The Spark
A place for creation
AT THE HEART OF POBLE NOU
It has been a long time since we have been developing our creative work without a specific place to gather. From 2017 we have the study, ArtVallès in Pallars 152, principal bis 1ª, Poblenou, that offers us not only the possibility to create but also the diffusion of our activities. We have refurbished an old flat that belonged to the family and we converted it in a simple but wide and bright space where we can invite all the people we want, friends, family and others, to celebrate cultural meetings: artístic, literary, local history etc. Three generations of our family have lived in Poblenou, taking advantage of the industrial power that was being developed in the second half of the XIX century.
Our great-great-grandfather Anton Serra i Pujol, was a peasant. He came from Rubí as a young man to work at Sant Martí de Provençals as a laborer. There he was married to Anastasia Mas Guardas, from a family of Sallent also established in Sant Marti, they had to children, our great-grandfather Emili and her sister Montserrat. Anton came from the rural world, in deep crisis at those times because of the phylloxera epidemy and the extraction policies of the Spanish government (agriculture was not protected, depended from the ministry of finance). The young peasants didn’t lack intelligence neither work skills. Sant Martí gave them the opportunity to undertake and prosper. At the end the century Anton had his own workshop to whiten textiles, which he led until his death in 1916. The business passed on to his son Emili, who married Montserrat Sian Rovirosa, and between them made the business prosper, thanks to the big demand of textile products during the first world war. Montserrat Sian was our great grandmother, and she is for all of us a model of an active woman and entrepreneur overcoming the difficulties of life.
Montserrat Sian Rovirosa
Montserrat Sian lived in Gracia with her parents Miquel Sian Laffont, of French origen and railwayman his profession, and Maria Rovirosa from el Vendrell. She became orphan when she was 20 years old, and married Emili Serra Mas. They had three children: Joan, Anton i Rosa. They lived in the textile factory in Almogàvers 163, Poblenou, and they were fully dedicated to the business, but gave an excellent education to their children sending them to very good schools in Barcelona. The twenties were good years, but the thirties brought disgrace again to the family. Anton died from an illness in 1934, and Joan was murdered the 23rd of July, 1936, by an old worker. After the war, they recuperate the factory that had been collectivized, but her husband Emili died in1944 leaving Montserrat alone to manage the company.
BCN PAINTING
Barcelona in your walls