The Spanish company Joquer was set up by a group of designers who wanted to create products that were modern but were also bursting with Mediterranean vibrancy. The company´s main aim is to achieve a “harmony between discipline, creativity, quality and elegance” and so offer products “that are truly desirable”.

Over the years, it has built up strong relationships with designers, in particular Mario Ruiz, Francesc Rifé and Ramón Esteve, a triumvirate of super-designers who launched innovative various new products in 2008.

Rife´s Mural sofa, for example, has a simple rectilinear frame whose sharp silhouette is nevertheless softened by a huge pile of cushions which come in different sizes. Joquer unveiled Ruiz’s lightweight Deck sofa at last year’s Milan Furniture Fair, as well as Esteve’s ADN design.

Sancal has created a concept of upholstered furniture characterised by clean lines that is both of a very high quality and thoroughly contemporary in style. Founded in the 1970s, the company currently exports half of its products to over 29 countries. It has showrooms in Belgium and Holland.

Among its latest creations are the sofas City, Up! and Play and Fusion armchair. Their look is very metropolitan and chic, and can be adapted to any style of interior. What makes them special are their considered aesthetic and the fact that they are super-comfortable.

Perobell, a Catalan company with 25 years’ experience in creating upholstered furniture, has maintained a high level of quality and customer care throughout its history. As a result of this, a large number of its creations have gone on to become Spanish design classics.

Those which stand out the most are designer Lluis Codina’s luxuriously large yet simple and modern-looking Aramis and Jorge Pensi´s Azafran sofas . Both were conceived for domestic use but these could also look just as good in commercial or public spaces. Courtesy of the studio Liévore Altherr Molina is the Rivoli sofa, a design which might look fundamentally very classical but which is contemporary in style, thanks to its modern proportions. Perobell pieces can be found in hotels, offices, waiting rooms and private homes throughout the world.

The sofas of Grassoler amply demonstrate that very elegant pieces which manage to be as comfortable as they are sleek stand a good chance of being appreciated in the long term, so much so that they eventually become true design classics. Grassoler’s products are available in all five continents and one-third of its output is exported to 25 countries. Its latest collections have the added prestige of having been designed by established names like Gabriel Teixidó, Lledó & Campos and Josep Grass.

Barcelona-based CasaDesús is dedicated to the design and manufacture of sofas and chairs. The importance it places on skilled craftsmanship lies at the heart of the company. CasaDesús has an extensive catalogue. It collaborates with a small group of designers who include American-born Nancy Robbins and Italians Giancarlo Vegni and Gianfranco Gualtierotti. The design Cine and Urban are among the company’s most arresting designs.

Finally, among the designs of the young company Uno Design (which sprang originally from the firm Celda) is Zodiac, which was dreamt up by Studio Mariscal; Zodiac is a modular seating system whose various elements can be easily reconfigured in any way the user fancies since they don’t have arms.

Uno Design makes aesthetically pleasing, asymmetric furniture which envelops whoever’s ensconced on it. Simplicity and a use of brightly coloured, durable materials are all hallmarks of this company which specialises in pieces by renowned Spanish designers such as El Ultimo Grito and Studio Mariscal.