Behind the scenes with the Mallorcan tile maker keeping one of the island's traditions alive
Biel Huguet’s memories of childhood are filled with the smell of cement. His grandfather founded a tile factory in the Mallorcan village of Campos in 1933, making the beautifully coloured cement tiles traditional to the island. Biel was brought up with an understanding of the family business’s heritage that has fuelled his desire to keep its legacy alive in an age of disappearing craft.
While colourful floor tiles had been around for centuries, the hydraulic method – made by pressing cement tiles rather than firing ceramic ones – was revolutionary around the turn of the century. It coincided with the rise in Catalan modernism – Antoni Gaudí used hydraulic tiles in his public projects – and spread to the domestic. ‘These handmade cement tiles produced with sand from the beaches were really popular in people’s homes,’ says Biel. ‘There would be a little factory in each village, and hundreds across the island. He had no background in tile making, but my grandfather saw a chance to build one of these in our village.’
The process used by Biel’s grandfather – also called Biel – is similar to that employed at Huguet today. Craftsmen pour coloured cements into moulds, some of which are so intricate that it takes enormous skill. They layer damp cement over the top, before placing the frame under a hydraulic press to squeeze out excess water. The tiles, which are then left to dry for several weeks, are all made individually by hand. ‘Each piece is totally unique,’ explains Biel.
Biel senior was a canny businessman and, along with hydraulic tiles, he branched out into terrazzo tiles and handmade structural cement pieces – from beams and staircases to sinks and basins. His output was cut short when he died unexpectedly and Biel’s father Damià had to take the helm at the age of 20. By that point, in the 1970s, the island had changed hugely. ‘It was the start of the tourism boom, and hotels and houses were being built quickly and cheaply all over the island. No one cared about beautiful handmade traditional tiles any more,’ Biel says. One by one, the tile factories closed. To save the family business, Biel’s father increased its production of concrete beams in order to feed Mallorca’s insatiable construction appetite.
While he had notable customers, including designer Jørn Utzon, who was building two houses on the island, Damià’s heart was not in it. ‘He found it very boring just making concrete beams,’ recalls Biel. ‘Really, he was a poet – one of the best known in Mallorca – but he felt an obligation to keep his father’s business alive.’ There was little poetry to be found in concrete beams.
Construction, however, fascinated Biel, who studied technical architecture at university in Barcelona. While there, he saw a renewed enthusiasm for traditional architecture and heritage products: ‘The fashion began to change. Gaudí started to be appreciated again and it seemed the perfect time to revive our traditional Mallorcan tiles.’ Just as Biel was finishing his degree, Damià died of cancer aged 50. Biel took over the company aged 23, determined to restart production of his grandfather’s tiles.
But doing so was almost like starting from scratch. While he managed to recover some of the old hydraulic presses and tile moulds, finding someone skilled enough to use them was another matter: ‘We finally tracked down an old man, who had worked in the factory with my grandfather; he taught us what he could remember. Another elderly man on the island repaired these kinds of tiles and we gained more knowledge from him. It took a long time to piece it all back together, to get the machines up and running, and then to transform this all into something we could use.'
It has been worth the effort; the company is now one of the most sought-after makers of traditional Mallorcan tiles in the world. The factory, still located in Campos, has 60 craftspeople hand-making plain, mosaic and terrazzo tiles, along with bespoke collaborations, such as a recent collection developed with design studio Pentagram. International designers, from Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron to David Chipperfield, Soho House and Faye Toogood, are fans of its products. As it did in the 1930s, Huguet also makes cement and terrazzo bathtubs, sinks, shower trays and bespoke objects on request, such as concrete washbasins for a project by the Spanish-born, London-based designer Tomás Alonso. The brand hopes to exhibit at September’s London Design Festival.
‘I can’t believe what we’ve achieved – and the amazing people we work with,’ says Biel. ‘Without planning it, it’s as if I’ve honoured a double heritage. I’ve revived the family business and brought some poetry back into the way we make tiles. I feel both my grandfather and my father would be proud’.
