The Art of Furniture Making
As I stand in the middle of my favorite Upholstery shop, I take a moment to breathe in the nostalgia that wells up inside me. The flurry of movement all around me sparks memories of my childhood and reminds me of not only how I’ve grown, but how my family and it’s legacy has expanded. You see, the world of design for me is something that goes beyond a simple passion… as the saying goes, corre en mi sangre.
The art of furniture making in our family started in Spain with my great-grandfather, Jose Buenaventura Costales. He was a Maestro craftsman, who was knowledgeable in Architecture, Design and Woodworking. My grandfather, Agustin Costales, after arriving in Cuba and meeting my grandmother followed in his father’s footsteps of woodworking and expanded upon it by adding Upholstery. Finally Papi, Agustin Buenaventura Costales, carried the tradition of woodworking and upholstery with him when he came to Miami in July of 1962. He worked in various Upholstery shops up until 1973 when he opened up his own Upholstery shop right across the street from our house.
(Pictured above in mint green is the Upholstery shop where Papi started in 1962)
My own passion with design began around the age of 8 or 9 years old when I was in Elementary School. I remember reading a book called The Boxcar Children which was about some kids that found an old boxcar and made it their home by bringing in a lot of used items to have beds, a dining table and other furnishings. After Papi opened up his own upholstery shop, I spent a lot of my time there. I would gather foam, old pieces of fabric, any scraps I could find laying around and pretend I was making things for a home. To this day I remember how that book along with seeing what my father made for everyone’s home impacted my life and how I always wanted everything around me to be just right and beautiful.
With 3 generations of craftsman in my family, I embarked on leaving my own mark and expanding our legacy. I wanted to take all that came before me and add design into the fold. To go outside of the shop and into the spaces where those pieces and furnishings would reside to create spaces that not just evoked feelings, but transformed people’s lives and how they lived. With that in mind and without any doubt that this was my calling, I studied Interior Architecture and Design.
When you follow your calling, life has a way of opening up the path for you and placing the right people in your life.
One such person was my husband, Jesus, who is just as passionate about transforming the way people live. Jesus also comes from a line of craftsman and decided to pursue his passion in the field of Construction.
Together with our combined skills of design, architecture and construction we set out to create a company that is continually expanding to provide our clients with the type of services and top of the line products that bring their dream spaces to life.
Our work has led us down a path that has given us the opportunity to work on projects throughout the United States, England, Africa, India, Mexico, the Caribbean and Colombia. Regardless of where we’ve been, how big or small the project or the size of the budget one thing remains constant: we give it our all from beginning to end to ensure that our projects are successful and our clients have a space that they love.
Of course we have loved designing homes in Tanzania and the Bahamas that were over 20,000 square feet and building condominiums all over the US, Colombia and beyond, yet one of our favorite projects is still a 100 sq.ft bedroom that we, along with our team and the Miami community got together for, to design and build a young girl’s “last wish”.
With almost 30 years of experience under my belt now, it’s very surreal at times to sit back and think of how the roots of our company can be traced back to my great-grandfather’s work as a Maestro. What started as a legacy that revolved around woodworking has grown into full scale design, architecture and construction and will very soon include the procurement of beautiful products from all over the world.
I wonder what el gran Maestro Costales would think if he could see it all now.