeous patterns. 

Under the staircase, Orlando has a balcao dedicated to Goa’s legendary artist, Mario Miranda. This space stocks his works on tiles, coasters, wall art, plates and mugs. The nook though, is just a peek into what lies above – a treasure trove for anyone doing up their house as well or looking to splurge on some gifts to take back. 

Everything in this home gallery is a sweet representation of Goan life complete with susegad, beer shops and lazy dogs. Local wedding processions, church mornings, village bands, beaches and quaint bakeries have all been hand painted beautifully on to tiles of every size and colour. The folks here design and create everything in-house with the help of local artisans. 

After spending what seemed like a lifetime in this store, we ordered a name plaque for our house and because it’s all handmade, we were told the tiles will take four months to get done. That timeline didn't deter us from placing an order though. Their staff sat as we debated over names, fonts and the colours and then showed us a dummy of what our plaque will look like on their computer.

Now, we're just hoping we can forget about our azulejos (painted tiles) till they show up. Wondering if we paid through our nose for this? Well, it was INR 900 with the cutting. The necklaces we bought were INR 350 each. The coasters start at INR 65 with bigger artworks going up to 3–4k. 

Azulejos De Goa is open Mon-Sat between 10am-7pm. They take a short lunch break from 1:30–2pm, so avoid knocking on that door during that half an hour of the day.