Coralers

What it is and technique

Fishing and working red coral (Corallium rubrum). In Mallorca there was the llaüt coraler, a boat dedicated to coralling. In the 19th century, fishing was done with the Sant Andreu creu: a blade-shaped trawling rig with nets that removed coral branches; since the 1950s, scuba divers.

Process step by step

1. Calar la creu de Sant Andreu from the llaüt on rock bottoms.

2. Arrossegar to hook and break the coral in the nets.

3. Hissar and separate the branches.

4. Work of the coraler (workshop): "torajar" (separate the piece), cutting, drilling, rounding, polishing and stringing.

Forms and objects

• Coral beads for rosaries, necklaces and amulets (see jewelry and buttons ).
• Llaüt coraler (see llaüt ).

Vocabulary

• coraler / coraller: someone who fishes or sells coral.
• coralar: fish for coral.
• llaüt coraler: llaüt dedicated to coralar (Mall.).
• barca coralera: coral boat (“una barca coralera ells ja prenen per assalt”, Costa i Llobera).
• creu de Sant Andreu: blade trawling rig from the 19th century.

Geography

• Rocky bottoms of the Balearic Islands (specific areas in Mallorca to be verified).

Short story

• Middle Ages: coral extraction was an important activity in Majorcan fishing (thesis in progress, UdL; preliminary data).
• 1446: complaints from Catalan coralers "pescants en los mars de Barberia" (Catalan area).
• 19th century: heyday with the Sant Andreu creu.
• 1950s: scuba divers arrive.
• 2018: Government Decree 21/2018: general principles of red coral fishing in inland waters of the Balearic Islands; Statistics show overexploitation (captures up to 75% lower in the Mediterranean in 40 years).

State

Residual and regulated. Professional fishing with authorization; The artisanal work of coral in Mallorca does not appear in the registry of artisans.

Why is it design

• Scarce material, minimal design: each branch is used in beads.
• Destructive tool, example of what proximity design should avoid.
• Regulation as design of a common resource.

For the project

• Do not promote coral product; use it as a case about resource limits.
• Piece of jewelry that contains the coral without extracting it (ceramic, Gordiola glass).

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=coraler
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraller
• iberley.es/legislacion/decreto-21-2018-6-julio-establecen-principios-generales-p
• repositori.udl.cat/items/60820e7c-7c59-4700-bd79-bda462c8e7e9/full

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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