IW Enterprise Portugal: The master interior designer fitters

How does an interior designer and master fitter like IW Enterprise Portugal manage to juggle 8-10 projects worth hundreds of thousands of euros at the same time, and retain an unbroken reputation of excellence in the market? According to its founder and managing director José Tavares, it’s a question of experience and organisation.

Text: Chris Graeme Photos: IW Enterprise Portugal

When refurbishing all the bedrooms of a hotel, you have two choices: close it for the period the works are undertaken and lose guests and money, or keep it open and try to fathom how you’re going to do the works in a way that the guests hardly even know refurbishments are going on.

And that’s exactly what IW Enterprise Portugal, a Portuguese 360º master fitters based in Várzea, Barcelos in Portugal’s Minho region, has been doing to all the rooms at the Hotel Minho in Vila Nova de Cerveira to create a comfortable, family-orientated design concept with a €300,000 budget.

“The project came about after our participation in Decor Hotel at Porto’s trade fair site Exponor in 2022. It was quite a challenge because we had to significantly transform the functional aesthetics of the hotel, and we created two types of model rooms: an innovative family room with bunk beds for children and standard twin rooms for couples and individuals,” explains Managing Director of IW Enterprise Portugal, José Tavares (Pictured).

The success of this project led to the Hotel Minho project, where the director of the establishment, João Paulo Cabral, had given one key instruction. “We have to keep the hotel open, and you have to carry out the work so that the guests hardly even know you’re there.”

José recalls: “Of course, we had to do the works during the day when most guests were not in the hotel, while the workmen had to use the rear entrances and the fire escape staircases to access the rooms and bring up the materials and pre-fabricated furnishings and fittings that we’d custom-manufactured at our factory. Out of sight and out of mind, so to speak.”

The room refurbishment works were to be done in three phases over the three floors, with two completed and work on the final floor slated for January 2025.

IW Enterprise Portugal took inspiration for the decoration from several elements that had already existed in the rooms and public areas of the hotel, particularly from an impressive piece of furniture in the lounge area, employing oak wood and neutral colour tones throughout to create an elegant and light atmosphere.

A vertically integrated 360º approach

One aspect of IW Enterprise Portugal that sets this interior designer apart from some competitors is its 360º conception to completion approach.

“We sit down with the client, listen to their ideas, examine the interior space, work from detailed designs or even outline sketches and translate these into unique customised pieces of designer furniture and furnishings, taking care of every aspect of the project from the structural elements such as steel, carpentry, the pre-modulated fittings and fixtures made at our factory and assembled on site, to wooden floorings, carpets and soft furnishings and including the lighting and paint decorating,” explains José Tavares.

Confidence and trust

One of the reasons why IW Enterprise has been so successful in the Portuguese and French markets since its founding 11 years ago, despite starting out during one of the worst financial crises and recessions since the 1930s and going from strength to strength in current economic headwinds, is the confidence that the company has inspired in its clients in all of the segments within which it operates, which include catering and hospitality, leisure and residential housing.

“Our clients are always delighted with the outcome of our projects. We’ve never had a major complaint or been taken to court in 11 years,” says José, who has a long experience working in various aspects of the business over 25 years and which is why he is in a unique position to be able to see and work all aspects of a project, from conception to completion, to provide a bespoke turnkey solution.

Coffee shops and patisseries

A particular area of IW Enterprise Portugal’s expertise is catering fit-outs, in particular creating warm and inviting interiors for coffee shops, patisseries and restaurants, forging close partnerships with emblematic names in Portugal such as the historic Versailles patisseries and Delta coffee shops.

“Whatever the client wants, we create across the entire chain, because we have our own in-house designers, engineers, metalworkers, plumbers, electricians, decorators and carpenters at our disposal at a company that currently employs around 30 craftsmen and specialists,” explains José Tavares.

IW Enterprise Portugal was behind the refits for Versailles patisseries in 2017 at Lisbon airport, the Delta Cafés coffee shop, and My Bistro in Setúbal also that year, and more recently the Café Esplanada in Braga in 2020, the Café Corcel in Porto, also 2020, and the Tavi coffee shop in Porto in 2021.

“Some of our clients, such as Versailles and Delta, we’ve been working with for years, and that’s because we show total flexibility, work to budget and complete the project on time. This is why we’ve been able to build up a level of confidence and trust that has brought repeat work to the company because they know we’ll do a great job employing the latest technology to create fully integrated solutions,” he adds.

This last point is admirably demonstrated by the fact that IW Enterprise Portugal has built up such a position of trust with some long-standing clients that legal contracts have been quite dispensed with. “We’ve never delivered late of missed a deadline and thankfully we’ve never suffered a bill unpaid,” he remarks.

But while catering establishments are a particular strength for IW Enterprise Portugal, it also tackles projects for retail units, both high street stores and shopping centre units, creating clean, fresh and dynamic spaces for their clients, enhancing the space available.

In fact, IW Enterprise Portugal has built up a wide portfolio of retail space projects and kiosks for clients from opticians, watch jewellers and jewellers, to tobacconists and stationers, book sellers, perfumeries, beauty and cosmetics bars.

Cruise ships

As for overseas contracts, IW Enterprise Portugal has become a dab hand at fitting out food and beverage and retail interior spaces on cruise ships belonging to APEX Celebrity Cruises and MSC Cruises.

Sending teams over Saint-Nazaire in France, they fit out projects for MSC’s Bellissima in 2018 and, this year, the master fitters were selected to fit out MSC’s X34, one of the largest and most advanced cruise ships in the world.

“Being one of the largest and most technologically advanced ships in the world at 350 metres long, this isn’t just another run-of-the-mill project for us; this is a major fit-out undertaking, involving the manufacture and installation of fitted stainless steel heated and non-heated buffet and waiter service bar units for various parts of the ship in restaurants, bars and clubs in a €750,000 contract,” says José Tavares with a sense of pride.

IW Enterprise Portugal will also provide and apply coatings on the retractable benches of a multipurpose room on board, which can be used as a cinema, theatre or ballroom. The adjustable countertops will be coated with dark blue lamicolour compact panelling, employing interchangeable U-shaped stainless-steel profiles in an investment close to €50,000. “The wide range of materials we use for different catering furniture goes to show our versatility in the project,” José adds.

But that’s not all! In terms of decorating the shopping and entertainment areas, the Portuguese fitters will also be responsible for several projects in a €720,000 investment focusing on the ship’s Sports Bar, such as assembling show cases, decorating bar counter areas, mounting wall coverings, and making sofas to a specific design, all using mixed materials such as glass, laminates, stainless steel and fabrics.

“We have a valid contract to 2029 and must meet strict deadlines or else face hefty fines. The shipyard environment in France is highly regulated and requires the utmost competence. We’ve been consistently able to demonstrate and deliver excellence on time to the satisfaction of the client, which is why we already have two new ship projects; one for 2026 and the other for 2027 within the scheduled programme,” explains José Tavares.

Kiosks

When it comes to modernising kiosk bars, cafés and beauty bars, often placed in busy commercial spaces such as shopping centres, hotels or airports, time is of the essence, and the client must minimise disruption as much for the managers of the commercial area as the clients themselves.

This is why IW Enterprise Portugal’s pre-fabricated approach, with all modulated pieces made at its factory to be then assembled on site within a matter of hours, often overnight – and that includes all the electrical fittings and plumbing installation –, is so essential to the company’s success.

The company has designed and manufactured kiosks and retail bars for clients in Portugal, Angola, France and Cape Verde, including kiosks for Delta and Sical cafés.

Organisation

José Tavares says his dedicated team of 30 employees is like family, and hardly anyone, once they’ve joined the company, ever wants to leave.

Nevertheless, the IW Enterprise Portugal proprietor admits funding skilled and hard-working staff when the company’s order books are full can be a challenge.

So just how does he manage to fulfil multiple orders for projects at the same time, short of being a juggler?

The answer lies in good organisation in terms of production at its 1,700-metre factory, so that most of the components can simply be assembled on site.

“We have enough experience to be able to prepare, organise and anticipate the order of manufacture before a specific assembly period. It’s a bit like being a good chef in a busy hotel kitchen that must run like clockwork – you have all the essential ingredients ready and parts of the recipe pre-prepared, so in the end you just cook and present, and voilà!”