Writing about Arfai’s 25 years is referring to more than half of my life, more specifically, since 1991, when I first came to Alcobaça I fell in love with the region that has adapted me since that year.
To speak about Alcobaça is to speak of ceramics, and at that time, on every corner there was a factory, a garage that produces hand-painted ceramics on each street, everyone had a relative connected to this activity and this region was all about ceramics.
In my opinion, this framework is needed because Arfai was born in this scenario, in which everything was sold, regardless of shape, color, quality or packaging.
The 1980s were a golden age for the more than 250 factories that existed in this region. If it wasn’t for the excessive local, Chinese competition and the change in the taste of the hand painting market for glazes, today they would still all be here in good health.
Arfai has emerged at the end of this golden context and 5 years after its establishment, it was forced to introduce design in its production and to change from traditional hand paintings to the appealing glazes that then began to appear on the market.
We had to do things differently, to innovate, to think about new techniques, new ways of applying glass and decorations.
This was our turning point and thanks to it, we started to consider innovation as that area of the company that must be constantly changing and that must be present in all our decisions.
The first 15 years of Arfai were dedicated to the consolidation of quality and design. Because of that the following 10 years, we could focus on service, marketing and the extraordinary team we have.
Thus, we have always tried to be aware of the market changes, conscious that in some areas we have been leading tendencies and on other occasions, follow the market and comply with the demand. Our workers always have the main role, being part of our mission as a company, social and ethical responsibility towards them and our community.
I am grateful to everyone without exception, to our esteemed customers, to suppliers, to our team without whom nothing would be possible, to friends, to those who somehow advised us at the right time and accompanied us along the way. Everyone made a difference and everyone was important.
It’s due to all these people that we can celebrate this year, 25 years of Arfai existence, with great pride and humility for having arrived here.
Two words to describe my feeling today: Pride and Gratitude.
We look forward to another 25 years with the upcoming challenges and that we may be able of changing, of adapting and becoming more flexible, whenever a challenge is on the horizon, being, in my opinion, the key success factors for any organization.
Carla Moreira
