Since 1975
Lisbon, Portugal, 1975
A time that ran slower, a mind that was finally free to think, a life that seemed more lived despite its harshness, and a 13 years old boy from a small village in Loures who became an apprentice upholsterer at Oficina Jaurés, an upholstery workshop in Lisbon.
Lisbon was then a city full of small stores and workshops in every street, streets that the 13 years old apprentice would come to know like the palm of his hands, with the innocence of a child still discovering himself and the maturity of an adult already confronted with life.
With the Portuguese sidewalk and the yellow trams as background,
moved by the rhythms and melodies of fado songs playing on the radios in every home, and inspired by the smell of wood and fabric in every workshop, the 13 years old apprentice would travel all over the city with rolls of fabric and foam on his shoulders, getting on and off the trams that ran through Lisbon to the customer's homes, up and down Lisbon's seven hills, always with his wooden suitcase in which he carried all his tools, from sunrise until after sunset, when all the work was done dor the day.
Over the following decades, the apprentice became a master upholsterer, piece by piece, step by step, gathering experience and knowledge increasingly difficult to find, helping to bring Portugal's centuries-old tradition as a creator and manufacturer of upholstery and furniture up to the present day. Upholstery is now a rare art, in a world where knowledge and experience have stopped being passed from one person to another as a testimony, as an inheritance. Fortunately there are exceptions to the rule.
Forty nine years have passed since the first day the apprentice picked up a broom to sweep the floor of the Jaurés workshop. Paulo Simões, the then 13 years old boy, is today the master upholsterer at Estofo Real, passing on his knowledge and experience to his son, Nuno Simões. Paulo is the backbone of the company, guaranteeing that all pieces are made with respect for traditions in which craftsmanship makes each piece unique, traditions whose rhythm makes each piece thought out in detail, traditions whose commitment to excellence is unbreakable in the present and over time.
This is the story of Estofo Real, an upholstery company that symbolizes the best of what is done in the sector, making pieces that combine the best materials and know-how in order to make them capable of being passed through several generations.
