Find out all about Casa Amatller

Antoni Amatller, the promoter of Casa Amatller, represented the third generation of a family dedicated to the Chocolate industry.

His grandfather, who settled in Barcelona at the end of the 18th century as a master chocolatier, came from a family of farmers in Molins de Rei, a village near Barcelona. During his life he worked with great care and dedication in the artisan production of this sweet. After his death, his two sons continued their father’s business and introduced improvements by creating the first industrial production, with the opening of a first factory.

It should be noted that at the beginning of the 19th century, industrialisation (19th century) was reaching all the productive areas of Barcelona, which led to the emergence of a new social class: the rich industrial bourgeoisie. Due to the fact that the city of Barcelona was limited by its walls, businessmen were forced to install their factories in areas of the outskirts of Barcelona such as Poble Nou, Poble Sec or even areas close to the rivers Llobregat and Besòs.

When Antoni Amatller (1851-1910) inherited the family factory at the end of the 19th century, the first thing he did was to learn the trade from his father and uncle, at the same time as he decided to learn about European industrial innovations first hand, thus making continuous trips around the continent.

Thanks to this knowledge and with the wish to incorporate the latest innovations, Antoni Amatller decided to open a new production plant in Sant Martí de Provençals in 1978, with which he was able to increase the competitiveness of the business and impose himself on the competition, becoming one of the leaders of industrial chocolate making in Spain.

Along with technological advances in machinery, Antoni Amatller also introduced modern marketing and branding techniques, which would allow Chocolates Amatller to be recognised as one of the most prosperous companies of the 19th century. To do this, he included advertising images on the chocolate wrappers, he created posters and collectible picture cards, with the illustrations of the best local (Apel-les Mestres) and international (Alphonse Maria Mucha) artists of the time.

Today these posters are part of collections, where some of these original wrappers can still be found in the hands of institutions and individuals.