Los Encajeros

Her creations can be found, for instance, in Tiffany’s New York. And, among her clients are the Rothschilds, the former Sheikha of Qatar, Moza bint Nasser al-Missned, the Trump family and the well-known American collectionist Leon Black.

Genuine elegance is about maintaining a delicate balance between the utterly classic and the groundbreakingly avant-garde. The line is a fine one. At Los Encajeros they have been managing to hold on to this delicate thread since 1880. That year they opened their first shop in Bilbao’s Casco Viejo.

It requires almost a century and a half of searching for the best fabrics and the most exquisite yarns wherever they can be found.

Mónica Mendoza Goiri, the fourth generation of the same family to run the establishment, explains that it is “a responsibility and a source of pride“. It is “a responsibility to carry on with a family business in the face of all the challenges that arise nowadays, especially the change in shopping habits”. And, as she highlights, it’s also a source of pride “to maintain the essence of my ancestors, their passion for quality and their savoir faire”.

Many decades ago, Los Encajeros supplied table linen, bed linen and baby linen to the important families of Bilbao. Ever further afield. Eugenia Martínez de Irujo’s newborn layette was ordered by the Duchess of Alba at Los Encajeros. That speaks volumes about their prestige and their clients.

That speaks volumes about their prestige and their clients.

“My ancestors searched for fabrics in France, Germany, Switzerland, England and Italy; always with the aim of finding the best quality”, recalls Mónica Mendoza. “According to my father, José Manuel Mendoza, in Bilbao there was a tradition of internal life, so they had accumulated knowledge on how to organise the interior of houses with exquisiteness”.

Jóse Manuel Mendoza decided to jump across the Atlantic. He sold the delicate Los Encajeros manufactures in Mexico. “From there we went to the United States. And word-of-mouth has taken us all over the world”, explains Mónica.

Her protector was the American businesswoman, magazine editor and socialite Lauren Santo Domingo. “She was a client of ours when she created the Moda Operandi brand, which is an absolute reference in the world of luxury, and she asked us to take charge of the Home section”.

For all the above reasons, people from all over the world buy Los Encajeros’ textile creations.

They seek the exquisite. And they find it in Bilbao.