Olleria de Felanitx and the gerreta felanitxera — Traditional craft of Mallorca

What it is and technique

Felanitx was a pottery center with its own clay, very white, fine and light. From there came a unique piece in Mallorca: the felanitxera gerreta (also gerricó or brodada gerreta). It is a decorative pitcher, not suitable for water: openwork body covered with relief applications (flowers, leaves, doves, shells, buttons, lace, geometric or religious motifs). The technique is called broded ceramics or ceramics d'aplicacions. After cooking it remains whitish in color.

Felanitx also made common work (gerres, càntirs, toys): the Avilés 2020 catalog includes Felanitx joguina jugs, and the Archduke cites "brodades" alcarrazas made there.

Short story

Prehistory: Joan Roig (Caramella, 2006) suggests a possible Talayotic origin due to the abundance of clay and ceramics in the sites in the area. Hypothesis.
yes. XVI: the oldest known pieces are in the Museu Etnològic de Muro. Then there is a gap: no production is known until the 17th century. XIX (Ara Balears 2018).
yes. XVII: the brodat on jugs has been documented since this century, according to G. Rosselló Bordoy (cited by Coll Conesa 2020).
1841: George Sand mentions it in Un hiver à Majorque.
1860: the Capó family (Macià Capó) gives a gerreta to Isabel II; According to several sources, it is kept in the Victoria & Albert Museum (specific piece to be verified in the V&A catalogue).
1869-1891: Archduke Lluís Salvador cites the production of the Capó saga.
yes. XIX: six potteries in Felanitx (Coll Conesa 2020). Sagas: Soler, Bennàssar, Capó.
Finals XIX - half s. XX: 21 teuleries and workshops work on the gerreta; It is sold as a souvenir to travelers. There is a map of its location (2018 municipal study).
1947: Pere Bennàsar Montserrat founded Ceràmiques Mallorca.
1969: Rosselló Bordoy, «The ceramic applications of Felanitx and its precedents» (National Congress of Arts and Popular Customs, Zaragoza; monograph in TMM 7).
1978: Andreu Capó Mestres (1898-1978), the last craftsman of the gerreta, dies; With it, traditional production is lost.
2018: two-year municipal study and exhibition at the House of Culture: more than 500 pieces collected, 40 exhibited; Thirteen artists reinterpret it (Miquel Barceló, Lin Utzon, Andreu Maimó, Jaume Roig, Maria Ramis, Xisca and Pere Bennàssar, among others) and the designer Maggie Adrover.
2019: «A reinterpretation of the felanitxera gerreta», Museu Can Prunera (Sóller), 23 works by 13 artists.

Process step by step

What is verified is little; the rest, by analogy with the Mallorcan gerreria (check with Ceràmiques Mallorca or the Museu de Muro).

1. Fine white clay from Felanitx, kneaded.

2. Body of the jig to the lathe (check if always).

3. Openwork: the wall is cut out in drawings.

4. Applications: flowers, leaves, doves, shells and buttons modeled by hand or with small molds (to verify) and glued raw with slip.

5. Slow drying, due to the risk of the reliefs coming off.

6. Firing in a wood oven (see ceramica-i-gerreria ). Piece mostly unglazed, whitish (to verify).

The lightness of the clay allows you to carry a lot of decoration without making the piece heavy.

Forms and objects

Gerreta brodada / gerricó — jug with one or two handles, openwork body and applications; decorative.
Alcarrasses brodades — decorated bottles mentioned by the Archduke.
Joguina jars — miniature toys.
Common work: gerres, cantirs and water pieces (without verified details of their own typologies).
Motifs: flowers, fulles, coloms, copinyes (shells), buttons, lace, atauriques, besantes, religious motifs from the 16th century. XVIII.

Vocabulary

gerreta: small pitcher.
gerricó: another name for the felanitxera gerreta.
brodat: «embroidery»: decoration of relief applications.
ceràmica d'aplicacions: technical name of the same technique.
calat: wall cut out with openings.
aplicació: modeled clay piece that sticks to the body.
barbotina: liquid mud that serves as glue.
copinya: shell.
colom: dove, frequent motif.
teuleria: tile; In Felanitx he also made gerretes.
oller / gerrer: potter of fire / water pieces.
alcarrassa: porous bottle to cool water.

Geography

Felanitx (Migjorn): very white and fine calcareous clay, which allows brodat.
The technique spread to Pòrtol, Sa Cabaneta, Llucmajor and Consell. In recent times it was made by Can Franquet (Llucmajor), Mestre Baltasar Tortella (Inca), the Amengual brothers from Can Bernadí (Consell) and Mestre Antoni Amengual and Madò Maria Serra (Sa Cabaneta) (Coll Conesa 2020).
A “carrer dels Ollers” in Felanitx: I have not been able to document it (to verify in the Municipal Archive).

Xifres

6 potteries in the 16th century. XIX.
21 teuleries and workshops with gerreta (end of the 19th century - middle of the 20th century).
Oldest piece: s. XVI (Museu Etnològic de Muro).
1978: end of traditional production.
2018: more than 500 pieces located, 40 exhibited, 13 artists.
1947: foundation of Ceràmiques Mallorca, active workshop.
Prices: without verified data. It is not BIC or UNESCO.

Why is it design

The material decides the shape: a light and fine clay allows a baroque that other clay would not support. It is design from the matter.
Object without practical function, with social function: gift, travel souvenir, prestige object. A local souvenir before mass tourism.
Recognizable language that contemporary artists (Barceló, Lin Utzon) have known how to reread.
See disseny-de-proximitat .

Where and who today

Ceràmiques Mallorca (Felanitx, since 1947; Francisca Bennàsar) ceramiques-mallorca-felanitx .
Museu Etnològic de Muro (Museu de Mallorca): old pieces.
Felanitx City Council: promoted the 2018 study; announced publication (without confirming that it came out).
Remembered ceramists: Antònia Capó Bennàssar, Margalida Adrover Nicolau, Catalina Lladó Joan.

State

Context. The traditional gerreta stopped being made in 1978. There is living ceramics in Felanitx (Ceràmiques Mallorca) and recent interest from artists and the City Council, but no continuous production of the gerreta.

For the project

Possible piece: a useful contemporary felanitxera gerreta (openwork lamp, jug, light piece) with Ceràmiques Mallorca.
For the atlas: map of the 21 teuleries from the 2018 municipal study; ask the City Council.
Contact: Ajuntament de Felanitx (Culture), Museu Etnològic de Muro, Ceràmiques Mallorca.
Read: Joan Roig, «La ceramica d'aplicacions de Felanitx: la gerreta felanitxera», Caramella 14 (2006); Rosselló Bordoy (1969).
Background question: is an extinct trade recovered, or is it reinvented with its language?

Frequently asked questions

What is Olleria de Felanitx and the gerreta felanitxera?

Felanitx was a pottery center with its own clay, very white, fine and light. From there came a unique piece in Mallorca: the felanitxera gerreta (also…

What are the traditional words for Olleria de Felanitx and the gerreta felanitxera?

Some words: alcarrassa, aplicació, barbotina, brodat, calat, ceràmica d'aplicacions, colom, copinya.

Sources

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

Open it in the atlas →