It is not a museum, nor a shop, but one not to be missed. It is just an unnamed place, an old warehouse, in which Bernabé Martínez has created a sewing machine paradise, where some 250 machines are arranged on shelves and tables with which our mothers and grandmothers used to sew. You just have to go to number 44 Calle Premià, in Sants, and Bernabé is there with his great collection.
Except for the days when she teaches knitwear, she is always on the premises. The curious, if they wish, can enter if they ask, and Bernabé never refuses entry because he is passionate about what his life has been. And he takes the opportunity to explain his story.
He says that he came to Barcelona at a very young age from a town in Guadalajara. One day, he went into a sewing machine shop. He was looking for a job and had no idea about it. But he got down to it. One thing led to another and he ended up being a distributor for the then prestigious Japanese brand Brother. His company was very prosperous, until the crisis of the late 1980s forced it to close.
He swelled up selling sewing machines throughout Catalonia, at the same time that he started his collection. He has spent years buying and trading. All of the ones in his collection work, because they have never stopped working or because Barnabas has repaired them. The oldest is an Aurora model made in Barcelona in 1860, but his favorite is the one that belonged to his mother.
One can go through the history of sewing machines through the different models of historical brands such as Wertheim, Singer, Alfa and the aforementioned Brother, among many others that leave very few square centimeters free in the premises.
From time to time, in addition to the curious, a lady appears looking for a spare part for her old machine that only Bernabé can have. In addition, she fixes machines for the neighbors in the neighborhood if they ask her to.
Do not hesitate, go see it. It's worth it.
