Sabó (Mallorcan artisan soap)

What it is and technique

Manufacture of soap from oil and an alkali (lye of soda or potash) cooked in a boiler. In the 19th century, Mallorca was one of the great soap centers in Spain, especially sabó fluix (soft soap) for export to the Antilles. In the houses , homemade sabó was made with used oil or oil mill remains (general domestic practice; Mallorcan details to be verified).

Short story

• Around 1840, Málaga and Mallorca led Spanish exports of soap to the Antilles (Cuba, Puerto Rico), almost the only foreign market (Ramon-Muñoz, Recerques, 1999).
• Second half of the 19th century: according to the economist Carles Manera, 40% of the sabó fluix exported from Spain left the port of Andratx (interview in El Temps, 2001; figure to be verified in academic source).
• From 1870-1876, the soap makers of Barcelona modernized and gained the colonial market; Majorcan exports fall. With the loss of Cuba and Puerto Rico (1898) Spanish exports became insignificant.
• The demand for talc (jaboncillo) from the Mallorcan and Malaga soap factories promoted mines in Almería in the mid-19th century (Berruezo García and Soler Jódar, De Re Metallica, 2022; to be verified).
• Old soap factory in Sóller rehabilitated as a home (real estate advertisement; data to be verified).

Process step by step

General technique of soap by cooking (a specific description of Mallorca has not been found; please verify):

1. Lleixiu: dissolve soda or potash in water (previously, ash or barrel lye, sosera plant).

2. Coure: heat the oil in the boiler and add the lye little by little, stirring for hours.

3. Saponify: the thick paste; the point is proven.

4. Sabó fluix: with potash it becomes soft, it is packaged in barrels or jars.

5. Sabó dur / de pastilla: with soda; It is poured into molds or boxes, cut into bars and tablets.

6. Cure: Air dry weeks before use.

• Tasted from home: fried oil or morca, caustic soda and water; It is stirred in a basin and cut into bars.

Forms and objects

• Sabó fluix: soft potash soap, export product.
• Sabó dur / sabó de pastilla: soda bar or tablet.
• Sabó de casa: domestic tablet of recycled oil.
• Bar and tablet cut with thread or knife.
• Today: artisan cosmetic soap with local oils and citrus (Sóller).

Vocabulary

• sabó: soap.
• saboner: someone who makes or sells soap.
• saboneria: soap factory.
• sabó fluix: soft soap.
• sabó dur: hard soap.
• pastilla: piece of soap.
• lleixiu: lye.
• sosa: alkali for hard soap.
• potassa: alkali for soft soap.
• barrella: plant from which soda was extracted.
• morca: oil deposit.
• caldera: cooking vessel.
• coure: cook the pasta.
• oli: oil, soap base.
• cossi: large clay container (for laundry; I use a soap dish to verify).

Geography

• Andratx (export port), Palma and Sóller (to verify number and name of factories).
• Why there: olive oil from the Serra and maritime trade with the Caribbean and France.

Xifres

• 1840s: Mallorca, among the first exporters of soap from Spain to the Antilles.
• 40% of the sabó fluix exported from Spain left Andratx (2nd half of the 19th century; Manera, to be verified).
• 1876: Barcelona dominates the colonial market.
• Number of factories: to be verified.

Why is it design

• Circular economy: converts oil and mill waste into a useful product.
• Vernacular export product: Mallorca designed a product for a distant market with its raw materials.
• Minimum shape: cut bar, without wrapper; The shape comes out of the mold and the cut.
• Lesson: it lost to technical innovation, not for lack of material. See proximity design .

Where and who today

• Sabó de Mallorca — Sóller (av. d'Astúries 28). Handmade natural soaps and cosmetics with local ingredients and own citrus fruits; distillation visits and workshops. It is a contemporary update, not documented continuity with the 19th century saboneria.
• No localized active traditional factory.

State

Defunct as an industry; I live as a new cosmetic craft. Industrial memory is documented in economic history, not in a transmitted trade.

For the project

• Possible piece: DO Oli de Mallorca oil soap with the shape or stamp of the atlas; story of the soap from Andratx to Cuba.
• Investigate: specific factories in Andratx, Palma and Sóller (historical press of Sóller digitized in UIB).
• Contact: Sabó de Mallorca (Sóller); oil mills for morca.

Sources

• diposit.ub.edu/items/fbc83e6e-4ddc-4f95-8a44-6e66e00c01c8
• eltemps.cat/documents/el-temps_2001_07_0889_0033_0035.pdf
• raco.cat/index.php/HistoriaIndustrial/article/download/62351/84821
• mallorca.com/ca/directori/empresa/sabo-de-mallorca-soller

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

Open it in the atlas →