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Courtesy of Blue Chains

“It’s my passion,” Azul Cadenas says of the furniture he makes by hand in his Wynwood studio. Located in a cluster of garage-like workspaces on the lightly trafficked NW 37^th Street, his sliver of a studio pulses with a steady hum of cars buzzing by on State Road 112 just to the north. Cadenas, a formally-trained set designer and commercial art director, has been fascinated with furniture design since childhood. He built his first chair at 16. He studied fine arts at the Ernesto de la Carcova Art School in Buenos Aires before moving to Miami in 2003 where he founded his own company, Blue Chains — the English translation of his birth name. The pieces he produces are careful studies in ergonomics, practicality and modern lines, and are artfully executed with FSC-certified woods (Baltic birch, maple and walnut, mostly) using water-based glues and finishes. In 2009, Cadenas began experimenting with the rapidly renewable and ever-durable wood-like reed, bamboo. The result: the award-winning Bamtak Chair (shown). Still only a prototype, this armchair-lounger hybrid converts from one to the other with a simple adjustment to the back and a retractable leg support. Made of multi-ply bamboo, it is covered in an eco-friendly laminate from Formica. In October 2009, the Bamtak Chair won best in show at the Sustainable Furnishing Council’s One Good Chair Design Competition in Las Vegas. This remarkably compact and versatile chair, inspired by the lounging so familiar to Argentines during an asado or barbeque, is as aesthetically versatile as it is functional. The Bamtak, with its clean pure lines, is easily at home with traditional or modern furnishings, but is strong enough to make a statement on its own. The Blue Chain collection is available at the Avant Gallery in Miami’s Design District.

bluechains.com