![\"DSC01428\"](\"http:\/\/eco123.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC01428.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSeventy-seven-year-old Jo\u00e3o Louren\u00e7o is the last tinsmith working in the south of the country. The business brings in next to nothing, but Ti Jo\u00e3o, as he is known, keeps working with the determination he expresses in his words: \u201cI was born on top of tins and I want to die clutching them,\u201d he says with satisfaction. It\u2019s many a year since the craft of the tinsmith sustained the whole family. Since the 1970s and 80s, with the appearance of plastic and derived products, everything has changed. \u201cBefore there was enough for everyone, I had five brothers, all of them tinsmiths, just like my father. We sold bowls, watering cans and water pitchers. We went to a fair and earned enough to buy material and there was enough left over for food. Now there\u2019s not enough for anything,\u201d he laments, at the same time as showing his displeasure at being the last tinsmith in the region. \u201cI\u2019m fed up, can you imagine that there won\u2019t be a single tinsmith from the Alentejo to the Algarve? The future of the tinsmith is doomed, no young people want to learn. I feel sorry that they are allowing this craft to die out, which is true handicraft because everything is done by hand,\u201d he says. Despite a degree of despondency, Ti Jo\u00e3o still has a youthful sparkle in his eyes as he works the tin plate and zinc with his own hands. \u201cNow I go to markets and handicraft fairs, I sell a watering can, a bucket or a bowl from time to time,\u201d he says with a certain resignation, and then looks to the future. \u201cI\u2019ve been working with tins since I was young and I\u2019ll be working with them until I die. When I go, they\u2019ll have to buy material produced in the north, possibly made in factories, and that is completely different from these products.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Algarve\u2019s last tinsmith Seventy-seven-year-old Jo\u00e3o Louren\u00e7o is the last tinsmith working in the south of the country. The business brings in next to nothing, but Ti Jo\u00e3o, as he is known, keeps working with the determination he expresses in his words: \u201cI was born on top of tins and I want to die clutching …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3715,"featured_media":21770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[632],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-arts-and-crafts","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n