Continuing the challenge we set ourselves to share our history and evolution, as a company and entity of commercial and historical reference, both for the sector and for the city's own culture and identity, we invited Architect António Madureira to write about their relationship with Carvalho, Batista & Cª., Lda, following this path of celebrating the company's 70 years.

"I remember well, when I was twelve or thirteen, that Carvalho & Baptista was a shop where you could find those parts that you sometimes needed, some screws, drills, in short, tools that were so necessary for doing (trying to do) very important things that I don't even remember anymore.
There were two owners, Carvalho, who I always remember in a good mood, with a moustache like my uncle Fernando's and who helped with the choices, and Baptista, who I only remember was bald, who I never spoke to and never saw again.
Carvalho did, and I met him many times again in my father's studio, in the attic above our house, where, as a fantastic habit, whenever Carvalho visited clients or suppliers in Matosinhos or Foz, he would stop off in Boavista and go upstairs for a bit of bad language and a coffee, which I always made sure not to miss. I think the first visits were for work reasons, but they soon became friendships between him and my father.
Carvalho knew everything about fittings, fasteners, locks, hinges, handles, etc. and I, who was starting to think about architecture, loaded him down with questions, which were always answered.
At that time, it turned out that Carvalho & Baptista didn't just deal with fittings, but also with things like kitchen equipment, which was generally of very good quality, and I still remember ‘Langustina’ pots, pans and sertans, which were of unbeatable quality at the time.
As an architect, I once again found Carvalho & Batista (I believe the P was dropped at the time) as the source of information for the correct choices regarding fittings, issues of great importance in the design of the frame details we were looking for at the time.
Then Zé came along.
That shop where you could find the parts you needed remained as it was, but it grew. It grew a lot, and in addition to the objectives it had, which were product quality and efficient service, it had another objective, which was innovation.
Zé is an architect.
He was able to add to the knowledge, wisdom and seriousness of Mr Carvalho's work the training, interest, curiosity and knowledge of design issues (I hate the word ‘design’) and launch high-quality products in the field of fittings, furniture and accessories, with designs by well-known or lesser-known authors, but always good.
The old Carvalho & Baptista is still the best hardware shop in Oporto, while the new one is, for me, the most interesting in the country."




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