At A Albuquerque and Sons, the oldest surviving tile factory in Mangalore, workers press featureless mounds of clay into tiles designed to last for more than century.

But the region’s sticky clay deposits, which make the tiles so sturdy, are diminishing, and employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find labour, posing considerable challenges to factory owners.

While A Albuquerque and Sons, established in 1868, remains the region's largest unit, it has also had to lower production in the face of these challenges.


Conveyor belts carry wet tiles to the kiln. 



Bharat Kumar, a migrant worker from Bihar, picks up freshly baked tiles from the conveyor belt and stores them on racks. 



Women separate clay bricks and put them on the mechanised tile press.



Tummappa Bangera's job involves cutting the clay cake into uniform sizes, before it passes on to the workers at the presses.



Ramamurthy is a manager at the tile factory.



Abu Zafar, 18, transfers the pressed tiles to a conveyor belt.



A mould on the press at A Albuquerque and Sons.



A group of women remove extra clay from the edges of tiles soon after they have been pressed. 



A view of houses with Mangalore tile roofs seen from the factory.



A portrait of Alex Albuquerque Pai, founder of A Albuquerque and Sons.