The old La Corbadora factory, which specialised in the manufacture of bent beech wood chairs and furniture, was situated near the stream to take advantage of the water from the irrigation channel, which was used to drive the turbine, machinery and the factory’s layshafts, and to supply the steam boiler where the wood was heated to facilitate the bending process, an essential step in making the curved parts of the backs or legs of chairs and other pieces.

The earliest records of a furniture factory called La Corbadora (from corbar: to bend) date back to 1906, although it was probably already in operation some years prior. The original owners were the Baqué brothers from Torelló. From 1912 onwards, the factory was taken over by Lluís Guàrdia de Tona, and later by his son Climent Guàrdia and Maria Llorens. It closed down at the end of the 1940s, following a fire that completely destroyed the building.

The surviving remains of the building offer a glimpse of the importance of this business, one of the oldest in Arbúcies, where Viennese-style chairs, beds, handles and wheel spokes were made. Later, it also supplied the prosperous textile industry with wooden pins and rollers. Today, only the outer walls of the factory remain standing, somewhat overrun by vegetation, giving it an air of romance and mystery.

Factory inventory from 1916

An inventory of all the machinery housed in the factory in 1916 has been preserved, and reads as follows:

One steam engine with corresponding pipes and tools and a pair of drive belts and a large drum. Two wood boring machines with six belts and reverse gear. Three lathes, with supports, for woodturning. One cylindrical lathe with cover, spare gears and accessories. One circular saw. Two machine heads with five nuts. One grinding wheel for wood polishing. Five nuts for wood polishing. One water regulator. One iron saw, in bad condition. One buffing box and belt. Six bending moulds (highchair legs). Seventy moulds for bending chair legs with hooks. One hundred and seventy curve bending moulds with hooks. Thirty-two moulds for bending feet. Twelve moulds for bending arches. Two moulds for bending guitars. One bending bench with spare parts. One bench for assembling seats. One bench for assembling chairs. Twenty-five clamps. One water level. One claw hammer. One small iron cutter. Twelve panniers. One iron numbering box. Fifty moulds for bending hook hangers with polishing tools and wooden mounting rigs. One circle mould and one ring mould.