Caldas da Rainha is well known for its glazed ceramic pottery ("louça das Caldas"). "The New York Times" has called Caldas "he capital of Portuguese pottery". The city is at "the center of a region rich in clay", where pottery has been made since the Neolithic Era. Caldas gained fame for its ceramic wares when Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro and his brother Feliciano founded their Fábrica de Faianças, now called Faianças Artísticas Bordallo Pinheiro. The factory's output includes large decorative pieces; tableware shaped like fruits, vegetables, and animals; and figurines of Zé Povinho, a bearded peasant everyman character. Caldas has a tradition of ceramic phalluses dating to the late 19th century.