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De La Espada

Today De La Espada is a groundbreaking firm in the field of developing powerful brands for high end home furnishings consumers around the world. We call ourselves a design management firm and currently manage the De La Espada brand alongside seven other brands. In most cases we partner with leading designers who art direct their own product lines. We also promote younger or lesser known talent, giving these designers or design offices a platform upon which to build their own brands.

Our story as a manufacturer is moulded by our interest in craft based materials. De La Espada is a leading designer/manufacturer of modern solid wood furniture, founded by Luis De Oliveira and Fatima De La Espada in 1993. Hailing from Porto and Madrid respectively and educated in London, the founders opened the first De La Espada store in London in 1996, when there was comparatively little quality contemporary furniture in the city. De La Espada's dedicated factory in Portugal specialises in hand crafting and traditional construction methods to create modern furniture with timeless appeal and the warmth of solid wood. The De La Espada aesthetic evolved from influences including the Arts and Crafts movement, architects such as Tadao Ando, John Pawson and Alvaro Siza, as well as Scandinavian design from the 1950s.

De La Espada furniture as well as the products of our associated brands Autoban, Leif.designpark, Matthew Hilton, Studioilse, Charlene Mullen, Soren Rose Studio and Benjamin Hubert can be found in retailers of contemporary furniture worldwide, who concentrate their efforts on individual brands. Our New York office handles most of our wholesale business, with design, marketing and press relations run from our London office. Product engineering and manufacturing take place at our facility in Northern Portugal.

Autoban

The collaboration between Autoban and De La Espada launched at New York’s ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) in 2007. Autoban is an Istanbul-based architecture, interior design and product design studio, founded by Seyhan Özdemir (architect) and Sefer Çaglar (interior architect) in the historic and bohemian district of Galata in 2003. The products, largely made from natural materials, cross boundaries of time and culture and playfully reinterpret the familiar. A selection of designs from Autoban’s ever-growing product portfolio are supported by De La Espada’s manufacture and understanding of solid wood.

For more information on Autoban, visit the dedicated website www.autoban212.com

Benjamin Hubert

Benjamin Hubert and De La Espada begin collaboration at London Design Festival in 2011. A young designer who established his eponymous studio in 2007, Benjamin has received widespread acclaim from critics and media alike. His designs are characterised by an explorative approach to materials and process, and a refined simplicity of form.

For more information on Benjamin Hubert, visit the dedicated website www.benjaminhubert.co.uk

Charlene Mullen

At the London Design Festival in 2010, De La Espada launched collaboration with innovative designer of textiles and accessories, Charlene Mullen. From machine embroidered motifs to hand emboridered illustrations, Charlene Mullen uses techniques that are age old but interpreted in a contemporary way. Her work has an intricacy that can often only be achieved by the human hand, the inherent imperfections bringing an aesthetic element to the work

For more information on Charlene Mullen, visit the dedicated website www.charlenemullen.com

Leif.designpark

Leif.designpark, a Japan-based design studio consisting of Takashi Ueno, Mamoru Naito and Keizaburo Honda, has been designing products in a variety of natural materials, with a specific emphasis on wood since 2006. Leif.designpark holds monozukuri- the art of traditional craftsmanship- in high esteem, and values the warm, playful relationship between a product and the user, as well as the comfort of the space where the two enjoy interaction. Their aesthetic is a result of applying monozukuri to the construction of modern designs to give the products a connection to traditional Japanese culture. Since 2007, De La Espada has manufactured and distributed select designs from their portfolio.

For more information on Leif.designpark, visit the dedicated website www.leif-designpark.com

Matthew Hilton

In 2008, De La Espada launched a collaboration with one of Britain’s most highly respected designers, Matthew Hilton. Hilton’s designs are understated, sculptural and meticulously detailed, with many already considered design classics. The Matthew Hilton range is designed by Matthew Hilton, and produced under licence by De La Espada. The complementary expertise of the two firms has ensured a furniture range true to Matthew Hilton’s creative vision, as realised through De La Espada’s material options and expert manufacturing.

For more information on Matthew Hilton, visit the dedicated website www.matthewhilton.com

Soren Rose Studio

At the London Design Festival in 2011, De La Espada launches collaboration with Copenhagen-based, Soren Rose Studio. The studio specialises in product design, limited edition creations and interior design projects. Soren Rose, principal of the studio, is a Danish artist, designer, merchant and entrepreneur, with a highly developed sense of quality, craftsmanship and a global outlook of the things that will live past our time.

For more information on Soren Rose Studio, visit the dedicated website www.sorenrose.com

Studioilse

In 2009, De La Espada launched a collaboration with renowned London-based design office, Studioilse. Ilse Crawford, principal of Studioilse is a creative director and designer who crosses the worlds of brand creation, interior architecture and products. She is a figurehead for design as a means for change and revitalisation; with a human approach that is emotional and intelligent. As the licensed manufacturer and distributor for Studioilse products, De La Espada will realise Studioilse designs through premium materials and expert craftsmanship.

For more information on Studioilse, visit the dedicated website www.studioilse.com

A brief note from one of the founders

In today's world more and more people want to know not only who designed a product, and who edited and brought it to them, but who exactly made it. Many in our industry are failing in this regard, missing the vital ingredient of authenticity that has always been a hallmark of craft and good design.

Our furniture is made in Portugal. a country which as a state has existed for a long time, close to 900 years. Like Spain and italy, its culture was deeply affected by the Romans, but numerous peoples have moved through and settled in this far edge of Western Europe over the last 2000 years. Its people are closely tied to the sea and to the land they farm. The climate is gentle, the landscape varied, and history is everywhere. The Portuguese have a engrained sense of place in history, as for a brief moment which now is a distant memory, Portuguese caravels dominated the seas in what was the first truly global enterprise, with soldiers, traders and adventurers, fishermen and priests holding territory from Japan to Brasil, from Terra Nova in Canada to South Africa, from the Spice Islands to the Persian Gulf. Portugal is both introspective and profoundly global, and De La Espada is just the same.

The more I travel, the more I realize what a "gentle" land Portugal is. Winters aren't harsh, summers aren't brutally hot or humid, the Portuguese call themselves a people "with gentle manners" (brandos costumes). They are the result of the Latin character, tempered by the Atlantic winds and storms that roll in from the ocean that many once thought was the end of the world. This quiet nature, modest and self effacing, a poetic and nostalgic mindset, mixed with a softly spoken but nonetheless fierce pride in our achievements, is another trait that De La Espada connects with.

Wine is a central part of our agricultural tradition with the valley of the Douro river recognized as one of the finest regions in the world, and many surrounding regions produce notable wines. The characteristics of the winemaker, and the nature of winemaking, of which many of our staff have first hand experience, with relatives, parents or grandparents having been involved in some way, are very similar to that of the craftsman. A winemaker knows that minor details can make a big difference, a winemaker knows that knowledge of their vineyard, of the soil characteristics and of their interaction with climate, of precision and care in the fermenting process and in the storage of wine, all are essential components. in that respect De La Espada is spiritually tied to the craft of winemaking. We know small differences make all the difference. We know our materials, we caress them with our hands, we recognize their texture and smell with our eyes closed. We know that we can't make a vintage every year, but we also know that when all the factors align, when designer, material, craftsman and editor come together, something remarkable can happen.

We treat the designer as we do the craftsman. We give them a high degree of independence, we allow their voice to be heard, we allow them to take key decisions and to express themselves through their product lines. This is clearly witnessed in the two product lines that operate with considerable independence, Autoban and Matthew Hilton. Every person associated with De La Espada is a craftsman at heart, displaying the traits of independent thinking, respect for patient work, attention to detail, tenacity and perseverance that are at the heart of craftsmanship.

So although we do make our products either ourselves or with the assistance of our partners, in Portugal, we are not tied to a specific location when it comes to production and we do not see Portugal as the only place where we will make our products in the future. But we are tied to the way of thinking and the character that our native land has instilled, and this is something that we believe makes us unique.

Luis De Oliveira