Escuts dels gremis de Mallorca

What is

The emblems of the col·legis d'oficis of Palma. Almost all of them are built with the tools or the product of the trade: a system of medieval and modern pictograms, carved on vault keystones, tombstones and facades.

How is

How is fa

• Stone carving (keys, tombstones), painting on altarpieces and banners, rajoletes.

Com s'usa

• Marks the chapel, the hall, the tomb and the documents of the col·legi.

Vocabulary

• col·legi / confraria: guild.
• escut: emblem.
• sala: guild headquarters.
• clau de volta: vault key.

History

• 14th-18th centuries: each col·legi establishes pattern, chapel and escut (dates on each office card).
• Preserved examples: escut of the paraires in Santa Creu; escut of the sabaters in Santa Eulàlia; tombstone of the fusters in Sant Francesc (1704).

On veure'n

• Santa Creu, Santa Eulàlia, Sant Francesc, Sant Joan de Malta (Palma).

Why is it design

• Functional iconography: the tool as a sign of identity, centuries before the modern pictogram.
• Coherent branding system for an entire city.

For the project

• Star piece: redraw the escuts as a set of contemporary icons of trades (Indigenous Design).
• Photographic route through the churches with union shields.

Sources

• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraire
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boter
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrer
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuster
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabater
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flequer
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moliner
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintorer
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sastre
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argenter
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traginer
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capeller
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanquer

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

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