The Hernández family has since 1927 specialised in making patterned cement tiles and founded the first tile factory in Lora del Río, a town famed for its tile-makers known as loseteros because of the many artisan tilers traditionally established there. Luis Hernández belongs to a… third generation of loseteros and continues to craft tiles with the techniques used 100 years ago.

Though the process is performed mostly by wholly traditional means, at some points he has introduced modern machinery, such as the latest easy-to-use hydraulic presses.

The manufacturing process starts with the preparation of coloured pastes with white or grey cement (depending on the colours to be rendered) and the addition of pigment of the desired colour tone. For the back of the tiles, two cement pastes are made with sand, one dry and one wet. The designs are prepared in templates known as trepas. Once the tiles have been made, they are submerged in a water tank for a day and then taken out to dry, ready for laying.