New Autumn issue of Design in/from Spain magazine arrives to smartphones and tablets

A warm welcome to our autumn issue, which is full of great design, lots of news and fascinating interviews.

Let's start by saying it's wonderful to have our own  BD Barcelona store here in London. Barcelona’s esteemed furniture company opened its new showroom in Berry Street, Clerkenwell, in May. Clerkenwell has become the capital's centre for contemporary design, and Spanish companies made a tremendous contribution to Clerkenwell Design Week, now in its seventh year. Actiu and Porcelanosa have their own established showrooms here and each hosted a range of events, while a number of Basque Country-based companies showed their latest ranges under the Basque Living umbrella.

We also review the other big shows of the season, HD Expo in Las Vegas, ICFF in New York and NeoCon in Chicago, and we bring you news of who's won what award. Interestingly, the winner of the Gold prize in Spain's Delta awards was Closca, which manufactures a foldable cycle helmet.

We have interviews with three very different companies – Mad-Lab,  NOW Carpets and Milan Iluminación. Antonio Serrano at Mad Lab is very much of the view that small is beautiful, and this Madrid studio – or laboratory has he prefers to think of it – designs what it calls Soul and Useful objects from wood; the former being charming wooden houses. Sounds intriguing? All is explained in our feature.

Miguel Paracuellos at NOW Carpets talks about the company's rise to success and its commitment to doing fair and ethical business. He's keen to dispel the myth that European rug companies have their products hand-made in Asia or China because they want cheap labour. No, he says it's because we don't have the expertise to make hand-knotted or hand-tufted rugs in Europe.

And if you're interested in lighting, you'll want to know what David Jané, CEO at Milan Iluminación, has to say. He thinks LED technology has led to the market being flooded with new players able to cash in on the relative ease of putting LEDs into product. And this rush of cheap product has affected the 'serious' lighting industry's return to growth. That said, for established companies that put good design and high quality at the heart of their business, the economic climate is looking bright and he's in confident mood.

With best wishes,

Julián Izquierdo

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