Whether due to the preservation of the environment, for giving a touch of exclusivity to the rooms or for conserving sentimental value, the restoration of furniture has gained popularity in recent years and has stimulated artisanal entrepreneurship, which, in times of consumption Fast and standardized, it reminds us of the importance of hand done work. The rise of the phenomenon ‘Maker’, based on the philosophy of ‘do it yourself’, has stimulated that what began as a mere hobby becomes for many to a work outing because they see that there is a growing interest in this alternative in the market to the purchase of new product.
The sustainability objectives of organizations, the ecological awareness of the society or the rise of the ‘vintage’ interior design are some of the factors behind the growth of this type of business projects that revolve around the beginning of the circular economy, which is not another that extends the life of things as long as possible in order to reduce waste generation. At street level, with proposals that usually combine orders with the delivery of workshops, the businesses specialized in this area have detected a upward clientele. Internet, on the other hand, has established itself as a digital showcase where to gain visible and end physical barriers, while from the academy they have detected a rebound of people who are attracted to crafts and even consider it as a medium To make a living.
Ana García López, director of the Chair of Innovation in Craft, Design and Contemporary Art of the University of Granada, perceives a ‘boom in a short time’ of young people who enter this world for the drive of touching the subject and handling it, as Answer to the “boredom of the hyperprediality of the exclusively digital.” They do not move just for hobby. “There are those who learn basic notions of digital marketing, assemble their company and leave their career to devote themselves in a professional way to some trade close to the crafts,” he emphasizes. These activities hook for their therapeutic effect, since the concentration that requires help to abstract from day -to -day concerns, and for the pride that causes to know that oneself has been the architect of the final result.
Despite the rebirth of crafts and that vertical as furniture restoration has become fashionable, the renewal of the workforce remains a challenge. One of the purposes of the Chair, created in 2021, is precisely to promote generational relief through training courses in techniques, materials, market strategies, etc. with those who young people can find an entrepreneurship niche with opportunities. “The shortage of raw materials and the lowering of costs have resulted in the furniture we buy today lack the quality of those before, hence the need to look back and recover what we already have,” says the director.
Tradition and avant -garde
The tradition, yes, is not at odds with the adoption of technology and demonstrates projects such as Rrmaker (The triple ‘R’ corresponds to reuse, reduce and recycle), based on the development of an artificial intelligence platform for the design and production of handmade parts that contributes to accelerate the prototyped and use sustainable materials. The initiative Ada (It will soon launch its fourth edition), which consists of the co-creation between artisans, designers and artists in order to innovate in artisanal production, also exemplifies how centenary trades can evolve, without losing their essence, to adapt to our days.
The update is undoubtedly a competitiveness lever for the actors in the sector. Alaska Capel knows well, who made his way in Spain with the start -up, three years ago, of a pioneering platform for the sale of used quality furniture, aimed at users who believe in the culture of use. “The priority in my life is the planet and, therefore, the people who inhabit it,” says the entrepreneur, who renounced the stability of her job in a multinational to turn fully into the ‘marketplace’, baptized as Alaska circular.
Alaska circular is the only Spanish B2B platform for sale and rent in the vertical furniture committed to circularity through reuse. In the first two images, restaurateurs with which the startup works. In the last one, Alaska Capel, who resigned from his job to found the company in January 2022
The concept was born focused on individuals, in the style of Wallapop, but has evolved to becoming a SAAS (‘Software As A Service’) B2B that, at present, groups under its umbrella a 60 national vendors committed to circularity. The publication of the ‘preloved’ pieces is always free, so that the income of the startup comes, on the one hand of the commission that takes each time a transaction is formalized and, on the other, of the different members of membership that It offers sellers (the annual quota part of the 490 euros and reaches up to 2,900 euros).
The online space has a wide range of semi -new, discontinued, restored, reconditioned and revalued articles, susceptible to being acquired or rented. It also makes available to your community services such as disassembly, transport and assembly of furniture, storage, integral emptying … to complete the experience. While anyone can be done with the products, Capel explains that recurring customers are professionals, from architects to interior designers, film and theater producers, hotel chains, etc.
Singular pieces
Of the fever for recovering ancient furniture Almu González and Sara Casado, who have seen how the project initiated in 2017, Khalekoa furniture restoration store, has hit the stretch. In September they said goodbye to their little store in Guernica to move to another of 1,200m2 in Múgica (Vizcaya). In it they perform treatments against xylophagous insects, they sell restored furniture, teach and, in their three workshops, provide a new life to old pieces, either from a conservative perspective, prioritizing the original aspect, or transforming them to adapt to a Current aesthetics or personal taste.
«Today or you spend a lot of money or the market will not offer you very good quality, so many people prefer Unique pieceswith noble woods, who are not going to find anywhere and that, in addition, confer a unique character to their home, ”says Casado as one of the reasons why customers come to the firm, which seeks to place themselves at the forefront . «We like to be updated. We apply products historically for furniture, but also the new ones that have been coming out. Let’s drink from the modern without getting out of the traditional, ” In their success, groundbreaking ideas have influenced such as placing a window to the bottom of the store so that buyers observe artisans to work live in the workshop. “People get embobada, it’s something that likes and attracts attention,” he says.
The Khaleko Furniture Restoration Store and Furniture Restoration started with two members and a small store. There are now six in template, they have moved to an establishment of 1,200 square meters and have 30 students enrolled in their annual course
In this sense, Ana García López, from the University of Granada, defends that “so that people understand the value of crafts and be willing to pay for it must know the process.” He considers that in Spain it has cost to understand it, while our Italian neighbors have understood it perfectly. Of course, those who have better understood it, in their opinion, have been the renowned chefs, “who have put us in the kitchen and have taught us their ‘know-how'”.
To promote furniture restoration, businesses such as the one created by Beatriz Moreno and Leopoldo Martínez in the middle The entrepreneur. Thus rolled Restor ita Madrid workshop school in which they carry out orders to customers and teach. “They come above all women, from twenty to octogenaries, to socialize, spend time and learn the techniques to do work for themselves, without resorting to a specialist,” says Moreno. They admit nine students per turn, in order to guarantee personalized attention, which has caused that “we have waiting list.”
The great obsession of entrepreneurs is to provide their grain of sand so that we appreciate that furniture that we think lacks value even if it is 100% functional. «We all have something of our parents or grandparents. That its appearance does not like it does not imply that you have to throw it to buy a conglomerate or a plywood on a large surface that will last a couple of years, ”says Martínez, which says that at first they received above all requests related to the restoration of scratched or dirty pieces, while more and more carry out an aesthetic renewal to give them a current appearance. “The trend is to remove the varnish and leave the natural wood, as it is,” says the responsible.
The furniture artisanal restoration business has entered boiling, applying as a revitalizing of the former forgotten crafts.
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