04/23/2025

DSIGNIO

Founded in 2002 in Madrid by Patxi Cotarelo and Alberto Bejerano, DSIGNIO is a design studio that initially combined industrial and interior design. Since 2016, however, it has shifted its focus to product design.

In 2019, the studio began its international expansion. After five years of dedicated work, the results finally came to light in 2024, when the studio exhibited its designs at the Salone del Mobile in Milan alongside four Italian brands: Riva1920, Gaber, Airnova, and Mogg. This year, they exhibited at Salone with eight companies: Spain's esPattio and Mobliberica, Italy's Montbel, Gaber, Mogg, Airnova, and Riva 1920, and Denmark's Dan-Form.

We spoke with Patxi Cotarelo, who talked about the studio's shift in direction, international expansion, and their project.

Interiors from Spain: Since our last interview back in 2016, you’ve made a clear shift toward product design. What inspired that decision, and what has it meant for the studio?

Dsignio: Product design is where we feel most at home. It’s what we really love, and it’s a more professionalized field. We know it's a tough industry, but it's also our true calling. What we really enjoy is working hand in hand with companies to create a new object. Seeing the end result is incredibly rewarding.

Interiors from Spain: Expanding into international markets is a major challenge. What were the biggest difficulties and how did you overcome them?

Dsignio: We made this decision a year before the pandemic hit, and the timing couldn't have been worse, as the industry ground to a halt for two years. But that downtime gave us a chance to prepare and come back even stronger when companies started to recover and launch new products. It became an opportunity to reflect and to propose the right designs for our clients.

Interiors from Spain: You work with companies from different countries. What differences have you noticed between the Spanish market and the Italian or Danish markets?

Dsignio: Within the furniture sector, we haven't seen much difference, mainly because these companies all export internationally. The products in their catalogs, and the designs we propose, tend to follow a universal aesthetic. The real differences come down to each company’s specific production processes and target audience. In general, they all maintain high quality standards and are very professional.

Interiors from Spain: What advice would you give to other Spanish studios looking to break into the international market?

Dsignio: First and foremost, be patient, be persistent, and truly believe in your work. Companies always need strong designs, even if they come from relatively unknown designers. A good project can open a lot of doors. Of course, finding the right company at the right time isn’t easy, it takes hard work and a bit of luck. Empathy is also key. You have to understand the companies. They can’t take on every project they’d like to because of the costs involved. So it's important to adapt to their production processes, target markets, and where they want to go.

Interiors from Spain: How important is an event like the Salone del Mobile in your growth strategy?

Dsignio: It's the most important fair of the year for us, and it has played a crucial role in our international expansion. It's where we met many of our current customers, and I'm sure we'll meet many more there in the future. I encourage fellow designers who want to collaborate with foreign companies not to be afraid to go to the Salone. All you really need is the ability to communicate in other languages and good ideas.

Exhibiting at the Salone brings a special kind of satisfaction. For us, it feels like a reward for work that’s often incredibly difficult. Getting there isn’t easy, and that’s exactly why this year has been so meaningful for our studio. This year, we have exhibited eight designs in eight different stands. We designed for five Italian companies, two Spanish companies, and one Danish company. We’ve never had such a strong presence at the Salone, and that’s a huge motivation to keep pushing forward.

Interiors from Spain: By the way, as a design studio based in Madrid, what do you think of the Madrid Design Festival, which recently celebrated its eighth edition? What does it contribute to Spanish design and to designers working in the city?

Dsignio: We think it’s fantastic to see initiatives that help shine a light on our profession. Design is still a relatively young field, and there’s a lot of educational work to be done for it to truly take root in society.

Interiors from Spain: One of the materials you've worked with is ceramics, designing wall coverings and lattices for Harmony by Peronda. Tell us about these projects and this material.

Dsignio: We have a very close relationship with Harmony. We’ve been designing ceramic collections for them for 12 years now, and we still enjoy each new design as if it were our first. Ceramic is a material we really love because it offers such a wide range of finishes and shapes. Even when it feels like it's all been done, there's always room for innovation.

Harmony has made a commitment to signature design, and it really shows in the originality of their products. Their products stand out from the competition in an industry where most brands innovate very little. By working with talented designers, they've carved out a unique space and opened up a commercial avenue that's still largely untapped.

Interiors from Spain: The Nali armchair won a Good Design Award. What do you think makes this design special, and what was the creation process like?

Dsignio: In our first meeting with the Italian brand Gaber, they literally asked us for “a brilliant idea, something different from what’s already on the market.” With this in mind, we began brainstorming.

The idea for the armchair came from an abstract concept: we imagined the air itself supporting the seated user, wrapping around them, caressing them… and allowing them to make the armchair their own by easily shifting positions.

This idea led us to a design that offers three different ways to sit: You can sit upright, lean comfortably at an angle, or recline with your back against the armrest and your feet off the floor. Gaber loved the concept, but they also realized how difficult it would be to manufacture such an organic structure.

That’s when the Italians really showed their strength. They managed to develop a perfectly finished prototype in under five months, which is incredible considering the complexity of the internal metal frame and the injection mold it required. The end result is flawless. You only have to look at the curves of the seams to appreciate the difficulty. They’re true masters.

Interiors from Spain: After this international growth, what's next for DSIGNIO? Are you thinking about opening up new lines of work or exploring other markets?

Dsignio: We're open to working with companies from other markets or industries, as long as there's a good mutual understanding. What really matters is building a strong relationship between the company and the designer.

For us, it's about building on our achievements and moving forward. There's still a long way to go.

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