We revisit the event at Winnings’ Redfern showroom where De La Espada’s managing director Luis De Oliveira travelled from Europe to be in conversation with our editor.

In the final months of 2023, Winnings – having already completed its stunning new Sydney showroom earlier in the year – held one of its many fine events, this time marking the launch of a new display. In fact, the display in question is Australia’s largest for Portuguese furniture-makers, De La Espada.

Managing director, Luis De Oliveira, was back in town to regale a packed showroom floor with more tales of Old World design. As we noted at the previous event, De La Espada’s products sit in an intriguing ground of overlap between two broad philosophies: on one hand, the arts and crafts movement of William Morris and John Ruskin and, on the other, a minimalism that celebrates materiality for its own sake.

“Morris and Ruskin were writing over a hundred years ago and I’m surprised there aren’t more people referring back to them because some of the parallels are unnerving. The triumph of being in a post-modern position is that we can look back at someone like Morris and ask what did or did not work,” said De Oliveira at the time. On this occasion, however, he was joined in conversation by Indesignlive editor, Timothy Alouani-Roby.

The pair discussed De La Espada’s approach to design, centring as it does on a care for traditions of craft and the art of carpentry. The connections with Portugal were indeed front and centre as the Winnings culinary team put its in-store kitchen facilities to good use with a Portuguese menu on offer for guests.

De Oliveira emphasised that the De La Espada operation operates out of a workshop home rather than a factory, as the conversation touched on modernism, technology and industrialised design.

Related: Luis De Oliveira’s last visit to Sydney

The collection of De La Espada pieces at Winnings is defined by high quality and a strong sense of human care having gone into the making of each piece. A semi-private area in the new showroom acts as a dedicated space hosting the collection, allowing the items to be viewed and experienced in their full character. The pieces on show include beds, tables and chairs, all of them elegant.

With their own deserved showroom space, De La Espada’s pieces are able to truly shine in Australia. The partnership between Winnings and De La Espada goes on, with visitors able to view the collection at the Redfern showroom.

Winnings
winnings.com.au

De La Espada
delaespada.com

Photography
Daniele Capitanio (De La Espada collection)

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