Textile Art Retreat · October 2026
Textile Art in Portugal
An eight-day studio immersive experience with textile artist Marta Afonso — two nights in Lisbon, five in the schist-stone cottages of Cerdeira.
Dates
Oct 5 – 12
Stay
8 Days · 7 Nights
Lisbon · Cerdeira
Group
8 – 12
From
$4,350
A Week in Portugal
Begin in Lisbon's creative pulse.
End with a textile you made by hand.
This is a week-long creative residency for makers who learn by doing. Two nights in a design-forward Lisbon hotel to open your eyes and feed your sketchbook. Five nights in the schist cottages of Cerdeira, a restored stone village tucked into the Serra da Lousã, where you'll work alongside Marta Afonso in her element.
By the close of the week you'll have pulled your own block prints, mixed natural dye pastes, carved a stamp to take home, and assembled a finished textile panel of your own — stitched with sashiko-inspired embroidery, layered with appliqué, quietly yours. No experience required. Every skill level welcome.
Days 1–2 · The City
Lisbon
Warm tile, loud color, art on every wall.
Our base in Lisbon is a bold, design-forward boutique hotel just off one of the city's grand avenues. Vibrant color, contemporary Portuguese art, and a dark-tiled courtyard pool hidden in the middle of the city — the hotel is a living gallery, an inspiring place to begin.
You'll spend the first full day in Lisbon's galleries, studios, and creative neighborhoods. Sketch. Photograph. Gather the color and texture that will later find its way into your textile panel.
Days 3–8 · The Mountain
Cerdeira
A picturesque mountain village, surrounded by forests and rolling hills.
On the third morning we leave Lisbon for Cerdeira — a mountain village of restored schist stone cottages nestled in the Serra da Lousã, surrounded by forested hills. This is an artist-run retreat, built deliberately slow, where the work can deepen.
Five days here. Chef-prepared meals. Your own cottage or a shared one, a balcony and a kitchen, and the studio a few minutes' walk away. Nature at the door. Time, finally, to make something well.
The Journey
From the sea to the mountains.
The retreat begins in Lisbon, on Portugal's Atlantic coast, and ends 216 kilometers north — in the village of Cerdeira, perched at 500 meters in the forested Serra da Lousã.
A private group transfer carries us from the city to the mountains on Day 3 — north along the A1, then east into the schist villages. Two and a half hours by road. A different Portugal on the other end.
- Start
- Lisbon
- 38°43'N · 9°08'W · Humberto Delgado
- End
- Cerdeira
- 40°05'N · 8°11'W · Serra da Lousã
The Week, Day by Day
From arrival in Lisbon to a finished textile panel.
-
Day 1 · October 5
Welcome to Lisbon
Arrival in Lisbon and check-in at the boutique hotel. In the evening, a welcome dinner with the group — introductions, conversation, a preview of the week ahead.
Meals included: Dinner
-
Day 2 · October 6
Discover Lisbon's Art Scene
A full day exploring galleries, creative neighborhoods, and cultural spaces. Sketch, photograph, and gather visual inspiration that will inform your textile practice. Evening at leisure.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
-
Day 3 · October 7
Travel to Cerdeira · Nature Immersion
Morning transfer from Lisbon to Cerdeira (~2.5–3 hours) and check-in at the retreat venue. Afternoon: meet Marta and the group, followed by a guided walk through the forest. Collect notes and ideas for your work. First dinner together in the village.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
-
Day 4 · October 8
Foundations of Fabric Printing
Morning: an introduction to block printing and stencil techniques — tools, materials, carving basics, and creative approaches. Start experimenting with prints. Afternoon: natural dye pastes — extracting and modifying colors, preparing fabrics.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
-
Day 5 · October 9
Designing Your Individual Project
Morning: carve a custom engraved stamp of your own to take home. Afternoon: plan the composition of your textile panel — layout, pattern placement, visual storytelling. Begin translating your ideas onto fabric.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
-
Day 6 · October 10
Developing Your Textile Project
Morning: continue developing your textile panel. Refine composition, deepen your palette, experiment with layering and printing. Afternoon: free creative time — walk the village, gather inspiration, or keep working in the studio at your own pace.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
-
Day 7 · October 11
Printing and Textile Assemblage
Morning: print your fabrics and cut elements according to your design. Afternoon: assemble the final piece using patchwork, appliqué, and sashiko-inspired embroidery techniques — bringing your vision together under Marta's guidance.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
-
Day 8 · October 12
Finalisation & Farewell
Finishing touches to your textile panel. Closing circle, reflection, and departure. Return transfer to Lisbon for onward travel.
Meals included: Breakfast
Your Guide
Marta Afonso
Marta Afonso is a textile artist from Porto and the founder of Atelier Karaka, a studio devoted to manual fabric printing techniques. She studied textile product design at Soares dos Reis, took her degree in design at the University of Aveiro, and completed a master's in Communication Design at ESAD followed by a postgraduate in Textile Design and Fashion at IPCA.
She teaches in the professional Fashion Design program at Escola Árvore and makes bespoke textile work, limited editions, and one-of-a-kind pieces — craftsmanship, sustainability, and surface experimentation held in the same hands.
Atelier Karaka · Porto, Portugal · est. 2015
Her Work
A short selection from the studio.
Block printing, natural materials, and pattern studies from Atelier Karaka — the same techniques you'll practice with Marta in Cerdeira.
Selected work from Atelier Karaka, Marta Afonso's studio in Porto.
The Palette
The week is drawn
from the earth.
Many of your colors will be drawn from the earth — plants, roots, peels, and shells, extracted and modified by hand — alongside hands-on experiments with non-toxic, water-based inks. These are the hues that will live in your finished panel.
Madder Root
Rubia tinctorum
The oldest red in the world. Deep brick, terracotta, rose — depending on how long it steeps.
Indigo
Indigofera tinctoria
Fermented blue. Oxidizes in air. The same pigment Japanese sashiko has used for centuries.
Walnut Hull
Juglans regia
Rich, warm brown from the outer husk. Lightfast, forgiving, and forest-dark.
Onion Skin
Allium cepa
A golden yellow from kitchen scraps. Proof that color is everywhere already.
Weld
Reseda luteola
Bright, clean yellow — the traditional Iberian dye, medieval in origin, still vivid.
Cochineal
Dactylopius coccus
Crimson drawn from a cactus insect. Used by Portuguese and Spanish dyers for 500 years.
Pomegranate
Punica granatum
Mustard and olive tones from the dried rind. Fruit of the Portuguese countryside.
Chestnut Bark
Castanea sativa
Tan and rust from the mountains that surround Cerdeira. A color of place.
Your final palette will be entirely your own — these are the raw materials.
What You'll Learn
A week of techniques, practiced by hand.
Manual block printing
Carving and pressing your own patterns directly onto fabric — the foundation of the week.
Stencil printing
Layered, controlled pattern-making with cut stencils and pushed pigment.
Natural dye pastes
Extracting and modifying color from plants and minerals for subtle, earth-drawn tones.
Patchwork
Joining separate fabrics into a considered whole. Old as the craft itself.
Fabric appliqué
Layering shapes over shapes — collage in cloth, stitched into place.
Sashiko-inspired embroidery
Quiet, geometric running-stitch — meditative, repetitive, beautiful.
Custom engraved stamp
Design and carve a personal stamp you'll bring home and use for years.
Visual language
Creative exercises for finding your own marks, colors, and patterns.
Cohesive assemblage
Guidance on composing a finished textile work — not a sampler, a piece.
By Week's End
What you'll leave Portugal with.
The most important things you bring home from a week like this aren't in your suitcase. But a few of them are.
Your engraved stamp
A custom block, carved from your own design, to print with for years after the retreat ends.
Your finished textile panel
Hand-printed, naturally dyed, stitched together under Marta's guidance. A piece you made. A piece worth hanging.
Experimental fabric samples
A library of your own swatches — colors you mixed, marks you carved, patterns you discovered. A personal reference for everything that follows.
Techniques to keep making
Nine techniques practiced by hand — block printing, stencils, natural dyes, patchwork, appliqué, sashiko, and more. The kind of knowledge that stays in the hands.
A week with a working artist
Six days of hands-on teaching with Marta Afonso — watching how she thinks, prints, dyes, and composes. The kind of time you only get inside a studio.
A table you shared all week
Eight to twelve people, chef-prepared meals in Cerdeira, long dinners under the village lights. The friendships that form over a week of shared work and shared food tend to outlast the flight home.
Where You'll Stay
Two nights in the city.
Five nights in the mountains.
Choose a shared room or a private room. Both options include all seven nights, all transfers, and all but one dinner.
Option 1
Shared Room
$4,350
per person · USD
- ·Two nights in a Lisbon boutique-hotel twin room with ensuite bathroom, shared with one other guest (each has their own twin bed).
- ·Five nights in Cerdeira in a shared schist-cottage twin room with ensuite bathroom, shared kitchen, and balcony.
Option 2
Private Room
$4,950
per person · USD
- ·Two nights in a Lisbon boutique-hotel private room with double bed and ensuite bathroom.
- ·Five nights in a private schist cottage in Cerdeira — double bed, ensuite bathroom, private kitchen, and balcony.
The schist cottages in Cerdeira sit on hilly terrain and include stairs both inside and around the houses. Guests should be comfortable with stairs and uneven, rocky surfaces. Group size: minimum 8, maximum 12.
Included
What's in the week.
- ✓ Two nights accommodation in Lisbon
- ✓ Five nights accommodation in Cerdeira
- ✓ Chef-prepared meals (one evening in Lisbon on your own)
- ✓ Group transfer Lisbon ↔ Cerdeira
- ✓ Guided art exploration day in Lisbon
- ✓ Six-day immersive textile workshop with Marta Afonso
- ✓ All essential workshop materials
- ✓ A custom engraved stamp to take home
- ✓ Your final textile artwork and experimental fabric samples
- ✓ A dedicated retreat host throughout the week
- ✓ A pre-trip information call
Not Included
What to plan for on your own.
- — International roundtrip airfare
- — Required travel insurance
- — Airport transfer on Day 1
- — One dinner (free evening in Lisbon)
- — Hotel incidentals (room service, spa, laundry, bar)
- — Expenses during free time
Travel insurance is required and should cover medical emergencies, trip cancellation, and interruption. Cancellation policy: 91+ days before start, refund minus deposit. 90 days or fewer, 100% fee. Please consult your healthcare provider before travel.
Good to Know
A few things at a glance.
Who It's For
Hands-on creatives eager to experiment, learn textile techniques, and connect with a like-minded community in a nature-based setting. No experience necessary. Preferably 21+ due to the use of carving tools.
Travel Logistics
Begins and ends in Lisbon (Humberto Delgado Airport, 7 km from city center). Arrival on Day 1. Group transfer to Cerdeira on Day 3 (~2.5–3 hours). Return to Lisbon on Day 8 — book onward flights no earlier than 3 PM.
October Weather
Warm days (20–25°C / 68–77°F), cool evenings (12–16°C / 54–61°F). Bring layers, comfortable walking shoes, and a light jacket. Light rain is possible — leave room in the suitcase for an umbrella.
For meals, accessibility, supplies, and everything else — read the FAQ.
Questions, Answered
A few things we're asked most often.
I've never done textile work. Is this really for me?
Can I come alone?
Will I actually finish a piece I'd want to hang on my wall?
What do I need to bring?
What if I have dietary restrictions?
How physically demanding is the retreat?
What happens if I need to cancel?
Who organizes the retreat?
Still have a question? Reach out — we'd rather answer it now than leave you wondering.
Reserve Your Spot
Eight days. Twelve makers. One textile you'll never forget.
Reservations are taken through our booking form. After you complete it, you'll be directed to PayPal to pay the deposit and confirm your spot.
Currency
Prices are in USD
Deposit
$2,000.00 USD
required to book your place
Final Payment
July 1, 2026
final amount due
Before you reserve
Please read our retreat Terms & Conditions — the deposit and cancellation policy live there.
Check the box above to enable.
Each option opens the booking form in a new tab. After you submit, you'll be directed to PayPal to pay the $2,000.00 USD deposit. Email confirmation follows within one business day.