Mallorcan cabinetmaking and furniture

What it is and technique

The cabinetmaker makes fine furniture: veneers, inlays, moldings. Mallorcan home furniture mixes two worlds: the stately furniture from Palma (influenced by Catalonia, Italy and France) and the popular furniture made of pine and fruit wood, sober and painted.

Short story

• 15th-18th centuries: the bridal caixa keeps the bride's trousseau (Catalan mark; in Mallorca, to verify specimens and workshops).
• 18th century: the calaixera (chest of drawers) takes on its function and its symbolic value; vertical furniture, more practical.
• 18th-19th centuries: Palma workshops produce style furniture for stately homes (please check names).
• 20th century: industrial furniture displaces the artisan; Many antique pieces leave the island through the antique market (do check).
• I have not found a general study of Mallorcan furniture: search in Museu de Mallorca and Museu Etnològic de Muro.

Process step by step

1. Wood: pine for structure; walnut, olive, almond or fruit trees for visible pieces (verify local use).

2. Disassembly and assembly: dovetail, box and tenon, without nails in the fine furniture.

3. Carving of legs, cornices and handles (see talla-i-escultura-en-fusta ).

4. Veneer or inlay on stately furniture.

5. Finish: wax, shellac or paint in popular.

6. Hardware: iron or brass locks and keyholes.

Forms and objects

• Calaixera: chest of drawers.
• Caixa de núvia: trousseau chest.
• Cadira de voga (cattail seat; to verify Mallorcan typology).
• Llit: beds with turned or painted headboards.
• Armari, rebost (pantry), pastera (kneading trough).
• Stately writer and buffet (to verify).

Vocabulary

• ebenista: cabinetmaker.
• moble: furniture.
• calaixera: comfortable.
• calaix: drawer.
• caixa de núvia: bridal chest.
• aixovar: trousseau.
• boga: anea (enea) for seats.
• marqueteria: inlay.
• xapat: veneered.
• cua de milà: dovetail.
• pastera: kneading trough.
• rebost: pantry.

Geography

• Palma: style furniture and cabinetmaking workshops.
• Part Forana: popular pine furniture; village carpentry-cabinetry shops.
• Workshop with name: Fusteria Ebenisteria Tomeu Mestre (Sineu; to verify if it makes traditional furniture).

Xifres

• No census of traditional cabinetmakers (to verify in the Cercador d'artesans).
• Without localized general academic study: research gap.

Why is it design

• Furniture as a contract: the caixa de núvia and the calaixera were dowry and assets.
• Closed typologies: few forms, well thought out, that last for centuries.
• Assembly without metal: repairable and removable.

State

I live as a general cabinetmaker and restoration; Majorcan furniture as its own typology, poorly documented.

For the project

• Possible piece: contemporary re-edition of a calaixera or cadira with a cabinetmaker from the Part Forana; Catalog of popular furniture from the Muro Museum.
• Contact: Museu de Mallorca (ethnological section of Muro); Sineu cabinetmakers.
• Background question: is there “Majorcan furniture” or just furniture in Mallorca?

Sources

• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caixa_de_n%C3%BAvia
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calaixera
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebenista
• mallorca.com/es/directorio/empresa/fusteria-ebenisteria-tomeu-mestre-sineu
• fundaciomascort.com/en/exhibitions/alguns-mobles-singulars/

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

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