Why buy Panot Barcelona at The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory?

Myself, in my jewelry workshop in Manresa, celebrating my first five years being my own boss at The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory.

If you take a look online, you will surely find it cheaper. Possibly you will see designs that are repeated: some sell it for little less than nothing on Amazon and others sell that same model, even with the same photo, for € 30 more on their website and they tell you that it is designer jewelry. Sometimes they are made of silver and sometimes they are made of any other metal, for example nickel, copper or brass, with an added silver bath. Sometimes they are hollow inside; other times the silver is so fine that it bends with a blow. I am very much in favor of competition and competitiveness, but, with all due respect, that is not my business model.

As a jeweler, my mission is to offer you top quality treasures both in relation to the metal that makes them up and in relation to the design, modeling and finishing process. That is why I adhere to campaigns such as Fashion Revolution or I presume to be accredited with the craft product badge (D’A), which certifies that my jewels are of my own production and are handcrafted in my workshop, kilometer zero.

At The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory I do not offer you costume jewelery or industrial jewelery manufactured in distant countries. I offer you handmade jewelry made with exclusive designs in my workshop, kilometer zero. In the case of Panot Barcelona, they are discreet designs, like the city, that like to show off, but not too much :-) But being a discreet design is not at odds with making a quality jewel, solid, in sterling silver, and with a weight that does not weigh too much to be wearable, but that at the same time does not bend with the wind of so fine.

My mission as a jeweler is to offer you treasures like Panot Barcelona in the form of top quality jewels, both in relation to the precious metals that make them up and in relation to the design, modeling and finishing process.. And also, do it from craftsmanship and humility. I do not manufacture in series in distant countries and I do not sell wholesale: I offer you handmade jewelry at fair prices.

In addition, now I have a quality certificate that makes me very happy: my first five years at The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory, the result of the trust of many clients like you. Thank you all!

The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory is specialized in custom made jewelry for all tastes and budgets: wedding rings, headbands, earrings, pendants, brooches, bracelets, rings, tiaras... My value proposition is to create quality jewelry, designed and manufactured by hand, with a focus on personalization. That is why I join campaigns like Fashion Revolution or I amb proud of being accredited with the craft product (D'A) distinctive, which certifies that my jewelry is of own production and they are made by hand using the processes of my trade and produced in my workshop in Manresa, kilometer zero. I offer a more intimate, romantic, exclusive and quality jewelry.

Like all my pieces, my Panot Barcelona Collection is designed and modeled in my workshop in Manresa, from personalized jewelery orders since 2006, so that you can boast of wearing a zero kilometer jewel of artisan manufacture.

I forgot! The measurements are 11,5mm wide x 11,5mm high x 2mm thick. And you can choose black nylon cord (42cm long with silver terminals and clasp) or silver chain (42cm long).

Blame it on Laura Morrón

Laura Morrón wearing her Panot Barcelona necklace

Are you looking for jewelry online with own workshop to turn that jewel that surrounds you into precious metal? You design your custom-made treasure. I am your jeweler hands.

Many of the MeriTomasa collections that you will find on my website were born like this, as a personalized jewel that a client asked me one fine day. Then I have published them on this same website and, sometimes, they have a life of their own. Behind an order comes another and in the end I decide and make a small collection to be able to offer you faster processing times and prices that are also a little tighter..

Laura's first commission for me was a logo necklace from the publisher he runs, Next Door Publishers. Laura lives in Seville, a city of a thousand silversmiths (and I said that I studied jewelry in Córdoba). And living in Seville, a city of a thousand silversmiths, Laura buys me online, which is a compliment to which I try to correspond with the greatest humility and the greatest effort. After a few months, Laura wanted to show off a tile from the city that had been hers years ago, Barcelona, and she commissioned me again. This is how this necklace was born, and later the matching earrings and ring.

This is one of my favorite formulas at The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory. You design your jewelry. I am your jeweler hands.

I made a complete Panot Barcelona outfit for Laura, and little by little more orders came to me. It has happened to me several times already: a personalized jewel made to measure for a first client has been bringing me other orders until I have made a small Panot Barcelona Collection, to be able to adjust prices to the maximum and be able to offer it to you in shorter times, without losing authenticity or artisanal elaboration in my workshop.

What is the Panot Barcelona?

Panot Barcelona, the "flower of Barcelona".

The word "panot" in Catalan derives from the French "panneau", which means tile. In Catalan, "panot" is used to refer specifically to outdoor tiles, especially for urbanizing sidewalks. A panot is a tile made of hydraulic cement (which means that it is a cement that hardens in contact with water). Its great advantage is that it is a cheap and effective solution: it is much cheaper than other materials both for its price and for the cost of the work to install it, and it also allows to create mosaics and textures in the streets . In short: it is cheap and it also looks nice. In addition, and it is not a small thing, it is firm and durable, especially when it rains..

The almond blossom, or "flower of Barcelona", is one of the most popular symbols of the city and probably one of its most repeated souvenirs. It has the advantage that it does not have copyright, unlike the football club Barcelona crest or the silhouette of the Sagrada Familia. But it also has another virtue: its simple and at the same time attractive design, aesthetic and not at all baroque, which fits very well with the spirit of that Barcelona known throughout the world as "the city of design".

The panot was imposed in Barcelona after the demolition of the city walls and the creation of the "Eixample" (the expansion of the old city). It is believed earlier, but it is documented from 1906, in which the City Council held a competition to award the manufacture of these tiles with various designs, including the almond blossom.

Before the panot became hegemonic on Barcelona's sidewalks, each neighbor had to bear the cost of urbanizing the sidewalk in front of their farm, and could do so with the solution that seemed most appropriate among the various approved options. The least used Montjuïc stone, typical of the Gothic city and very beautiful... but very expensive. And the most used solutions type macadam (compacted earth). Those very cheap solutions had a problem: every time it rained, the compacted earth of the sidewalks turned them into a quagmire, a real mud trap. That is why it became popular to call Barcelona "can Fanga" (which could be translated as "the city of mud", but said sarcastically). Faced with the problems generated by those sidewalks that were authentic mudflats, the panot solution offered a firm and safe floor in case of rain at a very affordable cost and that also allowed to create an aesthetic effect on the sidewalks.

As a curiosity, the design of the Panot Barcelona is usually attributed to the famous Catalan modernist architect Puig i Cadafalch, since it closely resembles the floor of the lobby of Casa Amatller. However, there are important differences: the lobby of Casa Amatller is made of large blocks of Montjuïc stone in which the flowers were carved one by one. It could be that the design of the Panot Barcelona was inspired by that pavement, but there is no historical record to prove it.

Today, hydraulic cement is the most widespread solution on the sidewalks of Barcelona, although they coexist with other materials and textures: paving stones, reinforced concrete, asphalt, rubber, non-slip hexagon ramps... Among all of them, who has been made a hole in the hearts of the people of Barcelona is the design of the almond blossom, a flower with four petals, which is at the same time one of the most typical souvenirs of the city, in the form of the traditional 20cm tile wide x 20cm long and 4cm thick ... or in a thousand and one more proposals, from t-shirts to necklaces, earrings or rings like the ones I offer you in my Panot Barcelona Collection.

And if you like it but would prefer it with some changes... please tell me and we will talk about it :)