Talent regeneration is one of the most crucial and challenging aspects of brand resilience – especially when the said brand is an eponymous one. Founded in 1994, Arturo Alvarez is known for handcrafted lighting objects made with patented malleable steel mesh called Simetech, which creates a uniquely moody ambience in interior projects worldwide.
Last year, the brand made a seamless transition when brand founder Arturo passed the baton to new owners Marcos Rioseco (CEO) and Miguel Martinez (Sales Manager). They rebranded the company a by arturo alvarez and expanded its creative team. We find out more.
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How has the rebranding been going?
In this new phase, we have expanded the creative team to include new designers with different sensibilities. This generates a space for co-creation while still maintaining the company’s core of handcrafted products and emotional light. This evolution had materialised through the name of our brand, a by arturo alvarez, which has given way to a-emotional light.
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Where do you get your inspiration?
Firstly, the organic shapes of the sea, forests, rivers taken from the surrounding nature have been very present in Arturo Alvarez’s designs.
And then there’s the evolution of a-emotional light or rather ambient light’s emotional quality that tends to modulate emotional brain responses in humans.
Finally, our collaborations with new designers have broadened the source of inspiration. For example, the natural elements from the Atlantic (northwest of Spain) are still present, but we have also included sociological aspects, including Galician culture and tradition, like a tribute to the pilgrimage route Camino de Santiago.
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What do you and the designers that you have collaborated with share in common?
They are professionals from different disciplines. They have been given the freedom to develop their creativity and the technical support to realise their vision.
They all have links with our culture, nature and surroundings and the use of our materials. The diversification of designers has given us another point of view when interpreting nature using our star material and our secret weapon: our hands.
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What makes your product unique from other brands?
Products made by hand have an inherent exclusivity. Combined with our timeless identity and signature materials, such as stainless steel mesh, our designs are considerably unique.
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What is one of your craziest bespoke projects?
One of the most recent ones we have developed has been a real challenge on many levels for our brand.
At the end of 2020, during Covid, Merce Borrell Disseny d’interiors contacted us for its El Rincon de Juan Carlos project, a Michelin-starred haute cuisine restaurant in the Royal Hideaway Corales Beach Hotel in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The restaurant’s interior required more than 80 custom-made lamps and specially-developed light columns based on one of our designs. Our team completed all the planning and execution within the month!
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Have you noticed any unique customer preferences in Asia?
Our designs, shapes and finishes fit in an infinite number of spaces, aesthetics and trends. This makes our lamps universal when it comes to crossing cultural barriers.
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How do you think lighting products will evolve in the near future?
The pandemic has caused us to be more concerned about sustainability and products that move us emotionally. In the residential sector, creating safe and welcoming spaces has led to more conscious buying. We use fewer resources, but we use them better. We buy more durable products and spend less. And we seek timeless masterpieces that give our environment a more profound sense of identity.