36 Years in the Print Room and Still Learning

Eduardo Carneiro came to Adalberto young, looking for work. They sent him down to the printing laboratory. That was 36 years ago. He studied textiles, not the laboratory, not printing specifically but something caught. A curiosity, a craft, a challenge that kept pulling him back every morning.

"When I came here I was very young. It was the work that was available. They told me to go down to the printing laboratory. And I embraced that laboratory and I've been here ever since."

The Craft That Someone Passed On

Conventional printing is not learned from a manual. It is learned by doing. By standing beside someone who already knows, watching what they do, asking why, and slowly building the instinct that takes years to develop.

For Eduardo, that person was Vicente Marques.

"We started from zero, learning from the people who were already here. Then there's a love for it, because I studied textiles, and this bug got under my skin and stayed. And yes, I owe it to one person who spent a long time here and taught us , Mr. Vicente Marques."

This is how craft is transferred in a factory. Not through certifications or training programmes but through proximity, patience, and the generosity of someone who takes the time to show you how it's done.

Seeing It in the World

After 36 years of printing fabric, Eduardo Carneiro cannot walk past a shop window or flip through a magazine without seeing his work differently. The pattern on a shirt. The print on a dress. Most people see colour and design. He sees process, precision, and the memory of how it was made.

"Many times I joke about it, when I go to a shop with my wife and I see an Adalberto print, I say: 'Let's get out of here, it reminds me of work.' But I've also gone to check prices out of curiosity, because sometimes here we feel our price is very low compared to what it sells for. What they pay us to make something is very little compared to what it sells for in the end."

There is pride in that observation and a quiet awareness of the value that skilled hands add to a finished product.

What Makes Conventional Printing So Demanding

Every print starts in the laboratory. Colours are mixed, screens are prepared, recipes are written. Then it moves to the machines and from that point, there is very little room for error. Once the fabric is printed, it is printed. There is no going back.

"We are human and many things can go wrong. Right now clients are extremely demanding and we have to respect that. There are human errors that will inevitably show up in the final product. To avoid that we have to be very focused, very rigorous. Without too much pressure, because here the pressure is enormous, and sometimes that pressure leads us to make mistakes. And once the fabric is printed, it's done. The mistake is there."

Rigour, focus, and the ability to work precisely under pressure. These are the qualities that define someone who has spent 36 years in a conventional print room.

Digital Arrived. He Wasn't Worried.

In recent years, digital printing has transformed the textile industry. Faster setup, lower minimums, photographic detail. Many in conventional printing have felt the ground shift beneath them.

Eduardo Carneiro was not among them.

"I see it as a complement, not a threat. Digital printing does spectacular things. But it hasn't reached what conventional can do. And in my view, it never will."

This is not resistance to change. It is the confidence of someone who knows exactly what his craft can do and where its limits are not weaknesses, but defining characteristics.

The Work That Stayed

Ask Eduardo Carneiro about the job he's most proud of and he doesn't point to a single print or a single client. He points to the team.

"Almost all of them marked me but mainly the team. Some for positive reasons, others less so. I love working as a team. And there are jobs where we see the finished result and feel proud, because I and my colleagues developed that together. Many times we didn't think we could, and we managed. That's the challenge. And we feel proud when we overcome it. Not just me. The whole team. Every single one of them."

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Eduardo Carneiro has worked at Adalberto Textile Solutions since 1988. He learned his craft from someone who took the time to teach him, and has spent 36 years passing that knowledge forward.

Inside the Machines is a series of eight conversations with the people behind Adalberto Textile Solutions.