Oficina Cerâmica Francisco Brennand

A surreal sculpture garden of bizarre sexualized earthworms, frogs and turtles covers the landscape at the unique Oficina Cerâmica Francisco Brennand. The artist Francisco Brennand, descended from 19th-century Irish immigrants and considered Brazil’s greatest ceramicist, revitalized his family’s abandoned tile factory to create his own line of decorative ceramic tiles. The rest of the huge space is dedicated to a seemingly exhaustive exhibition of his peculiar sculptures, including gardens with Moorish arches and rows of contorted busts. A trip out to the Oficina Cerâmica, set amid thick Atlantic rain forest some 10km west of downtown, is a regional highlight, so set aside some time.