Other work
Tiendablau
Designing every piece of a business (product, brand, sales channel) teaches you fast where the real limits of doing it all alone are.
Context
Tiendablau designed and built custom furniture in metal and wood: bar carts, coat racks, chairs, beds, decorative pieces, nightstands, and shelving. Every piece started as an original design, not resale or generic catalog product.
The role covered the full chain: designing each piece, building the wood components by hand, coordinating with an external workshop for the metal components, assembly, packaging, and shipping. On top of that: product photography, running e-commerce and social media, and direct client relationships from first inquiry to sale.
The Work
Design process
Every piece started in 3D before touching wood or metal. Renders made it possible to adjust proportions, test finishes, and validate the piece with the client before committing material or fabrication time.
Original pieces
Custom pieces in metal and wood, always designed for a real space, never for a catalog. Product photography (shot in-house, no external photographer) had to communicate the same quality as a brand with a full team behind it.
E-commerce
Own store with a product configurator (size, base color), built mobile-first from day one, since most traffic came directly from social media.
Social media
Content built around real lifestyle, not catalog photography. The account grew to over 5,000 organically-built followers, with no paid ads.
Larger-scale projects
Two corporate clients extended the scope beyond individual home pieces: modular office furniture (desks, chairs, coat racks) for a coworking space, and hospitality furniture (coffee tables, armchairs, and wicker-and-metal chairs) for a boutique beach hotel. Both projects meant designing for volume and durability, not a single one-off piece.
The Result
Nearly six years in operation, over 5,000 organically-built Instagram followers, and a portfolio that grew from individual home pieces to scaled furniture for corporate and hospitality clients. Tiendablau closed in 2025, after carrying every function of the business (design, fabrication, photography, sales, logistics) as a one-person team.
The Lesson
Carrying every function alone has a real ceiling, and recognizing that ceiling in time is a design decision too. Closing Tiendablau wasn't the project failing. It was the most honest application of what the project itself had already taught.