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A passion for aluminium
Furniture from Indecasa can be described as minimalist, stylistically pure, futuristic and, not least, comfortable. The Spanish company has been making aluminium furniture for several decades, sometimes combined with other materials, but always with winning designs.
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The Barcino chair was selected by design magazine MD as one of the 200 best products of the century. |
Indecasa mostly makes furniture for public spaces, specialising in chairs, benches, outdoor furniture and lounge furniture. The furniture always has an aluminium frame, combined with other materials such as leather, plastics and textiles. The company has made furniture for airports, offices, restaurants, bars and cafes, and exports to countries worldwide.
Indecasa was established in 1963 and began by manufacturing garden and camping furniture, hence the choice of this durable and weatherresistant material.
“If a piece of our furniture doesn’t contain aluminium, then it’s not an Indecasa product,” says Francisco López de Vega, CEO of Indecasa and son of the founder.
When Francisco's father started up the company, aluminium was a very exotic material; it was a totally new and innovative choice for making furniture. Indecasa was relatively unique to the market and it was not until much later that aluminium furniture became trendy. The choice of material and the focus on good design have proved to be a winning concept. The company, which is now based in the small town of Manresa, outside Barcelona, employs 60 people. The plant has a number of specially made machines that are used to cut, bend, polish and treat the furniture components. |
| You can tell that Indecasa is a family business with a true passion when Francisco López de Vega describes the process from concept to finished product. He is personally involved in almost every aspect of the process, and although he has no design training himself, he has firm opinions on what he believes will work, preferring a pared-down, ‘less is more’ style. |
“I either like something or I don’t,” is his explanation of his attitude to design.
Since indecasa made its first garden furniture in the 1960s, the market has changed and so has the company. The importance of functionality has increased, environmental awareness has risen and interest in furnishing and design has taken off. Good design is a strong feature of Indecasa furniture. It is furniture that brings to mind terms such as futuristic, hi-tech and minimalist, and one of the company’s chairs indeed featured in the science fiction film The Matrix.
The company has a creative partnership with a number of independent designers and often looks outside Spain to find the right individual. Nico Smeenk, Kurt Thut and Sapiens Design are some of the furniture designers the company has worked with. The recently retired designer Joan Casa has been of great importance to the company and has had a major influence on its design language. |
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For Francisco López de Vega, it is important that the partnership between the firm and the designer is based on a good understanding and that technology and aesthetics go hand in hand. He believes that many designers focus on how stylish the final product will be and not on the technical process.
Although aluminium is a material with which the company’s technicians and designers have long experience, there are always some details that can cause glitches in production.
“Aluminium is not always an easy material to work with. We have to choose the alloy and grain structure carefully when we make small or fragile parts,” explains Francisco López de Vega, adding that several pieces of furniture are made with aluminium profiles from Sapa.
The plant in Manresa now has its own complex quality control process, and invests a great deal in material analysis and research and development, as well as quality and the environment. Aluminium is of course a recyclable material and the company’s furniture meets the market’s growing eco-labelling requirements. |
Extract from Sapa Group's Shape magazine.
Visit www.sapagroup.com/uk/profiles to download the latest copy |
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