For Alex Alorda, CEO of Spanish furniture brand Kettal, design isn’t just a means to an end; it’s a passion. In fact, his own personal passion for architectural design has been opening doors into the world of design royalty with Eames Office and the inheritance of the Eames Pavilion System, originally created by Charles and Ray Eames. Those doors are decidedly modular in nature, with the headline act recently standing out as one of Saturday Indesign’s top attractions in 2026 – the Kettal Workplace.
This collection, just launched in Australia following a wider Eames exhibition in Milan, has been crafted as an adaptable modular system. It features repeatable structural modules, glazing, interchangeable façade elements, textiles and interior components.
CEO Alex Alorda travelled from Spain for the Sydney launch, and he is full of anecdotes about his love for architecture in general and the Eames dynasty in particular: “We went to see Case Study No. 8 [during a trip to LA] and we fell in love… We see it from the from an industrial point of view – architectural and industrial. We saw the details and we thought: wow, this is the perfect project! [With all these] components, you can configure your house, and we thought this was magnificent.”
It’s this kind of thinking and inspiration that leads in a direct through line from Eames Office in Los Angeles to Saturday Indesign at Mobilia in Sydney. Centring on an architectural Eames Pavilion System, designed by Charles and Ray Eames and developed by Kettal in collaboration with the Eames Office, the twenty-first-century twist is a workplace specificity. This office pavilion was on show at Mobilia’s impressive Alexandria showroom, bringing all the benefits of the Eames’ signature modularity into the realm of office design.
“I looked at the market and everything was about glass, stainless steel, some boards – but this is not the future,” says Alorda. “The future is all about flexibility, about mounting and dismounting. [We wanted] to bring warm and colourful materials to the office, because the office was about grey, white and glass, very corporate. And also it’s about products that last.”
In short, the Kettal Workplace collection is based on bringing two significant design strands into new, fruitful connections. On one hand, there is the rich history of modular design, as exemplified in the Eames tradition and often finding expression in residential or industrial settings. On the other, the contemporary, rapidly changing workplace. Alorda describes the launch as taking the opportunity to fit these two together.
“After COVID, many companies that had, say, five levels; now, instead, they have three,” says Alorda as he explains his vision of today’s workplace needs.
“They had huge meeting rooms and all of them were on the sides of the room. Now this is changing. Why? Because people need to be connected. We have fewer people in the office, less floor space… space is gold, so they want rooms that can work in many ways.
“Now in Kettal, we have different ranges of phone booths, which means a room for one, two, four or six people. Instead of having those big rooms, [offices] now have phone booths on every level. And where? Not to the side but in the middle, because we want the room to be connected. You put it in the middle because I think Chares and Ray Eames are going to bring so much goodwill to the office.”
The Kettal Workplace collections brings other notable pieces into this highly flexible mix too. Alongside the Eames Pavilion System, there is the U-Type chair by Barber Osgerby, the Area modular table by Foster + Partners Industrial Design, a Shogun re-edition chair by Verner Panton and Kall acoustic booths.
Related: The Design Discussions of Saturday Indesign 2026
Why now, and why Australia? “It was a perfect timing,” Alorda says, as he draws attention to the close relationship between Kettal and Mobilia. Connecting with Eames Office and Saturday Indesign, it’s a story that positions Kettal Workplace as a central node in a network spanning Sydney, California and of course Milan. Indeed, the installation arrived at Saturday Indesign following a highly successful exhibition at the Triennale as part of Milan Design Week – a fine case study in design connections that span the globe.
Kettal
kettal.com
Mobilia
mobilia.com.au
Exhibition Photography
Aaron Hargreaves
