Presentation of the July piece of the month: ‘Las mujeres y el aparato’, by Carmen Ramírez Ramos, a repoussoir. The piece will remain in the foyer of the Museu del Calçat i de la Indústria throughout July.
The enfranquiment, or apparatus, was the stage in the shoemaking process where the various pieces of leather were prepared and sewn together to form the future shoe. In this phase, a series of successive tasks are carried out: bevel cutting, punching and top-stitching. Since references to shoemaking first appeared, the assembly has always been a task associated with women.
This machine, the 29-K1, manufactured by the American company The Singer Manufacturing Company, is operated by a pedal (located at the bottom) which sets in motion the system of belts and pulleys that moves the sewing needle in an up-and-down motion. The arrival of these machines in Mallorca during the last decades of the 19th century sped up production, leading to an increase. Many machines like this were used both in shoe factories and in the homes of women who carried out sewing tasks.
The activity is free and no prior booking is required.