Some pieces leave the kiln a little different. A glaze that pooled where it pleased, a curve a degree off the drawing, a dark speck of iron that came up through the clay. Same clay, same kilns, same glazes as everything on the website — they are simply not identical, and that is enough to keep them off it. They go to our shop in Porto instead.
What a second actually is
Nothing in the process is automatic, so every firing produces a share of pieces that will not be photographed. It is almost always one of four things.
- The glaze moved. It ran thicker down one side, or the colour landed a tone away from the batch.
- The shape leans. A handle a degree from where it usually sits, a rim not quite round.
- The clay spoke. A speck of iron came through the body and burned dark in the firing.
- The kiln left a mark. A small point where the piece rested on the shelf.
None of it stops a piece from working. It holds coffee for as many years as the one that passed, and it goes in the dishwasher and the microwave under exactly the same rules. The difference is what you see, not what it does — and usually you do not see it until someone points.
Three things we could have done
We could have thrown them away. Plenty of brands do, and nobody outside the workshop would ever have known — which is exactly the part that made it impossible for us.
We could have sold them as first quality and hoped. That one we ruled out in a sentence.
What was left was to sell them as what they are, in one place, at a price that says so. They carry their own mark on the base — Beauty of Imperfections, made in Portugal — so that anyone holding one, now or in ten years, can tell which it is. Naming it took the apology out of it. A piece with a heavier glaze on one side is not a workshop failing; it is what a hand-glazed surface does.
Not ceramics by the kilo
This gets confused with the warehouse shops that sell pottery by weight, and the two have almost nothing in common. Pottery sold by the kilo is anonymous: no name underneath, no collection, nothing that tells you who drew the shape or where it was fired. Some of it is lovely. A lot of it is chipped.
Ours is the opposite on every count. Each piece in Porto is a finished Egg Back Home design with its own price, and our name is under it — next to the very thing that brought it there. That is a harder place to put a name, and it is the reason we put it there.
What is on the shelves
Mugs, bowls, plates, cake stands and single pieces from New Party, Breeze, Cloud and Melting Ice Cream, the ceramic bowls from Egg PET Home, and pieces from collections that are no longer online anywhere.
Which of those will be there on the day you come, we genuinely cannot say. The shelves change with every firing. We keep no waiting list and hold nothing back — it is a promise we would break most weeks, so we do not make it.
| Where | R. de Sá da Bandeira 565, Porto |
|---|---|
| What is there | Seconds, discontinued series, samples |
| How much cheaper | Up to 70% |
| Damaged pieces | None. We do not sell those |
| Online | No — only in the shop |
Up to 70% is a wide answer and it stays wide on purpose: a single mug with a heavier glaze is priced one way, the last four plates of a series we stopped making two years ago another, and both are in the room on the same afternoon. A published list would be wrong by the weekend.
None of it goes online. Each piece is one of one, and a website needs a photograph that matches what arrives in the box. What is online at a lower price is in Sale, and that is first quality — a different thing, reduced for a different reason.
If you are in Porto
Egg Back Home — Porto Outlet
R. de Sá da Bandeira 565, 4000-437 Porto, Portugal
+351 965 811 737
The opening hours live on Google Maps rather than here, holidays included — that is the page we keep current, and a printed timetable that goes stale helps nobody standing outside a closed door. What has just arrived goes up on Instagram at @eggbackhome.portostore, and the shop page has the photographs and the map.
The pieces that came out a little different are the ones people write to us about by name. We stopped treating that as a surprise and started printing it on the base.
What is a handmade ceramics outlet?
A shop that sells the pieces which left the kiln a little different from the rest — a glaze that ran, a shape that leans, a kiln mark. Same clay, same kilns, same glazes as the first-quality pieces. They are not damaged, they are simply not identical, so they are not sold at full price.
Are ceramic seconds worse quality?
No. Same clay body, same firing temperature, same glazes. The difference is cosmetic, not structural. A second is dishwasher and microwave safe under exactly the same rules as any other Egg Back Home piece.
How is this different from ceramics sold by the kilo?
Ceramics sold by weight are usually anonymous — no name on the base, no collection, and often chipped. Every piece in our Porto store is a finished Egg Back Home design, priced on its own, stamped underneath with Beauty of Imperfections, made in Portugal.
Can I buy Egg Back Home seconds online?
No. Each piece is one of one, so there is no photograph that matches what would arrive in the box. They are sold only in the Porto store, at R. de Sá da Bandeira 565. What is online at a reduced price is in the Sale collection, and that is first quality.