We are celebrating our twentieth anniversary

A few weeks ago we realised that this year we are celebrating our twentieth anniversary as a company dedicated to decoration, since at the end of 1997, after leaving a furniture restoration workshop that we had in Llubí, we opened a decoration shop in Pollensa.

Robert and Noëlle, restoration workshop, LLubí 1996

At Pollentia Decoración we sold antiques, furniture and doors with original polychromy, as well as fabrics and tapestries woven on a hand loom.

Pollentia decoration, approx 1998

We bought antique furniture in the north of Spain and in France; we had a real weakness for furniture that had been painted at the time, the colours of which often appeared under several layers of paint and dirt.
We expanded our offering to include antique materials such as terracotta, stone slabs and period doors that we found throughout Spain.
In Pollensa we discovered the world of restoration and construction of houses. I remember that when we went to a house to deliver a piece of furniture, we were struck by the fact that, once restored, these houses lost their old appearance and personality. We were horrified by the finishes on the walls with Portland cement and plastic paint, the floors with new materials and the facades without character.

Restoring a polychrome door for the decoration of a house of paris

In a newly built house in the valley of Campanet , In the house where we were helping to decorate by locating old terracotta floors and period doors, we started using lime mortars; the reason was purely aesthetic: the owner did not like the texture and appearance of the cement walls, and we suggested using an “old-fashioned” lime mortar that we had seen in a restoration catalogue. At that time we knew very little about the qualities and properties of lime, which we would discover later, what attracted us was the “old-fashioned” concept, so suggestive to us.

House in the Campanet valley

Over the years we have expanded our knowledge in building houses using Eco-friendly materials traditional and old materials Recovered. We restored several properties in Majorca as Can Mos or our own house in Inca, Can Monroig, which over time would become our banner.
In 2007 we decided to close the Pollensa shop, at that time we were restoring a house in the village, Can Fabregas  and having a shop open to the public six days a week took up a lot of our time. In those ten years we had developed a very personal aesthetic taste as well as a mastery of materials and techniques that would be the basis of our future projects.

We adopted the name Can Monroig as the commercial name of our company

The rehabilitation of Can Monroig was done with great freedom, using materials that we liked, opening spaces, creating surprising volumes. After five years of work and a lot of effort, in November 2009 and coinciding with “Dimecres Bo” we inaugurated Can Monroig with a party to which we invited some friends; during “Dijous Bo” (main festival of Inca) we opened the home to the public, and we were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who came to see it that day.

Robert on the opening day of Can Monroig, 2009

The following years were difficult. We had set up our studio in our house in Inca, a few kilometres from Pollensa, but we practically had to start from scratch. We were proud of the work we had done and we wanted to make it known, but at that time, in the midst of the economic crisis, projects were cancelled and we were in a place where people did not come. That is how we began to organise meals with artists, exhibitions, plays, concerts, etc.

In this place with Jewish and Muslim reminiscences, almost organic spaces with walls of earth and lime, with a contemporary and mischievous decoration; culture and art have been installed naturally, as if the space belonged to them, as if Can Monroig could not live without them.

Representation of Bernarda Alba in Can Monroig 2010

For professional reasons, in 2012 we went to live in Cameroon for a few months where we had to develop the sustainable construction project of two houses. The proposal was not continued, but the experience was unforgettable.

Project in Cameroon

We returned from Cameroon in 2013 with the desire to continue fighting in Mallorca and to invest in our project sustainable architecture. Specialized in the restoration of old houses, with our own unique and very personal decorative concept, the last four years have been a confirmation of our way of working. Our latest projects, such as the restoration of a country house in Vilafranca, the transformation of a country house into Buger  or the interior finishes of a house in Bunyola, are a good reference.

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Recovering the original colors of the original facade

Restoration of a house in Vilafranca

Interior in Bunyola

In interior decoration we have a contemporary vision with a daring and mischievous point that sometimes borders on provocation, some magazines like AD call it style anti-chic. For us it is something spontaneous that is born from the symbiosis between antiques, patinas, painting, art, street art, vintage, noble materials and design. Our showroom is a good example of this.

The Can Monroig showroom

Noëlle Chair

I would like to think that the work that Robert and I have been doing for twenty years can transcend, even if only on an aesthetic level, as a small contribution to the protection of Mallorca's domestic heritage.

Text: Marie-Noëlle Ginard Féron
Photos: Robert Lopez Hinton
January 2017
Can Monroig, January 2017