In Mallorca, the palm craft is one of the few active production processes that have a 100% local and sustainable development. A process that is an example of human ingenuity, of the ability to create useful pieces of great beauty, using only a single material. The palm leaf.

 

At Antic Mallorca we investigate it to return to the origin and rediscover the original solutions with a new look, as a guide for action to promote a circular, sustainable and local industry.

 

The palm heart grows wild in Mallorca. We don't even need to cultivate it, it grows without our intervention or the use of other scarce resources such as water. And according to tradition, picking the new leaves of palm heart as it has always been done in Mallorca, makes the plant grow stronger, in width and not in height, helping it to live longer.

 

At Antic Mallorca we have researched this craft for more than a decade, we carry out the entire process following the tradition of Ses Madones de sa Llata ​​de Capdepera. A group of artisans who learned this craft from their mothers and grandmothers, developed it in their youth, left it with the island's tourist boom and, luckily for all of us, took it up again after retirement and have kept it alive to this day. They are our teachers and our source of inspiration to change our perspective and understand the value of going back to the origin in order to contribute something more to today's society.

 

To make all the pieces of Antic Mallorca we collect the palm leaves in the mountains of Llevant in Mallorca and we dry the palms during the hot summer. We prepare the leaves by cutting them into strips, with which we then make the "llata", a braid as long as the piece requires depending on its size, which we then sew on itself, giving the shape to the piece. The thread with which we sew is the leaf of palm itself, so the entire piece is made with this unique organic material.

They are pieces made to last many years. If at some point in its long life the piece falls into disuse, since it is made entirely of leaves it is totally biodegradable.

 

A single material that grows wild around us. A production process as ingenious as it is sustainable. A local craft that shows us the path of innovation through the investigation of the magnificent inventions of wise women and men, who originally created brilliant solutions with what was around them.