Without Importing, Designers and Builders Put Their “Tico” Seal on Furniture

Taking a pencil and sitting down to think about the design of a piece of furniture which will give the finishing touch to a kitchen, or a chair which will give the finely detailed living room intensity is daily work in Costa Rica.

The tastes and needs of someone who is furnishing their home are being satisfied by national designers. Clients are slowly leaning towards purchasing nationally designed products, which guarantees a series of benefits.

The design of kitchen furniture, bathroom furniture, chairs, beds and even wine cellars is offering homeowners the opportunity to leave behind mass produced look-alike designs, thanks to the suggestions of clients and the creative ideas of the designers.

Although furniture created by Costa Ricans has historic roots in the art of woodworking, it was common, until quite recently, for homeowners with exquisite taste to import their fine furniture with famous brand names or from well known stores.

Over the last 2 decades, thanks to the opening of the School of Industrial Design at the Technical Institute of Costa Rica in 1980 and the Product Design School at Veritas University in 2001, the creations of national designers produced professionally now occupy an exclusive place in local residences.

Rogelio Coto Alfaro, a design consultant who has taught courses on this topic commented that all designers, whether they are formally trained with a university education or not, aim to satisfy the customer. With 20 years experience in the area and training in industrial design, Coto also favors exclusive designs.

The uniqueness of a particular home is also his passion and he emphasizes the need to prioritize the ambiance of the home.

Fusion and creation. The designer Rogelio Coto explains that the moment he begins to imagine the creation of a piece of furniture, the client and the designer are one.

This professional takes great care to apply his abilities and technical training to serve those who wish to express their personalities through their homes. A design must be in harmony with the personality of the customer and the surroundings it will be placed in.

Gustavo Angulo, project director of Angust Corporation which specializes in kitchen and bath furniture as well as wardrobes, thinks that custom designs are very important. Although his company has prototype designs for each area, communication with the client and the tastes and needs expressed are vital to coming up with a final design.

One of the benefits of recruiting a designer is that the professional knows each client’s home has a unique style and the piece of furniture will be in a specific ambiance.

Added Value. Professionally trained designers also give added value to the finished product. Óscar Pamio, architect and director of the Product Design School at Veritas University feels that the value added is demonstrated in several important points.

The first is focused on use. Pamio pointed out that product designers work from a systems perspective. They take into account human, cultural, production, socio-economic, environmental, and market factors.

He added that in addition to working based on creativity, the ergonomics of a design is taken into account. Materials, fabrics, hardware, colors are all used effectively and appropriate manufacturing systems and well as cost versus marketability are considered.

Value of a product. If you are looking for furniture for your home, it is important to consider custom designed products. Even though many people still prefer to import furniture, the products produced locally are well made and have specific benefits that make them as good as or even better than imported products.

When consulted on the use of professional design services, Pamio stated that their use is growing exponentially.

Some furniture producers understand that the opening up of the market in Costa Rica has already happened. You can find stores that import furniture from all corners of the planet. It would be suicide for national producers to compete in price with furniture that comes from places where labor costs are 10 or even 20 times less, he said.

Everyone consulted agreed that the key is a good design, quality, reliability and guarantee that environmentally friendly materials are used.

Also, specializing in niche markets is important which would allow the opening of Costa Rica’s borders.

Our thanks to Marisol Castro and our friends at La Nación – Costa Rica’s largest Spanish circulation newspaper for their permission use this article.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.