Corderia: rope making (hemp, esparto, palm)

What it is and technique

Corder 's craft: spinning and twisting fibers to make ropes, cords and ropes. In Mallorca three materials were used: cànem (hemp, the strong boat and well rope), espart (field rope) and garballó palm (cordelli and household ropes). Corderia is both the trade, the place where ropes are made or sold, and a lot of ropes (DCVB).

Short story

• 1399: a Mallorcan document regulates "the corders who filaran fil de ballesta per fer cordons" (DCVB, citing the Bulletin of the Societat Arqueològica Lul·liana, IX, 242). It proves that the trade was organized in the medieval Ciutat de Mallorca.
• Llucmajor: saying "Cònem de corder, fila'l com ve" (DCVB).
• 19th-20th centuries: the houses of Levante twist palm rope for the field, the palm work and the chairs (BIC file on palm work, 2026).
• 20th century: synthetic fiber replaces hemp and esparto grass. The craft disappears as a local production (there is no active corder).
• Palma, carrer de la Corderia (downtown neighborhood, CP 07002): the name refers to the trade. Origin and date of the name: to be verified in the nomenclàtor of the Palma City Council. Today it houses Mimbreria Vidal (no. 13), which sells basketry and ropes.

Process step by step

Palm rope (documented in Mallorca, BOIB 101/2026):

1. Prepare soaked palm brins ( obra-de-palma-llata ).

2. Twist each brin on itself.

3. Wind the two brins twisted around each other in the opposite direction: it is the basis of all palm ropes.

4. For more thickness, more brins.

Hemp or esparto rope (general corder technique; check Mallorcan practice): spin the fiber on the spinner walking backwards along a long corridor (the corderia or roper's walk) while a wheel twists; then colxar (twist together) several threads.

Forms and objects

Typology of palm ropes documented in Mallorca:

• Cordellí de dos brins - made with the eye of the palm; to cord chairs.
• Two-cap rope — somewhat thicker; also for chairs.
• Corda d'empeltar — for grafting in the field.
• Corda de bèstia — to tie animals.
• Corda oliera — use not documented with certainty.
• Corda llanturada — brin rope for the sotet handles of the signals.

Others: crossbow fil (bowstring, 1399), hemp ropes for boats and wells (check in Mallorca).

Vocabulary

• corder / cordera: one who makes ropes.
• corderia: trade, workshop or rope shop; also many strings together.
• corda: rope.
• cordell: twine, fine rope.
• cordellí: very fine twine; in Mallorca, two palm brins.
• cànem / cònem: hemp (cònem in the Llucmajor saying).
• espart: esparto (Stipa tenacissima).
• brin: strand or strip of fiber.
• filar: make thread by twisting fiber.
• torçar: to twist.
• cap: end, end or branch of a rope.
• fil de ballesta: bowstring (doc. 1399).
• llendera: long, thin rope (appears in the palm tree stems).
• vencill: grass tying (càrritx) to make bundles.

Geography

• Palma (Ciutat): medieval corders and carrer de la Corderia; port city with demand for capes.
• Levante and Ponent: domestic palm rope, where the garballó grows.
• Espart and canem: probably largely imported (in 1579 the Mallorcan merchant Joan Fornari sold hemp from Tarragona, according to Pedralbes; to verify direct reading).

Xifres

• First mention located: 1399.
• No historical or current census of corders in Mallorca (to verify in Quetglas, Los gremios de Mallorca, 1939).
• No own asset declaration.

Why is it design

• The rope is the minimum technology: twisting in alternating directions that converts short fibers into a long and resistant element.
• A complete typology according to use (chairs, grafting, animals, handles) with a single local material.
• Invisible basis of other professions: without a rope there is no senalla, roped chair, snia or boat. See proximity design .

Where and who today

• There is no active corder in Mallorca.
• Palm rope: llata craftsmen and chair corders know how to make it (see cadiraires-i-boga ).
• Sale of natural ropes: Mimbreria Vidal (c/ Corderia, Palma); esparteries from Palma and Inca (see espart-i-cistelleria ).

State

Disappeared as local production; the toponym and domestic knowledge of the palm rope remains. Context sheet.

For the project

• Possible piece: the "paseo de la corderia" as an atlas tour of the center of Palma (Corderia, esparterías, Mimbreria Vidal), following the trades of the street names.
• Investigate: nomenclàtor of the Palma City Council, Arxiu del Regne de Mallorca (trade ordinances), Bulletin of the Societat Arqueològica Lul·liana IX.
• Fundamental question: what remains of a profession when only the name of the street remains?

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?word=corder
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?word=corderia
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?word=espart
• intranet.caib.es/eboibfront/pdf/ca/2026/101/1226130
• mallorca.com/ca/directori/empresa/mimbreria-vidal-palma-ylpnnzru
• mallorca.com/de/verzeichnis/firma/la-corderia-vins-i-cafe-palma-aawgu6bw
• decat.iec.cat/documents/II/933.pdf
• revistes.ub.edu/index.php/pedralbes/article/download/36718/35683/93479

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

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