It is not common to see a luthier of only 22 years old, who has been building timples since he was 14. Nor that a 20-year-old founds a company. And much less, that he invents an original type of speakers in the midst of a global economic crisis, marked by a pandemic, and that he sells them gaining international recognition. That is the story of Felip Martín, who was born in Barcelona but has lived in Lanzarote since he was a child.
Martín met the timple by chance. Shortly after arriving on the island, at the age of 14, he joined the folk group of Costa Teguise with his brother. “I didn't know anything about the timple. When I entered that group, they asked me if I wanted to play the timple or the guitar, I told them the timple, and that's how I met it,” he explains. His brother opted for the guitar.
In that same year, Felip discovered the timple construction course organized by the Teguise City Council. “In those courses, the people who usually attended were around 70 years old. I was 14 and it was a bit shocking. We spoke with the person in charge and they told us: We are going to give the kid a chance. But they warned us that I could cut myself,” he recalls. This is how he was introduced to the world of crafts, in which he has been professionally involved for four years. “I have been a craftsman since I was 18 years old,” he says.
The key to his success
Felip Martín says that he had always been attracted to the artistic branches, and before entering the world of wood he started with painting. “I used to draw very well, but now I don't have time,” he says. And what started as a hobby is now a way of life.
After that first course in which he spent two years and in which he made his first two timples, he continued self-taught at home as a luthier, and also continued training with artistic baccalaureate studies at Pancho Lasso, viticulture at Zonzamas, jewelry and last year calcographic engraving, also at Pancho Lasso.
His challenge, in addition to continuous training, was to make his passion a profitable business. “A musical instrument is not sold every day. You can sell 10 timples or ukuleles a year, but it is very complicated and takes many hours of work. The remuneration is something personal. If I had to sell a timple for the hours dedicated, I would have to do it for a price 15 times higher than the one I sell it for,” says Martín. That is why he has had to reinvent himself, and that is how the idea that has made him cross borders was born: passive speakers, handmade with sustainable woods, which allow to amplify the volume of the music of the smartphone.
This is already one of his emblems, along with the timple and other stringed instruments, but he also manufactures different decoration accessories for the home, always handmade in an artisanal way.
The big leap, in the middle of confinement
The idea of creating his own brand was born in 2020, just two days before the start of the confinement in Spain, when they were returning from a fair in New Orleans. And far from shelving the project, he decided to take advantage of that time of confinement to develop aspects such as the brand, the logo or the website. “You always have to look for the positive side of negative things,” says Felip.
This is how Estow Studio (Ecologic Small Things Of Wood) was born, with which he has managed to continue growing in the midst of a pandemic, working together with his brother. In fact, last August they attended an international fair in New York, in which they were semi-finalists. “We came in second as the best artisan product. It was very satisfying, since there were about 700 stands with 700 different products from all over the world, and being in that position means that the product is good or that they liked it,” he explains.
In addition, he tells how difficult it was to get there. “To present the product we did several tests by videoconference, to see if it fit what they wanted, see the price of the product, among other issues. It was a bit complex, it was almost two months of preparation and when we got there the product fit,” he recalls with satisfaction.
Regarding the requirements they had to overcome to access the fair, one of them was that the product had “a story”, because it is a professional and selective fair with what it offers. “In our case, our product is zero waste. In Lanzarote there are no trees, and I have to bring all the wood from outside, so what we do is make the most of the material. We always had leftovers, and with them we decided to make business cards for our brand. We are even doing it now for other companies,” he says.
“To continue making the most of all the material, we put the sawdust on the floor for some chickens we have so that they can take advantage of it. Then we put it in a composter, it degrades and returns to the soil in the form of fertilizer. This is a closed circle and there is no waste that is lost in the environment or that stays somewhere and cannot be recycled. This reduces the carbon footprint of the company a little,” says Felip.
He has also managed to be a prophet in his land, by being one of the finalists of the Lanzarote Emprende 2021 award, which includes a tutoring program by the Chamber of Commerce.
Speakers that triumph in the United States
Now, it is the fairs that are contacting him. This same week they wrote to him from the fair in New Orleans -the same one he visited just before the confinement, the same one in which he began to develop the idea of creating his own brand two years ago- to invite him to participate in the next event in March.
In addition, his relationship with the United States continues, since his speakers are sold in a store in Boston, and now they are in talks with another company in New York to start distributing them.
The luthier recognizes that “working in crafts means dedicating many hours to work”, but adds that it is profitable and satisfying when you see that your product sells and that it meets the needs of the market.
Regarding those speakers that are triumphing even on the other side of the pond, and that he started building with the shape of a timple, he explains that they are made with African Sipo as the base wood, since “it is a wood with good acoustic quality and resistant”. Others are inlaid with exotic woods that come from all over the world. He says that the difference “is more than anything in the aesthetics of the product, and being a wood that is not common, it attracts people's attention, since they are very different”.
The range is growing, and also offers colored speakers. “The process is a little different, because they have several layers of colors so that it looks good on the speaker and is not poorly executed,” he explains.
With the aim of improving the product, he relies on technology, to use a laser machine to engrave the serial number of the product on the bottom of the speaker, and also to make the customizations that some customers request in this way. And the key is to adapt his passion to demand and needs every day.
