Encuadernaciones Reinés

Around 1939, Salvador Carreras Perelló, the maternal grandfather of the current owner, opened a small bookbinding workshop in Calle de La Protectora under the name Encuadernaciones Carreras. Later, the business moved to its current premises in Calle Rubén Darío.

His son-in-law, a musician by vocation, worked as a saxophonist in the evenings and in the mornings he helped Salvador until, little by little, he took over the reins of the business. For a few years he expanded into bookbinding and stationery.

The business passed into his hands, which he ran for 15 years, until his son Pedro, the current owner and third generation of the family, took over. He started helping out with the basics (staples, sewing, etc.) while he combined his studies at night school and, when his father retired, he continued with the family business.

At the beginning of the 90s, the volume of work increased with collectables and adaptations of school material, and he decided to close the stationery side of the business and focus solely on bookbinding, at which point he took the opportunity to update the name to Encuadernaciones Reinés.

Pedro acknowledges that new technology has brought about difficult changes, but, on the other hand, there are few specialised handmade bookbinders on the island today. One distinctive feature of the business is that it still uses the same machinery that his grandfather used.