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Female Entrepreneurs Rescue and Give New Life to Wooden Furniture

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Design and concern for decoration have been gaining ground. However, many furniture pieces are sold in retail and are mass-produced, meaning they are repeated, and options become limited.

That’s why the search for originality, combined with reuse, emerges as a highly interesting alternative. This is what entrepreneurs Consuelo Almendras Almendras, from Los Ángeles, and Cristina Rojas Bolomey, from San Pedro de la Paz, are doing.

Eight years ago, Consuelo started her venture "Eco Terrazas," a business dedicated to ecological furniture, where she reuses wood and demolition materials to transform them into beautiful furniture and decorative items. She also restores antique furniture, reviving it and giving it a prominent place in her clients' homes.

Meanwhile, Cristina started her venture "Taller La Guadalupe" 12 years ago, a business focused on restoring and remodeling furniture and creating decorative products by reusing and restoring various materials.

Both have received support from FOSIS through training and funding, which has allowed them to strengthen and grow their businesses.

Consuelo shared, "My mother worked as an administrator in charge of a lumberyard with both pine and native wood, so from a young age, I grew accustomed to seeing this material, playing in the woodpiles, and reusing it in our home. My bond with wood reminds me of my best childhood memories—that’s why I love it. I witnessed the magic of how it arrived and then turned into furniture."

She works in manufacturing, restoring, and recycling. She selects wood by assessing whether it’s reusable, such as from pallets or demolition sites. She also purchases wood if the client requests it or if they have old wood leftover from construction.

Meanwhile, Cristina recalled that her connection with wood began when she saw stores selling very beautiful furniture. "Antique-like pieces, painted with techniques I could do myself—distressing or with fun patinas—but these weren’t made of natural wood, rather pressed wood or particleboard, which don’t last long, and many look fake," she noted.

Therefore, her work with these furniture pieces involves manufacturing, restoring, and recycling. Primarily the latter, as people bring her furniture, she repairs it, paints it, changes the handles, removes the varnish, and gives it new life—whether by revarnishing, simply sealing it with a very subtle shine (as is trendy now), or painting it to give it an antique yet renewed touch.

"I also make things, not very large, but shelves or items from other antique furniture. For example, Norman-style furniture with carved floral details—I build a shelf from that frame. Sometimes people tell me, 'I’m going to throw this away, do you want it?' I happily take it, fix or remodel it, and then sell it. Other times, they bring me a piece and say, 'This chair’s legs are too long,' so I cut them, and those same pieces of native wood, for example, I reuse for something else," she explained.

Patricio Fierro Garcés, regional director of FOSIS Biobío, stated that as a public service dedicated to helping people improve their quality of life through entrepreneurship, "I consider it extremely important to highlight the role of female entrepreneurs in rescuing wood as a material that allows them to generate income for their households while supporting the circular economy."

Both in the timber industry and furniture manufacturing, he noted that historically, there has been a strong male presence. However, in recent years, they have witnessed a significant shift in this landscape. More and more women are entering the sector, bringing new perspectives, innovative ideas, and a sustainable approach to wood utilization.