The Evolution of Furniture Catalogs

Furniture catalogs are working tools that allow to make known furniture for sale and distribution, also catalogs reflect the brand image. To this effect, the evolution of the publishing /printing of paper furniture catalogs has improved progressively, using the latest technologies of each era. Let us look at some concrete examples of catalogs’ evolution. The first furniture catalog of our ancestors was printed at the end of the nineteenth century when Spain was still governing "Ultra Mar” Cuba and The Philippines. At that time, Fernando Payerpaj Reinoso, our great-great-grandfather was developing his business in Valladolid, he had a joinery workshop to manufacture home furniture and carpenter works, such as spiral stairs and builder’s joinery. In our family homes, we conserve some furniture from that time, also chairs and other decorative elements of the emblematic Theatre Calderon in Valladolid, and other carpenter works done after its restoration at the end of the 20th century. The furniture catalog of the mid-19th century is about 21cm long and 15cm high, the covers are made of colored paper, and, inside it is printed in black and white on white paper. The paper thickness in both cases is thin. There were used three typographies, one ornamented from that time inside the catalog, another with an embossed effect on its cover, back cover, and headings, and the traditional typography of the manual typewriter "currier”, used for the descriptive texts.

The furniture catalog shows a drawing of each piece of furniture at different scales according to model, two pictures per page that are completed with a brief descriptive text with measures, leaving enough space to handwrite the price. The printing company "JR Hernando” made the catalog in Valladolid, we ignore how many prints were run, but observing the space left to put the prices, we assume that it has been edited for a medium-long term. We highlight an inside page of this catalog which includes photos of two pieces of furniture, specifically two bedside tables, a truly Spanish photography wink conceived as a working tool to facilitate the furniture sale, and probably it was one of the first furniture catalogs in including photos. We are pleased to read the descriptive texts where it says that the company manufactured its furniture with Spanish walnut wood, the same precious timber that we are currently using to manufacture our high-quality furniture.

The second catalog goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, it seems more like a set of colored sheets than a catalog. The concept has had a positive turn, today the catalogs are edited per film, which allows us to add new collections and cancel the past, without the necessity of printing a new catalog. At that time, color print was limited and very expensive, being the editing of a catalog per film a valid and favorable option to maximize the investment. The Sheets that we conserve are 28,5cm x 41,50cm. The paper has an important thickness, almost like cardboard, where in addition to introducing color, it was editing complete environments, introducing other decorative items of that time, such as lamps, vases, and fabrics, thus, incorporating the concept of integral decoration. In the catalog of the 19th century, the pieces of furniture were shown in silhouette without decoration, in White and black color. Today catalogs are incorporating shapes, and colors, and show completely decorated environments, all this makes it easier to visualize the proposed decoration style and the sale. Colored sheets stalled the use of photos on furniture catalogs, because in addition to lacking color, giving color to a photo was expensive, also editing and printing were very complex. It is important to note, that today some furniture brands continue editing their catalogs in separate sheets, generally, they are manufacturers and companies that distribute and import medium-low-quality furniture. The third catalog goes back to the 20th century, in which color photos are available and replaced the colored sheets. Furniture catalogs were editing color photographs, showing furniture shapes and complete environments with decorative items. The discontinued furniture, the new collection, and the designs could be easily replaced and added without the necessity of editing a new printed catalog. Current catalogs are edited by replicating the colored photos and edited texts in professional printing shops. The color print is a four-color process "CMYK” (Cian, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). We keep the first catalog and photolithography edited by the ArtesMoble brand, even though this catalog is from the seventies, it was made using the current process, to show the design of that time, many designs from this catalog are still being manufactured for us, and such as the chair reference "T-100”, the classic trundle bed, the "globe” bookcases, the classic office table, and the marquetry chest of drawers "Charles IV”. We can affirm that our models are timeless, they are capable to survive the strengths of fads and styles. The fourth catalog from our brand goes back to the end of the 20th century. There were printed 1000 samples, the novelty resided that they were edited in book format, The book shows shapes and photos of environments with decorative items of that time. A difference from the first catalog of the 19th century, the paper industry offered a wide variety of papers in different finishing and thicknesses, so it was possible to choose the one that best reflects the product image. When the first Macintosh program appeared on the market, it allowed to layout multiple typography and effects. We passed from having to use plates with colored photolithographs, to being able to replicate catalogs in digital form to be printed. In our particular case, the covers of our catalogs are hard and fabric wrapped, printed with the antique logo of our brand. The size is A4, semi-matte paper, our catalogs were printed in CMYK, which makes it easier to adjust the furniture tonalities. The current biggest complexity is to achieve high-quality analog photography. The complexity does not reside in the shapes, because it is a photo with a white background, it is the environment composed of pieces of furniture in an atmosphere decorated with many decorative objects, that is complicated to get a photo that reflects the quality and perfect finish of our furniture, controlling flashing light and shades. To do this, we worked together with the professional team of Mr. Julio Limia, a great professional of analog photography of that time. He has worked with high-class magazines, vogue, and the RBA group. I had the opportunity to collaborate during the last analogs photos that were made taking advantage of our Madrid fair stand, where Our brand ArtesMoble has been awarded the Design prize. After further examination of the environment, placing all the lighting equipment, and selecting the exposition time, a polaroid photo is made to study and set the lights into the environment. Subsequently, four more photos are made alternating the light environment exposure with three, five, seven, and nine shoots photos, Mr. Julio Limia informs us that due to our furniture's natural textures and the wide range of tonalities of the wavy grain patterns of the Spanish walnut, the different volumes of our furniture and all decorative objects that compose the environment. "To picture furniture environments is the most complex work to be done”. Among all pictures, photolithography is selected and scanned into a specialized photo digitalization workshop. To be layout using computer programs, selecting from a wide variety of typography. The last step before printing, is to export the pictures document from RGB to CMYK format. The first run is printed, on which color corrections can be made. The fifth ArtesMoble catalog is from the beginning of the 21st century, our furniture catalogs were edited with computer programs more capable and efficient, and the high-quality printing was in CMYK. The big difference resides in incorporating digital photos. Which entailed a true revolution in editing furniture catalogs. The advantage of this new work tool that replaced the analog photo is to allow us to adjust the background illumination on the furniture and objects, by sections; later these sections will be overlain, shaping a unique high-quality picture, that can be edited to be fixed through Photoshop computer programs. In addition to adjusting the tonalities during the printing, we can correct tones on the photo, adjusting the furniture color and tonality. In our first catalog of High quality Contemporary and Classic furniture collections are printed the last analog photographs are together with the first digital photos. The rest of our catalogs are edited with digital pictures. Printing works also has been improving the quality of its printouts, the latest RGB technology is close to achieving the printing quality of CMYK.

The new technologies make it possible to see a digital catalog on a screen without the necessity of printing it. Today you can download our high-quality furniture catalogs from our website on your phone, office, or home. Nevertheless, some furniture professionals continue requesting a printed version as a working tool to facilitate the sale. ArtesMoble considers that the book catalog is a very important work tool to have it, A book catalog transmits the high quality of our furniture, as well as, our corporate image.