Igualada’s Rec Neighbourhood takes centre stage in the series Empremtes Fabrils by the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC).

The National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC) has published the first episodes of Empremtes fabrils, a new audiovisual series on the MNACTEC Channel. The series aims to make known the legacy of industries that have shaped a territory and its people, and which live on in the memory of those who worked in them or were connected to them.

Empremtes fabrils gathers both the historical and business account of various Catalan industries and their human and social side, in aspects such as the transformation of the territory, the bonds and changes brought about, memory, traditions, and so on.

The first episode uncovers the Rec Neighbourhood and shares this icon of Catalan industrial heritage with the whole country. It does so with Miquel Vila Badia, tanner, driving force behind the “Sota la pell del Rec” project and promoter of Leather Cluster Barcelona, and Roger Mula Ferrer, cultural manager.

Indeed, last November, Leather Cluster Barcelona organised a heartfelt tribute to Miquel Vila and Francesc Fontanellas, two key figures of the leather world in Igualada. The event was a well-deserved recognition of their careers and their legacy within the leather sector.

In Empremtes Fabrils, Miquel Vila speaks about his childhood memories at his grandfather’s tannery. He also speaks about the growth of the city of Igualada and the founding of the Rec Neighbourhood. His words tell us about the past and present of the tanner’s trade in the city.

“Stretching a hide by hand could take almost an hour. Once it could be stretched by machine, 7 were done every hour. Now one is done every minute. Several industrial revolutions have gone by.”

For his part, and from the headquarters of La Maca, Roger Mula stresses that the neighbourhood is the DNA of the city of Igualada, and speaks of the new uses that designers, artists, gastronomic venues and others have given to the Rec.

“We are talking about a very extensive industrial neighbourhood, it is a quarter of the city. Everyone has a past, a present and a bond with this neighbourhood, both with the textile factories and with the leather tanneries.”

The Leather Museum works on the visibility and promotion of the neighbourhood through various initiatives, such as the creation of the website recigualada.cat and the RECorreguts guided tours, which are scheduled monthly and have consolidated their success with places almost sold out for the next five tours (until June 2025).

In this regard, and in the field of communication and promotion, the Igualada Leather Museum and Leather Cluster Barcelona have intensified their cluster-based cooperation with a range of activities. The museum, as the cluster’s reference member in culture and history, is an important ambassador and a key player in providing information and generating a positive current of opinion about the leather sector among the public.

Recently, a feature about the neighbourhood was also broadcast on the Local Television Network as part of the history programme “Va passar aquí”, highlighting an industrial past that makes it one of the oldest in Europe.

This feature explains, in broad terms, the historical and heritage interest of the Rec neighbourhood:

“One of the main reasons why the tanneries were set up here is that, close to the River Anoia and right by the mill race, they could more easily access water, which is one of the indispensable elements in the hide tanning process”.

More specifically, it presents the pre-industrial tanning process that the Museum explains at the former Cal Granotes tannery, a facility that is currently closed to the public owing to the building’s refurbishment works and the introduction of a new museography.

Igualada’s Rec neighbourhood is the past, present and future of the leather sector in Catalonia. Today the neighbourhood is home to some thirty tanneries, as well as other key players of Leather Cluster Barcelona, such as the tanners’ water treatment plant, the Igualada Leather Museum and Cal Granotes, and the Adoberia Bella, headquarters of the Catalan leather cluster.

You can watch the two audiovisual pieces here:

https://canal.mnactec.cat/barri-del-rec-igualada/

https://laxarxames.cat/share/movie-details/4083696 (the feature on the Rec neighbourhood starts at minute 5:54).

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.