Giving love, receiving love

“If you give love, you receive love. If you give goodness, you receive goodness. If you want to live in peace and make your dreams come true, you have to put love and passion into what you do. If you pour love into your relationship with friends, your partner and children, you transmit good energy, and you will receive and live out beautiful experiences”. This is what Álvaro and Maria Antònia, the creators of Con Alma Design, feel.

They two met over ten years ago, when they attended a concert given by Diego, a mutual friend, in a bar in Barcelona. The were immediately drawn to each other. “Love emerged because we are totally different”, says Álvaro. “She is calmer and I am more restless. We gave one another a chance and now we have two children and a project together. It’s about living, respecting others and enjoying”.

In 2011, Álvaro was working in London and María Antònia went to visit him. They were having a drink in Chamomille, a little bar in the London borough of Hampstead, when the idea of creating Con Alma Design came up. Curiously enough, they discovered that the name of their project is comprised of the first syllable of each of their names: Alma. “The raison d’être of our company is creativity; we unleash our imagination and daydream”.

In 2013, they decided to come to live in Mallorca. Their home is in Alaró but they work on a 14th-century family possessió, or rural estate, in the interior of the island. “We started going to a furniture restoration course. We created very rough boards, because we didn’t have enough tools. We have evolved over time, and invested the money we make in more machinery”. “We aren’t carpenters or cabinet makers. We are simply a design studio that creates using nature and wood. We design and think up different lines of colours to create our boards and evolve with our projects”.

Since they can’t do it all by themselves, they collaborate with María, of Gerrería Serra Frontera, with Pere, of Pedres Ramis, and with Derribos Delta, who lend them a helping hand with the tables which they also design.

The couple spend a lot of time together. They are totally synchronised with each other, because “you learn what your faults are, or what things might annoy the other person, and you try to change it, because your aim is to feel good with that other person. Transmitting positive energy to your partner is a sign of love and respect”.

Instagram is a window that has enabled them to reach many clients in different parts of the world - “95% of our sales are catalyzed through this social media service”. But no matter what, “when we close the workshop, we disconnect. We don’t want to have anything to do with work at the weekend, otherwise every day would be the same. We need some days to forget about everything, because we have [...]

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