White House’s pressroom has its chairs coming from Catalonia

Lliçà d'Amunt (CNA) .- Although it is not a well known fact, the White House in the United States of America has something in common with the Vatican University – its chairs. The company Figueras International Seating that is based in Lliçá d'Amunt (Vallès Oriental County) has been making seats for an international market for the last 40 years. In 2010, exports represented 70% of their business and brought about a 43% increase in sales and this year, the company hopes to have a turnover of around 50 million euros. Marketing director Eva Blanco de Alba spoke to CNA about their objective of offering a lot more than just a chair. Figueras International Seating sells prestige, a brand and a function. When potential customers pay a visit to their headquaters in Lliçà d'Amun, they can view a room full of chairs at the push of a button.

Visitors have access to chairs that can now be found in auditoriums, airports, sports stadiums and parliaments all around the world. Chairs made by this Catalan company are even to be found at the White House in Washington. “We did that sale through our Miami office”, says marketing director Eva Blanco de Alba.

Figueras is a good example of how positive good international relations can be in business. “Our exports last year accounted for 70% of the business of the firm. In one year we increased our sales by 43%”, says Blanco de Alba. A long time ago, the firm decided to distinguish themselves abroad with high value products.

The situation abroad has helped us “get through the economic crisis”, says the head of marketing. “We did our homework a long time ago”. Furthermore, this relationship with customers abroad “was not achieved over night”.

The company specialises in designing and manufacturing seats for bulk but tries to offer more than just the product. “Some companies just make chairs, we also want to offer prestige - a brand, a function”.

According to the marketing manager, "chairs have always been important as they put the person in connection with the place that they are in, but we have made sure that we give the product the importance that it deserves. After 40 years, we are no longer just a piece of design but rather something innovative that allows you to relax and have access to an Internet connection or air conditioning”.

Figueras International Seating does not just design chairs. “We are involved in many projects”, says Blanco de Alba. “We work hand in hand with major architects like Norman Foster, Nouvelle or Bofill and even offer products that take many things into consideration like the climate, visibility, acoustics and decoration”.

Future projects & politics

The head of marketing was reluctant to give too many details about future projects at Figueras but Blanco de Alba did acknowledge that they were working with new technologies, like nanotechnology and intelligent textiles and ecological fabrics.

With regard to politics, Blanco de Alba said she expected the new government to “give more support to SMEs and business” because she is convinced that “they are the ones that will bring wealth to the country”.

Restructuring

Finally, according to company guidelines/the marketing director/the law, “companies have to restructure to move forward and not keep their hands tied” as earlier this year, the company had to lay off 12 of their 175 workers. “The new legislation allowed us to finish with a sector that was not profitable. Now we more committed to export than to manufacture and still have the same number of workers”.