CAN MARIO

Cork Museum of Catalonia, the Vila Casas Foundation’s Museum of Sculpture, La Bòbila, the Forns square and the Modest Cuixart Foundation.

 

In 1900, Joan Miquel Avellí and Enric Vincke became partners and started their manufacturing activity. One year later, Paul Meyer joined their partnership. From 1916, the company was called Manufacturas de Corcho SA, and in 1930, it was taken over by the American company, Armstrong.

 

The factory grew, eventually occupying the north-eastern sector of Palafrugell. All kinds of products were made there: from stoppers and discs, to insoles for shoes, buoys, lifebelts, colonial helmets, wool and cork paper. In the 1920s, it was the country’s leading company in industrial exports.

 

The Modernist architectonic features, designed by the architect General Guitart Lostaló (1859-1926), stand out: the water tower, the façade on Pi i Margall road and Joan Miquel Avellí’s villa.

 

The last spaces of the factory complex were closed in 1993 and a plan to consolidate a large space dedicated to the cork industry within the urban fabric was undertaken. These days, the remaining factory buildings are home to several institutions: the Cork Museum of Catalonia, the Vila Casas Foundation’s Museum of Sculpture, the La Bòbila Multipurpose Space, the Catalan Cork Institute, the Association of Cork Entrepreneurs and the Forns square; and, inside the villa, we can find the Modest Cuixart Foundation.

 

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