Valencia Blinds Leading the Californian Blinds

Venetian blinds, of the kind that you could see in the posters of the films The Graduate or American Gigolo, are composed of a series of slats, one above the other, and are called so because they were imported to Europe by Venetian merchant fleets in medieval times, although they were actually manufactured in Persia, which is why they are called ‘persianas’ in Spanish.

That was a long sentence; let me get my breath.

One company that leads the blinds industry is Luxmader, a Valencia manufacturer based in Sollana, just south of the city of Valencia.

Luxmader reinforced its international outlook in 2013 by aquiring the California company Qualfin in order to increase its influence in the American continent, and especially in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

The history of the company dates back to 1922 when the Borrás family, led by Fusta Blinds founder Juan Borrás, started producing wooden blinds for local consumption, becoming a national concern by 1955.

Luxmader was the descendant of that company, starting business under the new name in 1994 producing custom-made wooden Venetian blinds in a small range of colours, to supply Spain and some European countries like France and Italy.

The move to Sollana took place in 2001 onto premises with a 12,000 m² factory, which was later expanded to 21,000 m².

By 2008 Luxmader was exporting to more than 50 countries including the USA when in 2013, the acquisition of the California company led to the creation of Luxmader by Qualfin.

With 120 employees, 62% of whom are women, Luxmader continues to grow, producing blinds in over 200 colours, and having expanded from the original wooden slats to offer materials such as bamboo, aluminium or leather.

From its base in Sollana and its second factory in Tijuana (Mexico) Luxmader dedicates 90% of its sales to exports, and invoiced 8.4 million euros in 2013.