Spain reigns

Spanish furniture has a low profile in this country - even though Spain is home to some of Europe's most innovative designers. "People here are probably more familiar with Italian furniture," says Lorraine Stevens, "but Spanish furniture has got the same great style and quality but without the wackiness that you find in Italian furniture." Ms Stevens and her partner, Michael Connolly, have recently opened Lomi Design, a showroom with a mix of Spanish and Irish furniture. The two got together in 1998 to design and market their own range of furniture - he's a furniture designer, she's an interior designer. As a business proposition, it was difficult to pull off. They had little trouble getting orders for their simple, well-designed tables, but the problem was finding a manufacturer to produce them.

"We realised we had to diversify," she says, "and we've always admired the contemporary style of Spanish furniture so it seemed an obvious thing to do to import it." They found a showroom space in Baldoyle Industrial Estate and forged links with four Spanish furniture manufacturers, who make all types of furniture from rattan chairs for the garden to L-shaped upholstered sofas.

The Spanish upholstered furniture is particularly appealing in that it comes in a vast range of fabrics. Showing alongside the imports in their showroom is work by Irish lighting designer Leo Scarfe and one-off pieces of furniture by Thomas Raven, a winner in the ESB craft competition.

They are also showing their own range of tables and desks, having solved the manufacturing problem through a factory in the North. Pieces can be ordered with a six-week delivery time or if customers prefer they can work with designers to commission a one-off piece. "We expect that our customers will have been shopping around for some time before for the right chair or table or whatever," she says "so they'll know exactly what they want."