THE AUTHOR
Iñigo Calleja is a designer and artist with a background in telecommunications engineering and around fifteen years of experience in high-end automotive design and manufacturing.
His journey into independent practice began in Sydney, Australia, with an idea for sustainable planter boxes for the hospitality industry. Planning to outsource their production, he soon discovered how difficult it was to find the right people to make them. Instead, he decided to start prototyping them himself.
In the search for suitable materials, he began exploring alternatives to conventional manufacturing and discovered the possibilities of working directly with materials others had discarded. Teaching himself to work with his hands, he gradually developed the skills to design, prototype and manufacture his own creations.
What began as a practical challenge became a turning point. He discovered a new way of working that combined his technical background with a growing interest in materials, craftsmanship and the challenge of bringing his ideas to life. That experience set him on the path he follows today.
Iñigo Calleja, internationally seasoned engineer that started making things with reclaimed wood and it soon became his life project
THE WORK
Iñigo's work explores the potential of noble materials discarded by conventional manufacturing, transforming their irregularities, imperfections and unusual dimensions into distinctive furniture and functional sculpture.
He is drawn to the challenge of working with materials whose qualities are overlooked because they do not meet the standardised requirements of mass production. Rather than trying to eliminate their irregularities, he embraces them as defining characteristics, allowing each piece to develop its own identity.
For Iñigo, this approach is much like creating an exceptional dish from ingredients that are already rare and of the highest quality, but that conventional kitchens might overlook or discard because they don't fit the recipe. The challenge is not to start with the obvious premium choice, but to recognise the potential in something unconventional and use ingenuity to bring out its full character.
His practice combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary tools and fabrication techniques. He is interested in pushing established processes into new territory, combining materials in unexpected ways and developing the technical means to realise ideas that might otherwise remain on paper. Function is an essential consideration, alongside a strong affinity for sculptural forms and brutalist aesthetics.
Iñigo is the founder and director of AMBER Craft & Design, an artisanal fabrication studio specialising in bespoke sculptural furniture for architecture practices. His work moves between projects developed through AMBER and his own independent practice, each serving a different but complementary purpose. Through his personal work, he experiments with unconventional materials, techniques and ideas that push beyond established ways of making, bringing innovation and new possibilities back into AMBER. In turn, the studio's facilities, technical resources and fabrication expertise provide him with the means to develop and advance his own work. This ongoing exchange allows both practices to evolve, with experimentation in one informing the possibilities of the other.
Unique Creation 163: Crushed oyster shells + reclaimed old oak base
RECOGNITION
Over more than a decade of practice, Iñigo Calleja's work has received awards and recognition across art, design and interior design.
His most recent distinctions include the Best Sustainable Design award at Marbella Design & Art 2025 and the selection of UC87 as a finalist in the Furniture category of the FRAME Awards 2026, among more than 1,000 applications. The winners will be announced during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven
CONTACT
You can most probably find Iñigo at the AMBER headquarters on the beautiful coast of Cádiz, where visitors are welcome to the Studio / Workshop / Showroom
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BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
