Seixal

Photographer's Note

Mundet - The story of an abandoned cork industry

A walk thru the courtyards of what used to be one of Europe's biggest Cork Industries.
In 1905, the company L.Mundet & Sons established in Quinta dos Franceses, district of Seixal.
The company had its origins in Catalunia (Spain) and were, already at the time, radicated in U.S. thru Jos� and Arturo Mundet, sons of the Catalan Cork industrial Lorenzo Mundet, which founded the primitive company on the 19th century.
Expanding themselves from New York, and having the main company based in Seixal, the corporation opened a serie of new facilities across the district and in Portugal, becoming of the most powerfull and biggest Cork Industries in the whole World.
In 1917, a 2nd production unit opened in Amora, in 1923 in Montijo, 1914 in Ponte de Sor, and in 1949 in Vendas Novas.

After a period of regression on the cork industry, only the Seixal and Montijo branhs were kept on working in the 70's decade.

From 1974, a period of "fights" for the recovery of the companies which was held and led by the workers, but the future of the company was already very compromised because of the many mistakes made thru the years by the succesive administrations which nver were able to make a conclusive and appliable plan for its recovery.

From the Amora's in the 60's and from Seixal's till the 80's, some of the most prestigieous products of Portugal's nacional cork inudstry, came out; cork stoppers for the most prestigieous champagne companies, natural cork discs, cigarettes paper, corkskin among many others.

The company's activity and production ceased in 1988.

Image is under Copyright by Paulo Mendon軋
Contact me by mail if you want to buy or use my photographs

va2ho, gabrielpat, riclopes, Bluejeans, pauloog has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

va2ho (298) 2010-08-14 5:14

Ol� Paulo

Gostei bastante da composi鈬o e o preto e branco foi uma escolha acertada. Contraste muito bom

sabermonajati (11537) 2010-08-14 5:49

hi paulo
excellent composition and perspective you captured.
w&b is suitable .
regard
saber

marietom (34611) 2010-08-14 7:03

hello Paulo,

J'aime ces vieux b穰iments industriels, qui ont tant � nous raconter. Tr鑚 belle photo en noir et blanc.
Bonne journ馥
Marie

gabrielpat (7163) 2010-08-14 18:04

hi paulo,
a dark BW shot.a good choice for those old structures out of order.a good work.
patrick.

emka (158860) 2010-08-14 23:40

Hola Paulo,
How are you? Rather gloomy photo from seixal that I remember as a joyful place. well chosen b&w option to gave such a mood. Was it somewhere near this sunken ship? so the cork industry here is abandoned, what about the cork oaks?

Have a nice Sunday

Malgorzata

danyy (0) 2010-08-15 0:14

Bonjour Paulo,
tu as admirablement bien jou� avec les lumi鑽es ici, ce qui donne une dimension esth騁ique forte � cette photo d駭u馥 de couleurs. Un B&W qui renforce bien l'impression d'abandon que d'aust駻it�.
Regards.
Daniel.

riclopes (35577) 2010-08-15 1:02

Ol� Paulo, como � que v縊 as coisas por a�? Por aqui tudo a andar sobre rodas, continuamos a gostar imenso de estar c�. Nunca sei quem � meu vizinho...j� n縊 vou � galeria do TE h� muitos meses :)
Vejo que continuas empenhado em divertir-te com o tratamento de imagens. Este p&b est� poderoso e o ambiente recriado tem tudo a haver com a histia que queres contar. S� falta ver fantasmas de fato de macaco...Gosto imenso do brilho nos vidros que ainda restam e as texturas por todo o lado. Acho que vejo ali uma c穃ara...podemos estar a ser filmados. De repente sinto-me numa aventura dos 5...h�-de haver segredos e tesouros escondidos por a� :)
um abra輟,
ric

sayeed_rahman (6461) 2010-08-15 1:25

nice read in the note, the tones of the compositions are just great and gives a feeling of 'being there', perhaps a human element would do good in the frame. but this holds out anyway

something not common with the equipment, i think you have simply used the light well

sayeed

Bluejeans (64251) 2010-08-15 15:18

Oi Paulo ,
Uma bela foto a preto e branco deu muito dramatismo estas ru匤as , mas gostei especialmente dos reflexos nos velhos vidros , bonita a moldura meio negra em volta da foto , bons detalhes, bom c騏 nublado , parab駭s!!
Um abra輟 Gon軋lo

jasmis (58653) 2010-08-16 6:35

Fine mood. I like such B&W presentation of some ruins.
Splendid!
Regards my dear friend.

pauloog (11751) 2010-08-18 0:57

Hello Paulo,
I like the dark tones accompanied by play of light in the windows, a strong photo.
Regards,
Paul

speedymanu (3701) 2010-08-23 12:42

Hello Paulo

a dramatic atmosphere, a sophisticated composition, especially the reflections on the right.

Congratulations

Emmanuel

bantonbuju (51815) 2010-08-24 2:42

ola paulo!

this is a really good start of the series...

i'll go through the whole set of your photos and enjoy the place...

excellent subject!

best, j.