Boters

What it is and technique

The boater makes wooden boats (barrels): curved, pressure-fit staves, held in place by cèrcols (hoops). They were used for wine, oil, liquor and for sea trade. That's why in Palma they worked in the port neighborhood.

Process step by step

1. Prepare the dogues (staves) with the aixa and the bater bench (local terms to be verified).

2. Aixecar la bóta: place the staves inside a hoop.

3. Corbar with fire and water, and close with more cèrcols.

4. Fit the bottoms into the interior slot.

5. Nail with the cabbage to sink the nails.

6. Drill the boixa (hole for the spigot, in other areas).

Forms and objects

• See bota and eines de boter .
• Baldufa batera: rounded top made by a boater (Manacor). See baldufa .
• Escut: a boot between an aixa and a repols.

Vocabulary

• boter: someone who makes wooden boats (and, in other areas, leather wineskins).
• bóta: barrel.
• cèrcol: ring that surrounds the boot.
• repols: conical iron bar for driving nails (Mall.; fon. rəpóɫs).
• aixa: adze.
• baldufa botera: rounded top made by a boater (Manacor).
• carrer de la Boteria: Palma street documented since the 15th century.

Geography

• Palma: fishing district, between Llotja and Drassana; Boteria street; room on Carrer de la Marina (today Av. Antoni Maura).
• Inca and Manacor: own confraries.

Short story

• 1441: oldest ordinances of the brotherhood of boters of Mallorca. Patron Saint Joan Baptista, in Sant Joan de Malta.
• Sant Crist dels Boters: it is kept in Sant Joan de Malta and comes out on Dilluns Sant with the Confraria Creuada de l'Amor Diví.
• 1596: the Inca boters separate and form a fraternity with fusters and stonemasons.

State

At high risk. Register of artisans (consultation 10/13/2026): 1 boat registration in Mallorca (mestre artesà letter). The demand of the wineries is covered with imported barrels.

Why is it design

• Glueless structure: shape and tightness only with curvature and rings.
• Mediterranean trade packaging: transport standard before the container.
• A street with a trade name that still exists.

For the project

• Contact the registered boater; Mallorcan barrel for DO Binissalem / Pla i Levante wineries.
• Piece of furniture with the stave and cèrcols technique.

Sources

• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boter
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=boter
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=repols
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=boixa
• caib.es/siciefront/artesania/index.jsp?idioma=ct

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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