If you’ve ever visited Portugal, the World Travel Award’s Leading Destination three years running, chances are that at some point - or at least four times a day if you're a caffeine addict like me – you sat down on sun-soaked terraces to enjoy some of the finest coffee the country has to offer. Whether the cafes were situated in the squares of Lisbon, beachside in the Algarve, or overlooking the vineyards of the Douro Valley, you likely missed one of the most characteristically Portuguese pieces of modern design. Had you stood up and looked closely, you may have noticed a distinct pattern. Around nearly every espresso-laden table, across the entirety of this small Iberian country, sits the curvilinear craftsmanship of a simple and elegant shape. What surrounds you is a cultural seating motif known regionally as the Gonçalo Chair, or more straightforwardly, the Portuguese Chair. 

The first prototype was birthed alongside parts for fruit juice extractors and machine belt clamps, inside a small Lisbon workshop in the post-war 1940s. While working on a variety of contraptions, craftsman Gonçalo Rodrigues dos Santos fabricated a new tool for his metalworking arsenal - a machine that allowed for the bending of iron tubes. This industrial modernization led Gonçalo to form the distinct bones of his namesake chair.

Two pieces of iron tubing are wound through the mechanical device and conjoined to create the curved frame. Rear legs flow upward through the arms and contour to cradle the back, while front legs curve to the rear forming the seat. The molding of the metal reduced the need for weaker welding points, creating a hardy and easily stackable seating arrangement. It wasn’t long before the design became emblematic of terrace-living throughout the country.

After decades of lining the Avenida da Liberdade and being strewn across restaurants in the historic Baixa district, Gonçalo’s design exchanged hands through generations before finally landing in the lap of an ambitious fledgling designer. Like many young Portuguese men, Alexandre Caldas dreamed of working with his hands - a dream that he thought could be found inside the metallic engine bays of vintage cars. Although he never made it into the mechanic's garage, a series of serendipitous events rerouted him on a divergent path that would still keep his hands oil-stained.

Caldas, now in his 40s with silver-streaked hair, was 15 years old when he first became exposed to the intricacies and aesthetics of furniture design. The building of his design foundation at first came through osmosis when his father purchased the original production factory of the Portuguese Chair. But by the age of 18, he began working the floor of his father's factory full time. It was in this workshop where he met a man he described as the "keeper of secrets."

Caldas calls him Master Serafim, and the secrets he keeps are the life's work of Gonçalo Rodrigues dos Santos. Master Serafim was Gonçalo's apprentice through the peak of his design's production and saw the legacy carried years later inside the new workshop where Caldas began his journey. Caldas, through the guidance of his father and Master Serafim, continued work on the design, including the production and sale of their chair during the 1998 Lisbon World’s Fair Exposition. “I realize that this was the period when I was fully engaged with the chair,” Caldas said. “I ate, breathed, and dreamed about this chair 24/7.”

The years that followed saw discord between Caldas and his father. “At some point in the journey, our relationship was hit by a generational gap and I decided to back away from the chairs to let my father do the job without my interference,” he said. Although he left the factory, he didn’t lose the craftsmen spirit instilled by his father and Master Serafim. And like any true youth rebelling against a proceeding generation, Caldas decided to take this spirit to the culture of skateboarding where he started a company that designed and produced the first all-Portuguese made longboards.

After three years on four wheels, the prodigal son returned to the world of furniture design, albeit this time taking the entrepreneurial essence from the skate company to start his own brand. In 2013 AROUNDtheTREE was launched. Armed with the design chops and a love for his heritage, Caldas commenced refining the cultural staple he was immersed in as a young adult. He took Gonçalo’s bones and gave them new life with a solid wood treatment, naming his model in honor of the design’s lineage: the Portuguese Roots Chair. 

Caldas kept intact the soul that made this design a pillar but turned to the material to give it a refined polish. Species of walnut, ash, beech, and oak woods are used to give the chairs organic life. Every piece is finished with natural oils that allow that life to “breathe” throughout the grain pattern.

Although AROUNDtheTREE still crafts all their pieces in Portugal, the wood used is imported from countries such as the United States and France - a stark change from Portugal’s native ship-building heritage of the 15th century. But it’s a change born of necessity. This shift is due to a lack of quality lumber in a country marred by claims to poor forestry management. It’s an issue that was exacerbated on the international stage following the deadly fires in 2017. “Even though we have a great tradition in wood-working, the reality is that numerous administrations didn’t care for the forest,” Caldas said, “and for that reason, we have difficulties finding quality wood in our country.”  

Despite the need to import wood, Caldas turned inward to one substance that the southern European nation is known for exporting. And it isn’t the red wine that accompanied your salted cod, but rather the cork from the stopper that plugs it. According to the Portuguese Cork Association, the country produces about half of the cork used globally and exports over one billion dollars’ worth annually. Caldas uses the fire and liquid resistant material to add another dimensionality to the design’s Portuguese legacy, as well as giving the pieces a luxe comfortability through its suede-like touch.

Caldas didn’t stop the embrace of his ancestry with the use of cork though. He appointed another Portuguese artisan to work on a limited-edition version of the Roots chair: his mother. As a seasoned crafter who worked in one of Portugal’s famed ceramics factories, Maria de Ludres Paulos added her touch to a series of chairs with a traditional labyrinthine-like hand painting associated with the distinct blue hue of Portuguese azulegos.

Caldas’s design sensibility also transcends the national pride displayed in his signature chair. AROUNDtheTREE currently houses twenty designs in its furniture portfolio, including a spacious workstation, an arachnid-like lamp, and an inconceivably balanced dining table. 

The roots planted long before him, have begun sprouting for Caldas. The year following the company’s launch, the Roots Chair won a Silver Award from the world’s largest annual design accolades, the A’Design Awards. From 2017 through 2019, AROUNDtheTREE was a featured partner at the Lisbon Web Summit, where industry leaders discussed advances in tech while seated on Caldas's wooden creations. And now, his chair is housed alongside a Gonçalo design in the country's National Museum of Design and Fashion (MUDE). His pieces can be found curated inside Portugal’s burgeoning scene of hotels and restaurants, as well as the homes of fashion-forward aesthetes abroad. As Caldas continues to water his sapling, he imagines the shade it can cast. “We want the company to rise like a tree,” he said, “with strong roots to support all the weight of the growing branches.”