Interwoven | Entrelaçado Exhibition
On June 12, we opened an exhibition at our Porto gallery showcasing our collaborations with artisan weavers. Both a retrospective and a launch, the exhibition, entitled Interwoven | Entrelaçado, celebrates De La Espada’s past five years of weaving partnerships and launches new work, looking towards an even more prolific five years ahead.
The exhibition was designed by Simon Kämpfer, head of creative design at our in-house design studio De La Espada Atelier. Simon’s exhibition design tells the story of our weaving partnerships, all of which he coordinated, through raw materials, film, images, and final products, taking the visitor on a journey through the creative process. Capturing manual weaving traditions in materials including junco (soft rush), wool, flax, and more, the display includes products born of our partnerships with Fabricaal, Flores Textile Studio, Isabelle Ormieres, Catarina Riccabona, and Toino Abel.
Interwoven | Entrelaçado reaffirms De La Espada’s commitment to supporting the endurance of generations-old craft methods, highlighting our expert woodcraft alongside artisan weaving; celebrating the intersection of weaving and furniture craft at our Porto home.
The Interwoven | Entrelaçado exhibition includes work born of De La Espada’s partnerships with: Fabricaal, Flores Textile Studio, Catarina Riccabona and Toino Abel.
FABRICAAL
Classic products from De La Espada’s collaboration with Fabricaal, Monsaraz-based specialist weavers of merino wool Portuguese blankets, are on display alongside launches: a new upholstery collection with the iconic Lido pattern from the Fabricaal portfolio in a colour palette developed with De La Espada, and special editions of select furniture integrating these new textiles, including Elysia and Sela Lounge Chairs by Luca Nichetto, and Twenty-Five Lounge, Bergere, and Ottoman by De La Espada Atelier.
FLORES TEXTILE STUDIO
De La Espada’s Arts & Crafts Cabinet incorporates a special linen textile from Lisbon-based interior design studio and textile showroom Flores Textile Studio. The linen is made by local artisans using an entirely artisanal process—from fiber cultivation and harvesting to spinning, weaving, and dyeing. At Interwoven | Entrelaçado, new colourways of the textile are launching, hand-dyed by Isabelle Ormieres.
CATARINA RICCABONA
Working from her loom, textile artist Catarina Riccabona uses ecological fibers like linen, hemp, and wool—either undyed or naturally dyed—as well as recycled threads, hand-weaving pieces guided by intuition. At the exhibition, one of the two Arts & Crafts Cabinets from De La Espada Atelier, for which she created single-edition textile art, is on display. Also exhibited are one-of-a-kind wall tapestries she created specially for the exhibition.
TOINO ABEL
Toino Abel, a workshop located in the village of Castanheira, employs generations-old basketweaving techniques to craft handbags from junco (soft rush). The exhibition includes Twenty-Five Bedside by De La Espada Atelier, which features panels woven by the workshop.
Also on display is the Twenty-Five Bed with a junco headboard handwoven using similar techniques. Representing both process and product, the headboard acts as a loom upon which the junco is woven.
De La Espada is deeply committed to the preservation of Portugal’s ancestral techniques, while seeking to redefine their relevance in a contemporary context.
At our dedicated workshop on Portugal’s Silver Coast, De La Espada craftspeople specialising in woodworking and upholstery combine time-honoured construction methods with thoughtful innovations. We also partner with select artisan workshops whose work we highlight in our products.
While the focus of the Interwoven | Entrelaçado exhibition is our weaving partnerships, the display also includes products representing our other partnerships and design initiatives. Our partnership with Portuguese saddler Sela Lusitana is represented through the display of our Sela Chairs designed by Luca Nichetto, and the presence of our Arts & Crafts Cabinet by De La Espada Atelier showcases our collaboration with Porto-based ceramic artist Teresa Branco. Also present are Tronco, Turfa, and Cepo, three seats from our limited-edition collection Ensemble, designed by Sam Baron in collaboration with eight members of De La Espada Atelier. The amalgamation of pieces provides an insight into the current creative world of De La Espada.
“The crafts together are stronger in terms of capturing the imagination of the public and producing objects that are both functional and have artistic value. Being interwoven, we are all richer,”
Luis De Oliveira, De La Espada co-founder.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
The Interwoven | Entrelaçado exhibition continues until August 7.
EXHIBITION DATES
June 12 - August 7, 2025
Open weekdays by appointment
Arrange a visit: galeria@delaespada.com
LOCATION
Galeria De La Espada
Travessa de Cedofeita 42
4050-448 Porto, Portugal
All photography by Yuki Sugiura
