Brennand Ceramics Workshop

Francisco Brennand took over his family's disused brick and tile factory in the Varzea in 1971 and spent the next half century turning it into a single continuous work: a studio, courtyards, chapel, halls and gardens packed with something on the order of two thousand of his own ceramic sculptures. The forms are consistent and strange - eggs, phallic columns, birds, reptiles, hybrid creatures - repeated at scale and glazed in deep colours, arranged along axes with reflecting pools and Burle Marx-influenced planting. Brennand was a cousin of Ricardo Brennand, whose castle museum stands nearby, and the two sites are usually visited together though they have nothing in common in character. He worked here until his death in 2019.

The main sights

• Two thousand ceramic works - one artist's output filling a whole site.
• A converted brick factory - the family works turned into the studio.
• Recurring forms - eggs, columns, birds and hybrids repeated at scale.
• Axial gardens and pools - the sculptures arranged in a designed landscape.

When to go

All year, closed Mondays. Half a day.

Practical notes

It is far from the centre and needs a taxi. The imagery is deliberately erotic and unsettling in places, which is worth knowing before bringing children. Much of the site is outdoors and hot by midday. Labelling is minimal by design.

Nearby

The Ricardo Brennand Institute is close by; central Recife is east.

Key facts