Gerreria Serra

The potter’s trade has a long history, and in Santa Maria it gives its name to an emblematic company dedicated to ceramics: the Gerreria Serra, also popularly known as Can Cadufa, Sa Teulera or Can Serra. It is run by four siblings, the fourth generation to take the reins of the business: Miquel, Toni, Pep and Maria. One of them, Miquel, explains that it was founded by his great-grandfather Miquel Serra Oliver and his wife Francisca Roig, around 1915. Initially, the main activity consisted of making pieces with the lathe, such as jugs, pitchers, vats, drinking troughs, arcaduces and basins, the latter being very popular for making sobrassada. The following generation continued to make very traditional products, and handmade tiles were also introduced.

Under the management of Miquel Serra Pons, machinery was installed, and they began to produce tiles and bricks. Margalida Frontera, Miquel’s wife, gave a great impulse to the shop by increasing the number of new pieces that were previously unthinkable to sell, such as amphorae, decorative plates to hang in houses and a long etcetera. From the 1980s onwards, when Miquel Serra Pons’ sons joined the factory, the machinery was modernised to offer better quality and to increase the production demanded in those years.

Although today the brothers continue the tradition, new products have been added thanks to the glazes: tiles to decorate kitchens and barbecues, ceiling lamps, objects for the kitchen such as salad bowls, salt shakers, oil cruets, etc., thanks to the work and knowledge of Maria Serra. In short, Can Cadufa’s range of products is diverse, from the manufacture and sale of flowerpots, buckets, earthenware troughs, wall lights, siurells, lattices, etc., as well as made-to-measure pieces. In 1975, due to the crisis in the sector, a small sample of decorative pieces made of artificial stone was added to all these products, such as cups, troughs and mortars, among others.

Inside the shop there is a trullo, an old element that attracts a lot of attention. It is a blood mill for grinding clay, a unique heritage that the Serra Frontera brothers would like to be able to preserve and even promote culturally to a greater extent. The cobblestones surrounding this mill, with traces of the footprints of draught animals, show that this is a most exceptional element.