Born and raised almost eighty years ago in what used to be a small port town at the shores of a beautiful bay in the warm pacific ocean, in southern Mexico, known as Acapulco. Mr. Román remembers being one out of five siblings growing up along with their hard-working mother, and an absent dad, and a loving grandfather. Many tragedies happen to his family when he was a young boy: the sea had taken his older brother even before he could have remembered him, when he was eight years old one of his sisters disapeared one night without leaving any trace behind and when he was only twelve, a guerilla-type group tried to recruit him. That was when his grandfather decided that none of them could stay home any longer, and moved from the mountains surrounding the bay, right down to the almost deserted coast. In order to make a living, his grandfather started trading with the fabrics that arrived in ships from all over, directly at the port. His mother started knitting hammocks, and he was sent to a different school where it was expected he would keep away from vandalism and a bad-habits life. That was at the same time that the town of Acapulco started gaining momentum, internationally, with many villas and mansions starting to appear at the south-east rocky tip of the bay. Mr. Román claims to remember that by the time he was sixteen or seventeen, the president of the country by the time, appointed an important development project which started a huge construction all along the bay. A coastal highway, a new airport that was to substitute the old military one. Bottom line, the town was being transformed, inside-out. When he turned eighteen it was time for him to join the military service and so he was deployed to the small town of Jiutepec in the neighbouring state of Morelos. While he was there, he learnt many technical skills, such as: wood-working and blacksmith crafting, he also claims having met a lovely girl there. After having served for a full year in the military, he was released and so he came back home to find his loving grandfather ill and tired. He was suffering from many pains which he complained about, amongst them his back. That was the day, claims Mr. Román, the concept of the silla Acapulco came into his mind for the very first time. His grandfather had just finished complaining with some sentence like: -¨It is proven that a hammock is much better than a bed...¨- (they had been sleeping on a hammock ever since his mother started handwoving them with the fabrics his grandfather used to trade), -¨So why on earth,¨- he continued, ¨there is not such an alternative for a chair? ¨-. Having heard this and with his recently learnt skills still fresh, he came up with the idea of the ¨Hammock-chair¨. So for the next 2 days he gathered all he needed and on the third day he approached his mother and asked her to try handwoving the metal frame he had shaped as a pear and which had the necessary depth, by connecting it from three different spots around it, to a central ring which in turn was being held by a sort of tripod. Mr. Román takes a pause while he smiles in silence to later confess he had clearly recalled the moment when his mother understood at the very first moment what he had in mind and what he was asking for: a hammock in a chair. The frame was clearly the chair, and she was in charge now of creating the hammock component. It took her a few try-outs, as it was clearly not the same thing as wooving a regular hammock. At the end, they decided to keep it simple, and instead of intricated wooving patterns, they came up with the simple hand-knitting system of straight stripes simply connecting the frame to the ring, without intersecting the linen fiber stripes they used. They were happy with the result, and so was his grandfather who really felt much better when sitting down, and also was fascinated by its freshness, as he could feel the breeze on his back during those warm Acapulco days. Mr. Román says he then got to create a few more (around six and for sure under ten) for some relatives and a couple of neighbours. Sadly, few weeks after his grandfather passed away, and not so long after he received a letter from the girl he had met in Jiutepec. By the time he was 21 her mother got engaged with a good man, and the ever-increasing development projects taking place in Acapulco represented a good opportunity for them to sell their humble property by the sea. As love was calling him, he said goodbye to his mother and left Acapulco behind, along with the hammock-chairs he had created. Arriving to Jiutepec got him busy in many different aspects: he got married, started working the farmlands of his new relatives, and soon started having kids. It was about 30 years later that one day Mr. Román entered the house of a wealthy family´s ranch near Jiutepec and got to see a lovely set of 3 pieces, 2 chairs and a table standing out in the well sun-light porch. He confessed that he became specchless and motionless on the spot. Those were certainly not his chairs but... somehow... they were. Mr. Román is clearly a humble person who accepts that although he might have been the master-mind of such a creation, he cannot claim to have been the only one who had such an idea, and stands totally open to the chance that maybe one or more than one person could have had the same or a similar idea, without copying one to another. In any case, he says he is not upset due to the fact he has been granted no credit for this, but rather says he is extremely happy that it is his creation and not his name what will trascend. ​

Ever since discovering that this type of chair was becoming more and more popular, Mr. Román would mention his story to his wife and his children every time they esporadicaly came across one: the story of his grandpa´s back-pain, his idea and his mother´s knitting. And from time to time, he would tell the whole story (chapter 1). When his eldest daughter was about the same age as he was when he had come up with the Hammock-Chair idea, she had a project to work on at school, and suggested to build up some Hammock-Chairs (by the time they were still not known as Acapulco). Mr. Román gladly accepted to help, and so they worked on a classic pear-shaped frame, just as he remembered doing it back in the days. After a full week they had their second generation Hammock-chair. This time, it was not made out of linen fabric strings such as in grandpa´s chair, but from a natural reed known in spanish as palma (not a palm tree) that grows abundantly in the Jiutepec region. They were so happy and enthusiastic, that they ended up creating a whole atmosphere at the family´s ranch house outdoor-roofed porch. Two months later Anabel Alanís, the eldest of Mr. Roman´s daughter won her school innovation comptetition and soon they became popular amongst the college population and started receiving and dispatching small orders. After an optimistic initial spree, Anabel and Mr. Román were quite not sure on how to handle the whole enterprise administration that is required to grow a solid business. So the idea of a potential real business was still far from Mr. Román´s expectations despite his enthusiasm on the project. Besides, he knew that if they wanted to really come up with a sustainable family-business, they still lacked several factors needed to make it all possible, mainly two: Education (knowledge) and quality. Mr. Román knew that one would lead to the other, but the process would take time. And it did, more than he could have anticipated. His daughter Anabel enrolled into a business program and by the time she graduated 4 years later, it did not took her too long to get married, and then not so much later, became pregnant. So, daily rutines kept the Hammock-Chair project asleep for quite few some more years. It was not until Ximena, who had heard her grandpa´s story several times but never her mother´s, had finished her degree in kinesiology and physical education when she found out about the failed attempt to comercialize her family´s creation of which she had always felt proud: the Hammock-Chair, by then already known populary as Acapulco chair. So once again, motivational spirits came into the Alanís household and they started again their attempt to run a business, but soon they found another conflict. Mr. Román was convinced that if they were to do it, they shall do it well. And that meant one word and one word only: quality. Throughout the years he had seen many of the other Acapulco style chairs in different shapes, sizes, materials and in different levels of bad-state; even their now old porch furniture frames were quite rusted, and that had to be improved, which meant to use only the very best materials and be meticuolously careful in every aspect of the creation process. They did an extensive research and found a new way to weld, better than what Mr. Román had learnt in the army, fifty years before. They learnt about the electro-magnetic painting process and its durability, about the properties of galvanized steel (which avoids rusting), and established a relationship with a business man in downtown Mexico city who could provide them with best plastic stripes in an immense variety of colours. Off they started with the production center having been established in the backyard at the Jiutepec property where they developed a wide array of varities of chairs and other furniture structures, as well as colourful designs. Throughout the last ten years the Alanís family had been successful to a certain degree, that is mainly selling and promoting locally: Jiutepec is a small town, so they concentrated their selling efforts in the adjacent capital city of Cuernavaca, the tourist town of Tepoztlán and the wealthy neighbourhoods of Mexico city until our recent days. Lately the uncertain global times, the high price of quality materials and the currency´s depretiation have slowed down the family business to a point where today they are struggling to sustain the labor-offer to their employees. As a result of all this, Ximena decided to request professional help in order to try expand her business across the northern borther, where she knows she can find great opportunities but did not know how to go about with it all. ​

In early 2019, Mr. Román met a canadian young entrepeneur visiting Cuernavaca: Mr. McBrusin, who immediately appreciated the comfortable freshness of such a stylish chair and who right away bought from Mr. Román a couple of chairs to enjoy his reading sessions at his terrace during his seven-week stay in Cuernavaca, planning to re-sell them just before he had to leave. And so he did, he sold the set of two pieces to a German resident in Cuernavaca who was a true admiror of art and mexican craft work, for as much as what he had paid... for each piece. Before returning to Canada, Mr. McBrusin decided to pay a visit to Mr. Román to say farewell but did not get to find him, so he simply left a message and his business card. Mr. McBrusin was quite surprised when after nearly a year after, his canadian phone rang and a female spanish speaking voice struck him out of the blue. All his seven weeks of spanish learning experience disappeared all of a sudden and McBrusin was left without words either in spanish nor english, nor french. After a little while it was all clear: Ximena was Mr. Román´s grand-daughter, she had the card he had left behind, the family was interested in selling in the USA and Canada and was looking for help. Mr. McBrusin said he would be glad to do what he could in order to support their cause. After reaching out to a couple of old mates, who convineintly live, one in the US and one in Mexico, and after explaining to them both who Mr. Román was and about their family business, Mr.McBrusin got his friends excited with the idea of helping out the struggling Alanís family and their employees. By 2020 they developed an agreement and ever since, Mr. Román, his family and his community-based workshop have been working on a project in order for their Acapulco Furniture to reach the homes and public spaces of all US and Canadian lovers of style, color, quality and comfort. ​ The web-site in which you are reading this text is part of the out-come of this project to internationalize the products of the family who claim to be, partially at least, the traditional fore-fathers of what has become a classic piece of furniture, from Acapulco to the world. The grandfather of the Traditional Real Acapulco chair: the former Hammock-Chair. Nowdays, Mr. Román is 79 years old and partially blind. His biggest hope is for his family and community, to get to export to USA, Canada and the rest of the world, what he considers to be the truthful predecessor of the Acapulco Chair, therfore the original, classic, first of an Acapulco style piece of Furniture. So, if you have read the whole story and you are convinced of our Acapulco Furniture´s quality and you are ready to shop f(javascript:void(0))or one or many items, thank you, as it means you have heard our reach-out cry and you are contributing to a number of mexican humble but very well-worthy people who are currently crossing through a specially turbulent situation in the health, economic and political front, all at once. So thank you kindly indeed, for reading and for your purchase.

During the process of creating a new busniess structure that would allow the family business to give the necessary steps towards the next level, many interesting, fun, and eye-opening conversations have taken place with Mr. Román. We have tried to collect them all in a sort of imaginary interview (as it never took place as such) with the intention of condensating some of his words and sentences which are interesting and it might help the curious reader to find out more details about this fantastical story. So, probably the questions were never planted as such, but rather the answers came out espontaniously in brief sentences during any given conversation, mainly between Mr. McBrusin who appears as the interviewer and Mr. Román Alanís. Interviewer. -After getting involved in the project I started doing some research, and I found without much surprise that there are several sites over the internet that claim to be the inventors of the Acapulco chair. I am sorry to ask so, but why should I believe you are the one they claim to be, and not anyone of them?-. Mr. Román. -I have never claimed to be ¨the one¨, but rather: ¨one of the¨, meaning that I could never claim falsehood in their statements nor I would ever want to do so. I believe it is quite possible that different people in different parts of the world can have similar ideas. So, if I had the idea based on my grandfathers needs, I don´t see why anyone else would not do-. Interviewer. -But..., so many? Mr. Román. -Yeah, well... I give you that one. Must probable must of them are just using one story or the other as a marketing tool. Which is fine, I think it is valid and widely accepted in today´s practices. What matters is to make feel the customer they are as close as it gets to the origin. That attracts people´s will, it is marketing, I know. So, it´s fine... I guess. Besides, you know that the more you go around claiming something, the more probable you are not what you claim. So that is why we don´t go around trying to get glory out of an uncertain fact. And lastly, we must admit that we, no, sorry, that I was late, very late, very much late. I never really had the idea of developing this concept further than within my immediate surroundings. I never had the vision to forsee a business, and evenmore, never one at an international scope, and yet, here we are today and that is what values the most for me-. Interviewer. -You don´t mind about not getting credit, public recognition for the invention of the hammock-chair, eh? Mr. Román. - Not at all. Firstly, because as I said, it is not important, really. Second, because probably I was not the only one, and perhaps not even the first to come up with, what in reality is a very simple idea, no rocket science here-. Interviewer. -So, you think there was a sprout of similar ideas around the country. Ok, I´ll take that one. They all, or some of them might also be original creators of the silla Acapulco, but the timming and location in your particular story works on your favour, as you are older than they are, and you are from Acapulco while the other ¨original creator´s¨ claims come from Guadalajara, Puebla, and Mexico city, amongst others-. Mr. Román. -Yes, well, remember I have spent all my adult life in Cuernavaca, so I couldn´t proclaim my self any appellation of origin, and as you mentioned just moments ago, I am quite old now which means I am more from Cuernavaca than from Acapulco-. Interviewer. -But still, from Acapulco. The actual name of the product itself has the name of the place where you were born, wher you invented it and where you probably got it... Mr. Román. -Stolen? No man, nobody stole anything from me. I left back those eight or nine pieces when I moved to Jiutepec. And those chairs continued their own march under someone elses initiative, not mine. And honestly I would have never thought of naming a chair ¨Acapulco¨. For me it was a clear Hammock-Chair (more like a back-pain treatment utility tool) and not so much a stylish, posh furniture which would later on would capture the paparazzi lenses attention. Interviewer. -And yet, I still see a time-window that opens many possibilities. There is a time gap and an uncertanity that gives you some more credibility over other ¨original claimers¨ or their descendants. If you only new what happened to those first chairs after you left Acapulco. You never asked your mother about it? -. Mr. Román. -I have wonder about that many times. I never asked her, because by the time I got to see that couple of chairs at the ranch, the ones that ressembled to the ones I had built many years before, by mother had already passed away. So I have nothing but hypothesis. I believe the most obvious thing is that whenever my mother got married, her new husband and her moved and either she took them with her or she gave them away. No matter what, at some point one of the few people who had access to those original pieces or sufficently just one of them, might have been fortunate to forsee an opportunity, copied it, replicated it and to a high degree improved it. So, my hypothesys is that he/she developed it, and just like it happens in life, one thing lead to another until... they say it became popular when hollywood actors, italian nobilty and french artists would visit Acapulco as it became the new retreat jewel for the elites. And ever since, you know the rest of the story. So those other claimers may just well be the real descendants of whomever took over right where I left. That is how I think it all went, and I take it as it is. Interviewer. -So you are not worried for not getting the glory of the invention? Mr. Román. -On the contrary, I am proud. I truly believe that glory does not mean a famous name, but rather that your acts will trascend time and space. Interviewer. -So, how come you are launching your business as Acapulco Furniture and not as Hammock-Chair? -. Mr. Román. -Well, my family and I have given it a good thought over. At the end, we realized several things. You see, almost 60 years ago when I assembled that original piece, I called it the Hammock-Chair because the concept was very obvious for my mother, my granfather and for myself. The frame did the chair, the wooven fiber the hammock. However, normally a hammock is more a concept of swinging in the air, and not so much the material of which is made and the way is threaded... and definitively the hammock concept does not go really well with a static concept like a chair that used to stick into the grass or the sand. And it is quite logic as well, because what we do is all sorts of furniture and not only chairs.