The studio

José and Diana Siphioni run Casa Siphioni together. The studio is also their home: an old family house in the centre of Alvados, a village in the limestone hills of the Serra de Aire e Candeeiros natural park.

José

José Paulo Siphioni Casimiro – known as José Siphioni – comes from Mira de Aire, in the same hills. He used to programme knitting machines in a textile factory there. When that job ended, he found clay, as he says, by chance.

He started in October 2008 and learned the craft from the ceramicists Carlos Neto, Nadine Guéniou and Eduardo Cunha. In August 2009 he showed his first pieces at the exit of the Mira de Aire caves, throwing on the wheel and firing a paper kiln in front of visitors. Exhibitions followed in 2010 at the youth hostels in Alvados and Leiria, and in January 2011 he opened his first own studio.

He lives from ceramics. Not to get rich, he says, but for a life close to nature.

The region

Mira de Aire and nearby Minde were known for wool and blankets. That history is part of José’s work: some of his figures are made of clay and wool. The hills around Alvados – limestone, holm oaks and olive groves – are part of it too.

With others

Casa Siphioni also works with local partners. In 2024 Casa Siphioni took part in “Batendo em ondas contra a noite escura”, a community project by the theatre company O Nariz: paper kiln firings at the Mira de Aire caves, in São Mamede and in Monte Redondo, with pieces made at the studio. In October 2026 the studio was a stop on the “Residência” tour with the chef Jaime Rodríguez.