Argentina

In Argentina, we work directly with Eugenia and that has been an amazing experience. Her grandparents, Eleanora from Italy and Adolfo from Spain, turned their carpentry talent into a business. Eugenia’s father, Alberto, took over as the second generation, which meant Eugenia spent much of her childhood within the walls of the workshop learning the ins and outs of the family business. This has led to the natural progression of working alongside her father in recent years to bring modern and innovative designs to their product development and in turn to the international market.

One of the main things that attracts us to this company is their mindfulness around and regard for their artisans. There is longevity amongst the staff, where, on average, artisans have worked for 10 years, all the way up to the most senior artisan, Lili, who has worked in the workshop for 28 years, and even provided homework help to Eugenia as a child! This artisan group employs 15 artisans, 5 who work in the sawmill and 10 who work in the workshop. Hiring women is very important to Eugenia, which is evident in that 7 of the 15 artisans employed are women, in a workforce traditionally filled by men. She says “we have to take care of mother first.” In fact, they just experienced a recent “baby boom”, adding 4 babies to artisans’ families, further proving the flexibility the artisans enjoy, allowing for quick schedule changes due to sick children and school drop-offs/pick-ups.

This artisan group is incredibly mindful about the techniques used to source and create their designs. All of their materials are biodegradable and eco-friendly. The wood comes from recovered timber industries all across Argentina. In particular, the “Lenga” wood grows in the forests of Patagonia and the “Kiri” wood grows in the northernmost part of the country. The wood first goes to their sawmill in Buenos Aires before making its way to the workshop, which is across the street.