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HISTORY
HISTORIY 4
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Javier López de Lamadrid
In 1973 Javier López de Lamadrid, a textile engineer, made his dream come true, founding Güell Lamadrid S.A. together with his brother-in-law Claudio Güell, with the aim of having their own company and selling fabrics in the Spanish high-end decoration market.
The beginnings were very tough and, from a small office on Passeig de Gracia (Barcelona), with just one employee, Javier and Claudio set out on their journey together, travelling to the United States to represent the P. Kauffman company in Spain and sell their fabrics to the most important customers in the industry at that time.
A few years later, the two partners decided to start importing their first collections, this moment determined the true beginning of their commercial activity, creating an inventory for which they had to raise capital for the first time.
Peter Kaufmann personally struck up a great friendship with Javier and after many years of close collaboration between the two companies, we continue to maintain a magnificent professional relationship and a deep friendship with the second and third generation of the family.
Later, Javier had the idea of starting to print his own designs in local factories, this would mean they would also become “converter” apart from importer/distributor. With this new line of exclusive products, the company began its export activity and international expansion, attending fairs such as Heimtextil or Textil Hogar and, years later, Decosit.
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1973
1980
Establishment of the Güell Lamadrid company and brand
Import of the first collections from USA
Stamping of our own Güell Lamadrid designs in domestic factories
Attendance to international fairs
1980
Claudio López de Lamadrid leads the Lamatex project
Agreement with the French company Boussac
Álvaro López de Lamadrid joins the company
1990
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Several other projects and companies emerged from Javier’s mind but, over time, were either integrated into the company itself or simply took flight on their own. We can highlight three examples: Lamatex had great success with Walt Disney’s children’s designs; Romanex distributed the fabrics of the famous French brand Boussac for a long time; and years later, BCS was the group’s first experience in the Contract market.
In all these years, Claudio López de Lamadrid, Javier’s brother, was almost always by his side, acting as a faithful adviser, and he has continued to work for the company together with Álvaro and Borja until he retired recently.
At the end of the 1980s, Álvaro joined the company after gaining a few years’ experience in the audit field, contributing organizational skills and a new vision of the future. Just at that moment, the agreement with the designer Dominique Kieffer and her French partners led to the creation of the company Les Créations de la Maison, which brought a new dimension to the group, by launching the first collections for sale by meters, something that had not existed until then at Güell Lamadrid.
After a few years of growth, Les Créations de la Maison brand really “exploded” in the market simultaneously with the launch of handcrafted fabrics from India and later by incorporating the first European linen and cotton collections.
Over the course of the following decade, Borja joined the company after finishing his business degree, which was key to kickstarting the next stage of modernization, expansion, and diversification, with an important new approach in the way of commercializing Güell Lamadrid and a clear commitment to further expand the company’s international reach.
Undoubtedly, those years presented a change in the company’s business model and its consolidation as Textile Editor, a term used to encompass companies that create their own textile collections, present them in books or hanging samples and, most importantly, sell them in the high-end decoration market.
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1990
Success of Les Créations de la Maison upon discovering some handcrafted fabrics
Borja López de Lamadrid joins the company
Expansion and internationalization stage
The company becomes Textile Editor
2000
2000
Beginning of the activity in the Contract market
Agreement for the exclusive distribution in Spain of FR-One and FibreGuard brands
Opening of physical showrooms
2010
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After the turn of the century, the Contract activity took off, first with the establishment of a subsidiary to supply textiles to hotels and public spaces (BSC), and later with the creation of the Lamadrid Contract brand, concurring with the important incorporation of the FROne brand focused on fire-retardant fabrics, owned by the Belgian company BRU, who granted us the exclusive distribution of the brand for the Spanish market.
The commercial relationship with this company and its owners, the Neiman brothers, has undoubtedly been one of the most important strategic alliances for the company. This relationship allowed Grupo Lamadrid to diversify by distributing the BRU fabrics collections, that have been a perfect match for the furniture industry and the Contract channel.
It is worth highlighting the most recent incorporation, the FibreGuard brand, with the latest stain free technology, which has brought about a revolution in the world of upholstery.
The opening of owned showrooms in Madrid and Barcelona, and later in New York and Lisbon, reflected the company’s desire to build a closer relationship with professional opinion leaders, decorators and architects, and the different players in the Contract market.
Opening a space in the D&D Building in New York, which was led by our partner Stephane Silverman, was undoubtedly a remarkable milestone in the company’s history that allowed us to entry such an important yet difficult market like North America.
In the recent years, we have worked hard to offer a wide variety of high-quality designs and textures for the decoration of all types of homes or public spaces, and we can highlight that our brands contain the best printed designs on the market or the latest stonewashed linens, among many other proposals such as velvets, sheers, and jacquards of all kinds.
In addition, in 2022 we have created our own “Sustainable Fabrics” seal under which we will always have eco-friendly fabrics that have been made with some type of recycled fibre or with natural fibers with a low environmental impact (such as organic cotton, linen or hemp).
In the last decade, the company has reached agreements with different interior designers, artists and designers from the fashion world to jointly create special collections that have undoubtedly enriched our product offering, contributing originality, new ideas and daring designs.
It is important to highlight the recent and important commercial agreement with the French company Houlès, which has been a clear step forward by our brands in those European markets where we are represented (France, Germany, Italy and Austria), in addition to being a huge catalyst in our Spanish market, where we have successfully introduced its exclusive collections of trimmings and other decorative elements.
In 2022 we created our own SF “Sustainable Fabrics” label under which we offer eco-friendly fabrics that have been manufactured with some type of recycled fiber or with natural fibers with low impact on the environment (such as organic cotton, linen or hemp).
As the company’s last great achievement, we would like to highlight the creation of the Lamadrid Values platform as the keystone of our Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and the culmination of an goal that we have always had in mind in the past but that had never been formally executed. Today it is finally a reality.
2010
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Agreements and collaborations with outstanding figures in the world of fashion and decoration
Collaboration with Houlès in several countries and distribution of its brand in Spain
Creation of the first collections of Sustainable Fabrics
We shape our CSR strategy via the LamadridValues platform
50th anniversary of the company
2023
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