Noëlle and Robert

Can Monroig is formed by Marie-Noëlle Ginard and Robert López Hinton.

We met in 1992 in Palma on an advertising photography course.
We came from very different worlds and soon after we met I started working with a furniture restorer in La Cabaneta and selling my woven fabrics at craft markets. In 1995 we opened a workshop for handmade fabrics and painted furniture in Sineu, which we soon moved to Llubí; and in 1997 we settled in Pollensa, opening a shop selling antique furniture and decoration.

Llubí 1997

For 10 years we lived and worked in Pollensa. During that time we were lucky enough to meet people with a different taste in decoration, to see houses with a quality of construction often better than the rest of the island. To meet people from all over the world, to collaborate in restorations and decorations that made us develop our own style.
The furniture we sold was usually from France or northern Spain, we liked the original polychromes and the French style. We discovered old materials such as terracotta, stone slabs, period doors or natural paint finishes. Many of our furniture and materials were sent to England, Paris, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and even Los Angeles and South Africa.

House in Pollensa

We made our own natural paints to use on furniture and walls, and through them we came to lime mortars. The interest was initially for aesthetic reasons but soon we discovered its countless advantages in terms of the health of the houses and their inhabitants. We took courses in France and Germany to train ourselves in the lime craft and in materials specific to green construction; materials that we used in our first restoration projects such as Can Mos in Pollensa (2004), a farmhouse completely restored without using Portland cement, with natural insulation in the roof and walls, recovered old materials, etc.

In this way we established ourselves in the direction of restoration work according to sustainability criteria with a decorative background that made us different.

In 2002 we bought Can Monroig in Inca. We wanted to have an old house where we could express what we really liked. Use those thick old stones that no one dared to place, those clay floors or doors with remains of polychromy. Create open spaces, restore sustainably, maintain or recover the old walls, bring to light what had been buried for years.

Can Monroig before its restoration

The restoration of the house began in 2004 and was completed in 2009. It was not five continuous years of work, but was done in several phases. A little exhausted and surprised by the result, we unveiled Can Monroig on a Wednesday in 2009. In 2007, while working on the restoration project for Can Fábregas, we decided to close the Pollensa shop and concentrate on the decorative projects and on finishing Can Monroig. 

 

During the transition from Pollensa to Inca we were caught by the crisis, for a while everything came to a standstill, many projects were suspended and we found ourselves living and working on a somewhat remote street in Inca, being two strangers.

 

We wanted to make ourselves known and although we thought our house was really different and worth seeing, we had a hard time getting people to come here. Suddenly Pollensa, 15 minutes from Inca, seemed very far away. This was one of the reasons why we started programming
 Cultural events at Can Monroig. An exhibition inside the house while it was still under construction in 2007, the performance of Bernarda Alba by the Arlequin studio in Paris and participation in Incart in 2009 were our first initiatives. Concerts, exhibitions and construction days on the ground followed; we formed a cultural association to manage it and little by little, and not without many difficulties, visitors began to arrive at Can Monroig.

Representation of Bernarda Alba 

 

In 2012, the opportunity arose to lead a sustainable construction project in Cameroon, and we closed the house for a while. Although the experience was enriching, we returned to Mallorca in 2013 and resumed our restoration work, first in Vilafranca, then in Buger and Bunyola. To date, we have scheduled more than 60 cultural events and are currently immersed in recovering and promoting the Jewish quarter of Inca, of which Can Monroig is a part.

Noëlle and Robert in Cameroon

 

 

Our restoration work has been growing as it is a living project and we currently offer a personalized property search service, specialized in old houses, while we also manage the construction of restoration and sustainable construction projects: We take care of the administrative procedures, we collaborate with various architects and technicians; we form our own work team or we are in charge of advising and directing other construction companies within our specialization and under our criteria, both technical, as well as the use of materials and of course decorative.

Our decorations have also changed, and although we still love antiques and vintage, they are much more daring and personal; with a great influence from art, arty furniture and the anti-chic movement, of which we feel we are predecessors in Mallorca (already in 2010 the journalist Esteban Mercer described the decoration of our house as a mischievous decoration).

Can Monroig Showroom