Carlos Carbonell y Morand (1856–1917)

Carlos Carbonell y Morand was an important figure in the development and promotion of the olive oil industry in Andalucía, Spain. He produced a reliable quality of olive oil in large quantities and devised systems for marketing it. Olive oil is still produced by the Carbonell brand.

His parents were Antonio Carbonell Llacer, originally from Alicante, and Cándida Morand. His father founded the company Carbonell de Córdoba in 1866. Carlos studied law and commerce in Malaga, Córdoba and Marseilles and was encouraged by his father to take a role in the company. When he was aged around 18 his father died and Carlos became the director. He focused on the opportunities to create export markets.

His olive oil won medals in Barcelona and Paris. He built processing factories and warehouses on a new scale in several locations: four at Córdoba between 1898 and 1906, one at Seville in 1906 and one at Granada in 1913. He also established flour mills at Córdoba. In 1908 he acquired the nineteenth-century Casa Carbonell villa and made it the headquarters of the company. In 1910 the company developed its strong graphic identity with a romantic label showing a gypsy girl carrying a branch of olive fruit.

In other business interests, Carbonell founded the Córdoba chamber of commerce and promoted improvement projects for Córdoba. In 1895, he established with Juan Téjon y Marin the Casillas Electricity Company to bring electric power to the city. At around the same time he helped to promote the continuation to Córdoba of the narrow-gauge railway from the Madrid main line at Puertollano. In 1909, he helped to initiate the project to build the Guadalmellato reservoir, which fed a tributary river to the Guadalquivir. He also organized exhibitions that promoted the agricultural produce of Andalucía internationally.