Vic Leather Arts Museum | Museu de l'Art de la Pell de Vic
The Vic Leather Arts Museum houses the collection of Andreu Colomer Mommany (Owner, Vic leather factory) & is comprised of artefacts gathered from his travels
About Vic Leather Arts Museum
The traditional industry of Vic was tanneries and leather production. At it's peak there was twenty-five workshops and tanneries in the city, most of which were located near the Querralt bridge. Today these buildings have been purchased by the Vic city and currently being refurbished into museum space.
The Vic Leather Arts Museum opened in 1996 to house the collection of Andreu Colomer Mommany, the owner of the Vic leather factory. The collection is comprised of artefacts gathered from his travels with his wife. The museum houses pieces of great artistic wealth from a very diverse origin and time periods. Highlights the technique of the guadamassil (golden and polychrome skin) used for making murals, altar fronts, screenings, etc. It is also worth noting the application of the Cordovane (high quality goat skin) to chests and boxes.
- 1792: The Munmany family establish a tannery in Vic.
- 1858: Advances in chemical research brought the introduction of chrome salts in the leather production process transforming the leather industry from a craft into an industrial sector.
- 1884: Josep Colomer i Costa was born in Vic and was a blacksmith. After a year of marriage to Carme Munmany he inherited the Munmany family tannery and started working in the industry.
- 1900: Manuel Portavella (chemist) joins the company as Colomer Munmany's technical director to develop technologies and specific methodologies such as sulphur tanning for dry pickling, white tanning for coating, and the use of sodium silicate to produce articles that were soft to the touch. This pioneering process fueled Colomer Munmany's international expansion and reputation as the producer of the best quality entrefino leather for garments and gloves.
- 1913: Andreu Colomer Munmany is born in Vic, son of Josep and Carme, third born of 9 children. four boys and five girls. Andreu Colomer, together with his brothers Ramon and Rafael, founded Colomer Munmany SA, the origin of the Colomer Group.
- 1936: At the start of the Spanish Civil war the the Colomer Munmany Tannery has thirty workers.
- 1939: The Colomer Munmany family returns from exile in Belgium at the end of the Spanish civil war and took charge of the tannery buisness.
- 1942: Andreu Colomer Munmany marries Pilar Guanyabens Baró producing a daughter.
- 1948: Appointed member of the National Executive Committee for the Centenary of the death of Jaume Balmes.
- 1950s: Starting a 40 year long collaboration with the Board of Governors of the Episcopal Museum of Vic
- 1957: creation of the Consorcio del Comercio Exterior de la Piel to influence government policy under the Dictator Franco and try and control import quotas of leather.
- 1962: Promoted the formation of the Asociación de Investigación de las Industrias del Curtido y Anexas (Tanning and Related Industries Research Association) to modernise leather production and
- 1960´s & 1970's: Epansion of the Colomer Munmany SA buisness by acquiring companies in the sector (Ernesto Baumann, Anónima Lanera, Comercial Italo Española, Máximo Mor & Andreu Sala). Foreign investments in overseas production (Pakistan, Nigeria, Lebanon, Greece, China , Brazil, Mexico & Iran).
- 1968: Awarded the command of the Order of Cisneros in recognition of his export activity.
- 1970: Appointed member of the Consultative Board of the Employers Association of Accidents at Work, Asepeyo. From 1990 to 1996, he held the position of president.
- 1971: Presided in Vienna at the III Session of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
- 1974: Awarded the Cultural Merit Medal by the Diputación de Barcelona.
- 1977: Presided over the first Spanish commercial mission to China.
- 1978: Elected president of the International Council of Tanners, based in London, an organization of which he was honorary president in 1982.
- 1979: Elected president of the Advisory Board of the Port of Barcelona.
- 1990: Awarded the Cross of Sant Jordi by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
- 1988: He was named president of the Spanish Leather Council.
- 1991: The commitment to transfer the assets of the Andreu Colomer leather arts collection to the Generalitat de Catalunya was formalised.
- 1996: Inauguration of the Museum of Leather Artistry in the former ruined convent of Verge del Carme
- 1988: He was named president of the Spanish Leather Council.
- 2003: Colomer Munmany SA has a sales volume of 132 million euros, with participating companies in Spain, France, Japan, Greece and England, and a combined workforce of eight hundred and seventy employees.
- 2006: Colomer Munmany opened the Baumann plant in Vic. A major investment in modernisation and automation of the leather production process consolidating all the finished article production lines in to a single plant.
- 2009: The Chinese multinational Henan Prosper (sheepskin tanning and sheep wool production) bought the Colomer Munmany finishing plant.
- 2019: Colomer 1792 opened a new 5,000m2 leather warehouse for distribution throughout Europe in Les Masies de Voltregà (10km from Vic).
A history of Andreu Colomer Munmany & Leather Production in Vic
Image Gallery for Vic Leather Arts Museum
Click on any of the 70 images to open full screen gallery player