OITENTA

Oitenta, the independent design studio of Galician Rafael Fernández Sánchez, nurtures Spanish artisanal heritage, fusing modern design with traditional handcraft in the brand’s charmingly functional work. Born in 1980 in A Coruña, Spain, Fernández Sánchez attended Barcelona’s Elisava School of Design, where he graduated with honors in 2006. In 2009, he founded the first iteration of his studio alongside four Elisava colleagues who shared his 1980 birthdate—hence, the name Oitenta, or “eighty” in the Galician dialect. Although the group fizzled soon after, Oitenta maintained a pulse, eventually rejuvenating in 2015 as Sánchez’s own studio, focusing on handcrafted designer products. Oitenta’s core design philosophy—a blend of “functionality, aesthetics, and emotion,” says Sánchez—from key 20th-century modernists like Charles and Ray Eames, Arne Jacobsen, and Naoto Fukasawa. Case in point: Otienta’s Eira Chair (2012). Made in collaboration with master woodworker Jorge Carril, this stylishly laminated bentwood lounge chair embodies the elegant simplicity found in the most iconic modernist designs. Oitenta’s portable Readme Book Rack (2017) blends a minimalist form and modernist penchant for adaptability with a millennial sensibility to be on-the-go. Sánchez showcased his Eira Chair in Santiago de Compostela at the Cidade de Cultura Museum exhibition Da Árbore á Cadeira in 2017.