MAJORCAN ARTS & CRAFTS-GLASS BLOWING

Majorcan Arts & Crafts-Glass Blowing

The art of glass blowing is very old in Majorca; we would have to go back to Roman times.

The Glass we do in Mallorca can be perfectly compared for its quality with the famous Murano glass.

The process of glass blowing consists of placing an iron tube (normally between 1 meter to 1.45 meters long) into a mass of molten glass ( around 1200 ºC to 1600 ºC), and blowing down the tube inflating the glass as through it were a balloon.

The glass is composed of silica sand, sodium carbonate and limestone.

It ´s revolved on the tube while the molten material is pulled into the desired shape with tongs.

The tools used on the process of glass blowing will be iron tubes, tongs, blades, tweezers and scissors.

When the glass piece has the desired shape, they separated the piece from the blowpipe, twisting the piece with a blade.

Once the glass piece has been made, the temperature is decreased progressively in the furnaces, to avoid breakage or cracks due to sudden temperature changes.

If we talk about Majorcan glass history of course, glass was produced in Mallorca back into  the roman times.

In the sixth century, in Mallorca the glass production was following the byzantine rule, and so they went into the Moorish dominance.

After the conquest of Mallorca by King James I,(aragonese king), it´s when the industry truly flourished and one of the first furnaces is dated 1327 in Calvia (south coast of Majorca) own by Bernardo and Guillermo Roig.

1605 Domingo Barovier, asked for asylum in Mallorca, begging the mallorcan authorities for refuge for himself and his family, and offering them to make glass in Mallorca.

Early 18^th century (1719) arrived to Mallorca, a catalan glassware merchant, Mr. Gordiola and applies to municipal government for a license in order to built a glass furnace, nowadays one of the most famous and traditional glass blow factories in Mallorca, located on the road going to Manacor, close to Algaida.

 During the Middle Age in Mallorca, the superstitious, believed that glass helped to cure nervous diseases, keep away the ghosts and attracted the rain.

Come and discover traditional crafts made in Mallorca as glass blowing.

Let us guide you to discover the furnaces where they are still blowing glass, keeping the old traditions.

Mallorca Private Tour guides Team