Custom Backstamp
Your logo, brand name or origin statement applied to the base of each piece — engraved into the mould, stamped or printed, then fired so it becomes permanent.
Stoneware manufacturer · Portugal · Since 1993
Stoneware Made for Your Brand
Private label ovenware and tableware, developed and fired in Mortágua by craftsmen who have shaped clay here for three decades.
1993Producing since
1,300+Developed glazes
ISO 9001:2015Certified quality system
100% OEMPrivate label projects
Who we are
A Portuguese stoneware producer built around client projects
Cerages operates from the industrial park of Mortágua, in central Portugal — a region with a long ceramic tradition. We do not sell our own brand. Every piece that leaves the kiln belongs to a customer’s collection, produced from their drawings, samples or mood boards, or co-developed with our design and laboratory teams.
Because our craftsmen, mould shop, glaze laboratory and kilns share one site, a shape change, a glaze correction or a backstamp revision stays inside the building — which is what keeps development cycles short and quality consistent from the first sample to repeat orders.
30+ yrsStoneware experience
In-houseMoulds & glaze lab
GlobalRetail & hospitality clients
Our services
Four ways brands work with our factory
From a signature on the base of a plate to a complete oven-to-table range, each service below is delivered as a managed project with one technical contact from sampling to shipment.
Tableware Collections
Plates, bowls, mugs and serving pieces developed to your specification — stackable profiles for hospitality, sculptural shapes for retail, matched glazes across the full range.
Ovenware Collections
Roasters, bakers, gratin and pie dishes in a high-fired body that resists staining, chipping and cracking, and moves from freezer to oven to table.
Adapt an Existing Range
Keep the shapes you already sell and change the story: new glaze colours, solid or reactive, glossy or matt, from a library of more than 1,300 developed finishes.
Manufacturing process
From clay body to packed pallet, under one roof
Stoneware is unforgiving: shrinkage, glaze fit and firing curves all have to agree. These five stages are where a project is won or lost, and where our technicians document every parameter so that order number five looks exactly like the approved sample.
STEP 01
Project & design
Drawings, 3D files or physical references are reviewed for feasibility — wall thickness, capacity, stacking, kiln behaviour.
STEP 02
Moulds & shaping
Models and plaster moulds are produced in-house, then pieces are shaped with shrinkage compensated for the final fired dimension.
STEP 03
Glazing & decoration
Solid or reactive glazes, glossy or matt, applied by dipping, spraying or brushing, with backstamps and decorations added before firing.
STEP 04
High-temperature firing
Controlled firing vitrifies the body, giving stoneware its density, low water absorption and resistance to thermal shock.
STEP 05
Inspection & packing
Pieces are inspected against the approved sample and packed to the customer’s retail or e-commerce specification.
Stoneware solutions
A wide range of customer-specific solutions to make your idea a reality
- Private label and OEM stoneware production for retail, hospitality and design brands
- Shape development from sketch, sample or 3D file — including sample approval rounds
- Glaze matching against a physical reference or a colour standard you supply
- Oven, microwave, dishwasher and freezer-safe bodies, tested for food contact
- Retail-ready packaging, labelling and country-of-origin marking
Sustainably made
Thirty years of looking for a lower-impact way to fire clay
Stoneware is, by nature, a long-life product: fire it correctly and it stays in a kitchen for decades. We build on that by recovering process water, returning unfired clay to production, optimising kiln loads and firing curves to cut energy per piece, and by reviewing packaging so that less material travels with every order.
Who we produce for
Built for buyers who need consistency, not catalogues
Most of our partners are professional buyers: importers building a seasonal assortment, chains that need the same plate in year three, and studios launching a first ceramic line. The brief changes; the technical discipline does not.
Retailers & distributors
Seasonal and permanent assortments, repeat-order stability, packaging and barcoding aligned with your logistics and channel requirements.
Hospitality & food service
Ovenware and tableware selected for stacking efficiency, edge strength and commercial dishwashing — with reorder continuity for open properties.
Design & lifestyle brands
Low-volume launches, sculptural shapes and signature reactive glazes, developed together with our laboratory until the surface tells your story.
Buyer questions
What international buyers usually ask first
Yes. Cerages works almost exclusively on a private label and OEM basis. Shapes, glazes, packaging and the backstamp on the base of each piece are produced to your specification, so the finished product carries your brand identity — not ours.
Stoneware is fired at high temperature until the clay vitrifies. The result is a dense, low-porosity ceramic that handles thermal shock, chipping and staining far better than earthenware — which is exactly why it is the reference body for ovenware, roasting pans and daily-use tableware.
Our library holds more than 1,300 developed colours, available as solid or reactive glazes and in glossy or matt finishes. New glazes can also be developed in our in-house laboratory from a physical reference or a colour standard you supply, and are then locked as a documented recipe for future orders.
Our standard bodies and glazes are formulated for oven, microwave, dishwasher and freezer use and are tested for food contact. Because requirements differ by destination market, the exact declarations and test reports are issued per project.
Send the concept — a sketch, a 3D file, a competitor reference or simply a colour and a use case. Our technical team reviews feasibility (wall thickness, capacity, stacking, kiln behaviour), proposes the production route, and then we move to mould making and sampling. Volumes, lead times and packaging are agreed project by project, since each shape and glaze behaves differently in the kiln.
We produce in the industrial park of Mortágua, in central Portugal, and supply retailers, distributors, hospitality groups and design brands across Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania — with quality managed under an ISO 9001:2015 certified system.
Resource hub
Go deeper into a specific capability
Short, technical pages written for sourcing teams — what each product family involves, how it is made and what to specify before you brief a factory.
Start a project
Tell us the shape, the glaze and the market — we will tell you how it fires
Share your brief with our technical team in Mortágua. You will speak with the people who make the moulds and mix the glazes, not with a trading desk.