Studio Jaia (Anna Lena Kortmann)

Who is / What is

Furniture and pattern studio in Palma (workshop and showroom in Pere Garau from 2022). It is directed by Anna Lena Kortmann (Mainz; interior design in Germany, École Boulle in Paris and Swinburne in Melbourne; more than ten years in architecture). She has lived in Palma since 2016. The name pays tribute to the women of the island who have kept the seating weaving ("jaia") alive.

Featured work

• PUPUT (stool, bench, high stool): wooden frame (hard wax oak) and seat woven in recycled cotton cord with geometric patterns. A PUPUT bench in sage green bears a pattern inspired by the hexagonal tiles of the hotel it was made for.
• Figuera, Milana bench (own collection, website).
• Capsule of shoes and accessories with Lottusse 1887 (View Mallorca, 2024; exact year to be verified).
• Monocle (2026) states that the Barcelona Design Museum acquired the PUPUT stool; I have not confirmed it in the museum catalog (to verify).

Relationship with the office

• He learned the Mallorcan technique of cording cadires in a workshop; weaves at home and a local fuster makes the frames.
• Trades: cadiraires and vogue · Mallorcan fusteria . Objects: vogue table and bench · rocker and tibulet .
• Collaboration: Lottusse . Related workshop: Magdalena Riera, roper .

History

• 2016: Kortmann settles in Palma.
• 2020: Studio Jaia starts (web © 2020).
• 2022: largest workshop-showroom in Pere Garau; start teaching classes.
• 2024–2026: profile in Homo Faber; Monocle includes it among the three studios that make Palma “a design enclave” (2026).

Why is indigenous design

It takes the corded seat of the Mallorcan chair (women's trade, at risk) and turns it into contemporary graphic language, without losing the hand or the local workshop.

For the project

• Cover piece: Mallorcan chair reissued with Jaia + an older roper (Magdalena Riera) dialogue of generations.
• Cordat open workshop for readers of the magazine.

Photos

 — © Monocle (photo: Ana Lui, please verify)

 — © Monocle (photo: Ana Lui, please verify)

 — PUPUT Bank. © Studio Jaia / Homo Faber

Sources

• monocle.com/design/furniture-design/best-furniture-design-studios-palma-mallorca
• homofaber.com/it/artisans/anna-lena-kortmann-iesnss
• viewmallorca.com/article-single-long/handcrafted-furniture-and-lighting-design-i
• studiojaia.com/

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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