Can Bernadí

The history of the Can Bernadí pottery dates back more than 200 years, as they have documentation dating back to 1806s. Elionor, the current potter who runs the business, is the sixth generation of the Amengual family to work in the pottery.

Can Bernadí still has the old wheel lathes for modelling the handmade ceramic pieces, but adapted to modern times. The pottery is a traditional Mallorcan artisan business with a master craftsman’s charter.

The facilities also have an old traditional Arab oven, made of adobe and clay, which was used in the past to fire the ceramic pieces. Since the time of her great-grandparents, who began making greixoneres (casseroles) and plates, they have expanded the field of ceramics with new, more modern designs, offering personalised pieces made to order. However, without completely abandoning tradition, they simply combine all the ancestral and modern techniques. Now they can make each piece to the suit the customer’s taste, creating unique and personalised decorative items.

Grandfather Tomeu specialised in making pieces with red earthenware such as brown plates. Grandmother Elionor, on the other hand, was in charge of making siurells of all sizes and with different characters, which were sold at markets and fairs. Since then, the work has evolved a lot and Can Bernadí has been adapting to changing fashions and tastes: now they make more decorative pieces with a much wider range of colours to choose from, with white clay pieces, modern motifs such as decorations imitating the Mallorcan tongue fabric, and Mallorcan embroidery stitch, etc. The pieces can also have drawings designed (or photos provided) by the customers, which makes them as personalised as possible.

The father of the current craftsman who runs the business, Pere Amengual who, for many years, was the president of the Association of Olleros de Pòrtol, invented the greixolla, a mixture of greixonera (casserole) and olla (pot).