A knock on the door, and the unexpected awaits.
The Workshop-Museum of Arts and Crafts unfolds like a labyrinth of organic corners, resembling the winding streets of an old town. A living showcase of the manufacturing and commercial activities of São Miguel, with a blacksmith’s workshop, pharmacy, record shop, pottery, carpentry, and weaving room—dozens of real spaces, rescued from dismantling, with original signs and preserved memories. Unlike any museum he visited in Europe or the Americas, this is Manuel João Melo’s life project, a teacher born in Ponta Delgada. In Capelas, he welcomes visitors with open arms and offers a place for anyone wishing to work as a craftsman.
From Octant Ponta Delgada to the Workshop-Museum, it’s a short distance, but a long and inspiring journey into the Azores of the past, and the spirit of preserving and sharing the memory of a people.
Manuel João Melo was born in Ponta Delgada in 1939. He was a teacher with a focus on science and mathematics. Over the years, he collected everything imaginable. Near his home in Capelas, he organically created a unique space on the island—the Workshop-Museum. Having visited museums in Europe and the United States, he literally opened rooms, compartments, and corridors in his backyard that meander through a vivid collection of recreations of the island’s commercial and manufacturing activities. Here, you’ll find the blacksmith’s workshop, pharmacy, record shop, pottery, haberdashery, and carpentry shop—real, salvaged spaces, as if still in operation. It’s like a miniature town, with original signs and preserved memories. In some of these corners, artisans work, producing pieces on commission or for sale in the shop, such as in the pottery, weaving, and carpentry sections.
The concept is both original and alive. A knock on the door brings the unexpected. The exhibition unfolds into a maze of corners, like the alleys of a town, a space where the memories of professions and commercial places are brought to life in time and space, coinciding with craftspeople who continue their work there. It’s a living showcase of island craftsmanship, featuring items made from fish scales, onion and garlic skins, and fig tree bark. But not only that—there are also records, cribs, and frames, all part of an ongoing story of the evolution of professions.
Without official support, Manuel João keeps the door open to the public, providing a space for those who want to continue being artisans. This unexpected workshop-museum in Capelas is a place that truly deserves to be visited and celebrated.
