CELEBRATING ARTISANAL CRAFT AT XTANT
“We want to show how the world of carefully made furniture can be entwined with all kinds of textile traditions”
In a conscious push against fast-fashion, pollution, and disconnection, Xtant, an annual craft festival in Palma de Mallorca, fosters community, embraces regeneration, and reclaims the meaning in textile craft. This warm and intentional gathering of global artisans includes exhibitions, workshops, talks, and a marketplace celebrating the art of weaving. As a company deeply committed to supporting the endurance of artisanal craft, De La Espada is proud to participate in Xtant this year, shining a light on the work of our partners in the world of weaving and textiles, and presenting new pieces created in collaboration with them.
Xtant founder Kavita Parmar comes from the world of fashion, and has long championed artisanal craft, traceability, and environmental responsibility in the industry, creating international brands and initiatives that have won her awards including the UNSCC Leadership Award, Luxury Briefing Award for Innovation, and SOURCE Award by Ethical Fashion Forum London. Xtant embodies her values, celebrating heritage textile knowhow, fibre crafts and regenerative practices in a welcoming and inspiring environment.
Now in its 6th edition, Xtant this year features 80 artists from 29 countries, and carries the theme of Huaca: a celebration of the sacred. This theme calls to the role of textiles in rituals throughout time and the beauty in the process of their creation, while inviting reflection on where each of us finds meaning in our lives.
DE LA ESPADA MERGES WEAVING WITH WOODCRAFT
De La Espada’s presence at Xtant will showcase the creative intersection of weaving and furniture craft. We will present new and existing work with Fabricaal and Flores Textile Studio from Portugal, Isabelle Ormieres from France, and Catarina Riccabona from England. The exhibition highlights our collaborations with these exceptional artisans as well as their work beyond our partnership.
Luis De Oliveira, co-founder of De La Espada, explains our participation in the festival thus: “Participating in Xtant is part of a personal and De La Espada journey to entwine more traditional crafts into our day-to-day. As traditional woodworkers and upholsterers bringing the historical crafts into the 21st century, we already have some skin in the game. We haven't wavered from this path despite growing over the years. Expanding to support other crafts and craftspeople, first in Portugal and then as we grow in confidence and resources across borders, feels like a natural step forward.”
DE LA ESPADA COLLABORATIONS AT XTANT
Fabricaal, a Monsaraz-based workshop specialising in Portuguese blankets hand woven on manual looms, has collaborated with De La Espada since 2021, and their intricate woollen textiles can be found on special editions of Capo Lounge Armchair and Twenty-Five Dining Chair. At Xtant, we will exhibit an upholstery collection created in collaboration with the workshop, a classic pattern from the Fabricaal portfolio in a set of colours developed with the De La Espada design team. We will also launch special editions of select furniture integrating these textiles.
Flores Textile Studio, a Lisbon-based interior design studio and textile showroom that works closely with local artisans, created the Flores Linen textile De La Espada offers on our Arts & Crafts Cabinet. This linen is made using an entirely artisanal process, from the growing and harvesting of the flax to the spinning and weaving of the yarn, to the dyeing of the textile. At Xtant, we will present new colourways of this linen, naturally hand-dyed in Paris by Isabelle Ormieres, to expand the possibilities for the Arts & Crafts Cabinet.
London-based textile artist Catarina Riccabona works with eco-friendly yarns including linen, hemp, undyed or plant-dyed wools, and recycled yarns, allowing the materials, colours and her intuition to guide her while she hand weaves one-of-a-kind pieces on her dobby loom. Two Arts & Crafts Cabinets by De La Espada Atelier feature single-edition textile art she created specially for them. At Xtant, we will exhibit one of these cabinets to showcase the collaboration, and Catarina will also present a selection of textiles from her wider portfolio.
“We plan to bring to Mallorca a bit of our world, alongside the work of friends of the firm. We want to show how the world of carefully made furniture can be entwined with all kinds of textile traditions,” Luis De Oliveira.
Also exhibiting at Xtant this year is Portuguese non-profit Passa Ao Futuro, with whom De La Espada has an ongoing relationship acting as both a collaborator and supporter. Passa Ao Futuro promotes a future for heritage Portuguese craft through research, collaborative projects, and social and environmental impact programming. At Xtant, they will exhibit products merging artisan basketweaving with contemporary design. The pieces were created in the Plant Based Design Residencies they organised, where contemporary designers partnered with artisans to innovate and strengthen the future of basketry skills.
Xtant is a unique event that is powerful in its message of optimism, creating space for a return to our relationship with nature and generations of craft skill.
We encourage you to visit Mallorca for this thoughtful event honouring creativity, craft, tradition and innovation; it’s an invitation to reconnect with the human scale of textile craft and the wisdom carried in its warp and weft.
EXHIBITION DATES
May 9-13 2025
May 9
Press and VIP Patron Preview
May 10-13
Open to all
11am - 7pm
Register to attend
TALK
Huaca of the Heart: Remembering Fatima Durkee's Legacy
May 10th at 12pm
A conversation between Astrid Suzano, co-founder of Passa Ao Futuro; Luis De Oliveira, co-founder of De La Espada; and Armando Ribeiro, founder of Oapartamento. Part of the Huaca Conversation Series.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
View the programme
Register to attend
Learn more about Xtant
Photo credits, left to right, top to bottom: Images 2-5 and 13 courtesy of Xtant; images 8 and 9 by Yuki Sugiura; image 10 by Alannah Cooper; image 11 by Inês Silva Sá; images 1, 6 and 12 by Emily Jean Vanweydeveld for Flores Textile Studio
