Alberto Lievore began by selling furniture he had built

In 1972, two decades before the studio existed, Alberto Lievore opened Hipótesis in Buenos Aires: part shop, part showroom, stocked with furniture he had built himself. He moved to Barcelona, formed the Grupo Berenguer with Norberto Chaves in 1977 — Jorge Pensi and Oriol Pibernat joined later — and set up on his own in 1984, adding consultancy and art direction to product work. Only in 1991 did he become a third of Lievore Altherr Molina, with Jeannette Altherr and Manel Molina, a practice that now works across Spain, Germany and Italy.

Catifa, the shell they drew for Arper, is in our catalogue, and so is the Segis collaboration. La Mercanti reaches for both when a project needs quiet furniture that still reads as designed.