Tintorers (dyers)

What it is and technique

Dyeing of wool, cloth and other fibers in kettles over fire with dyes. Key trade of medieval Mallorcan drapery, along with paraires and teixidors. Dirty and noisy: the city expelled it from its streets.

Process step by step

1. Netting the wool or cloth.

2. Mordent to fix the color (general practice; mordants used in Mallorca, please verify).

3. Boil in the boiler with the dye.

4. Spread and dry.

Forms and objects

• Dyed wool cloths: see flassades i mantes de llana , paraires i draperia .
• Escut del col·legi: a cauldron on fire dyeing wool fleeces.
• Boiler: see boilers and courers .

Vocabulary

• tintorer: someone who dyes textile materials.
• tintoreria: dye workshop.
• tenyir: dye.
• vell / velló de llana: fleece.
• cep tintorer: variety of very black grape strain that gives color to the wine (Penedès, Gandesa, Mall.).

Geography

• Palma, outside the inhabited area after the prohibition of 1381.

Short story

• 14th century: well-documented dyers in Mallorca.
• 1381: its activity within the city is prohibited due to the smell and noise.
• 1383: doc. on the advice of “parayres, texidors et tintorers que facen draps” (DCVB).
• 16th century: organized col·legi; It disappears and is recorded as being refounded in 1691. Patron Saint Antoni of Viana.

State

Disappeared as a traditional trade. Register of artisans (consultation 10/13/2026): 1 dyer registration in Mallorca (contemporary natural dye).

Why is it design

• Color as information: the dye defines the quality and price of the cloth.
• Urban planning by trade: the dye, because it is dirty, is planned outside the city.
• Escut as a pictogram of the process.

For the project

• Palette of natural dyes from Mallorca (local plants) with the dyer inscribed.
• Investigate what dye plants were used on the island (pending).

Sources

• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintorer
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=tintorer
• caib.es/siciefront/artesania/index.jsp?idioma=ct

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

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