NEWS

From the perspective of contemporary jewellery, Majoral reinterprets an icon of the culture of the Pityuses islands, the emprendada, creating different pieces of jewellery with a high symbolic component

With a historic centre declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, vestiges of the Phoenician era, meadows of oceanic Neptune grass unique in the world and galleries and events that fill the island with life, Ibiza has become a cultural and natural referent, heterogeneous and diverse, of the Mediterranean.

Beyond the captivating landscapes, the white sandy beaches and the natural caves, the attractions of the island are also found in the cultural legacy of the people of Ibiza. The symbiosis between the natural setting and the cultural assets create a fragile and austere balance that shows the millenary coexistence between nature and civilisation on the island.

This harmony between the natural and social ecosystem of the island of Ibiza, always fragile due to pressure from tourism, has produced a level of conscience shared among the people of Ibiza to appreciate and value their own land. The care given to and admiration of the island’s exuberant nature has been rewarded with inspiring landscapes and climates inclined to develop a lifestyle in harmony with the characteristics of the island.

It is common knowledge that the magnificent landscapes that the island gifts its inhabitants have served as a source of inspiration for many artisans and artists from Ibiza. In the field of jewellery, Majoral has based a large part of his raison d’être on the Mediterranean inspiration that the islands of Ibiza and Formentera offer.

But this symbiosis between the natural setting and the culture of the island has also encouraged jewellery to take on the cultural value of Ibiza as a source of inspiration, enabling jewellery to be created in line with a lifestyle that has survived for centuries in harmony with the natural island.

One of the maximum exponents of the influence of Ibizan culture on contemporary jewellery is found in the emprendadas. Emprendadas are items of jewellery that form part of the traditional Ibizan dresses. They are made of lines of rosaries worn across the chest and held together by decorated silver needles, a cross with filigrees and details of red coral, precious stones or mother of pearl and the jewel (a reliquary with the image of image of the Virgin Mary).

Considered as “the jewel of Ibiza”, the emprendada is one of the icons of the island, and women wear them in the popular campesino or country dances, a series of traditional dances of Ibiza and Formentera.

The traditional emprendada was made with coral and silver; later they also began to make gold emprendadas, made up of necklaces of grains of wheat and braid arches. The piece is completed with “sa creu” and “sa joia”, the cross and the jewel. Finally, it is finished off with the gold buttons on the blouse.

The cultural legacy of Ibiza has led Majoral to consider it as a source of inspiration. “On arriving in Ibiza, I found the local world, a rural world that came from a tough but dignified life. We believed that the world had to change and our way of making the revolution was to create this new system of living, but without forgetting the values that have taken us to where we are now”, states Enric Majoral.

With this desire to consider and at the same time reinterpret the cultural heritage of Ibiza, Majoral began contemplating the emprendada as a starting point for some of his creations.

Enric Majoral, settled on the island since the seventies, began contemplating the emprendadas as an element to reinterpret from the perspective of contemporary jewellery in the nineties.

The second approach by Enric Majoral to the emprendadas was in 2013. The Catalan jeweller presented the Emprendades collection at the Pasarela de Formentera fashion show, which showed a series of large-format necklaces emulating the classical emprendada. Nevertheless, the pieces were shown as a renovated vision of the traditional jewellery of the Pityuses, made with several metals, turquoises, coral and savin juniper wood. The contemporary and artisanal vision of the Emprendades collection is shown as the union of social, cultural and natural inspiration in the creative process of Enric Majoral. “Artisanship connects with my philosophy of life. Something you do with your hands, you can give it feelings and you are in a world in which you feel good”, concludes Majoral.

The emprendada as a symbol of life of Ibizan men and women

Emprendadas have historically been one of the most valued objects of Ibizan families. During the Civil War, many families were forced to sell their most valuable jewellery in order to deal with the poverty omnipresent on the island. These difficult years on the island led to a significant loss of the cultural legacy of many Ibizan families.

Emprendadas have become an emblem of many families on the island for decades. But they have also served as a source of inspiration for the Blat collection of Majoral. Represented by an ornamental, ancient and essential form, the Blat collection unfolds in a contained way the symbolism of the seed, origin of life.

The necklace of the Wheat collection, made with recycled gold, is inspired by the emprendadas, reproducing their circular form and emulating threads of iconic pieces.

Enric Majoral’s latest contribution to emprendadas seeks the limits of the volume, presenting an “expanded emprendada” in a large format. The sculptural idiosyncrasy of this latest piece by Majoral is a new tribute from the Catalan artist to the entrepreneur, breaking pre-established canons in the field of jewelry.