A personal, first-hand review

Belmares Studio Review: Our Personal Warning About Esteban Belmares

My wife and I paid Esteban Belmares of Belmares Studio to build furniture for our home in Mexico. We never received it. We never got our money back. Our hands are tied at this point, so we are publishing this Belmares Studio review as a warning to anyone thinking about hiring him.

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What happened

In three sentences — the whole experience.

01

We paid him.

We paid Esteban Belmares of Belmares Studio to build furniture for our home in Mexico.

02

We never received it.

He has not delivered the furniture. No explanation. No delivery.

03

We never got our money back.

He has not returned our money. He stopped responding and blocked me on Instagram when we kept asking.

This is our first-hand account of doing business with Esteban Belmares, the owner of Belmares Studio (BLMRS®) and The Getting There Agency. We are publishing it so the next person researching him before sending a deposit doesn't have to learn what we learned the hard way.

If someone sends you here, read every word before you pay.

Inside a furniture workshop
Who is Esteban Belmares

The polished version he wants you to see.

Esteban Belmares is a Mexican furniture designer and the founder of Belmares Studio, also branded as BLMRS®. He markets himself as a custom furniture maker working in the tradition of Mexican Modernism, building heirloom pieces with Mexican artisans and native materials.

His public-facing presentation is polished. The website is beautiful. The Instagram grid is curated. The brand language talks about ancestral skill, craft, legacy, and furniture built to last generations. He also runs another venture called The Getting There Agency.

Mexican Modernism “Heirloom” furniture BLMRS® The Getting There Agency

That is the version of Esteban Belmares we met before we hired him. What follows is what we experienced after we paid him.

A minimalist café interior furnished with light, sculptural Belmares Studio seating

The portfolio was beautiful, the aesthetic was exactly what we were looking for, and we genuinely admired what he was building.

We did this the right way

We are reasonable people.

We are not difficult clients. We are not impulsive buyers. We are reasonable people who did everything you're supposed to do before hiring someone for a project like this.

Esteban came to us recommended. We liked his work. The portfolio was beautiful, the aesthetic was exactly what we were looking for, and we genuinely admired what he was building. We wanted to support a local maker. We wanted this to be a good story about finding the right craftsman and getting something handmade for our home.

That is the trust we brought into this. In our view, that trust was completely betrayed.

“
We feel betrayed. We feel taken advantage of. We trusted someone who came recommended, who showed us beautiful work, who looked every bit the professional craftsman.
How we feel about it

We feel completely betrayed.

We feel betrayed. We feel taken advantage of. We trusted someone who came recommended, who showed us beautiful work, who looked every bit the professional craftsman. In our experience, behind that presentation was someone willing to take our money and walk away from his commitments to us. No explanation. No delivery. No refund.

In our opinion, this is not how an honest business treats the people who pay it. We believe anyone considering hiring Esteban Belmares or Belmares Studio deserves to know what happened to a real couple who trusted him.

Why this page exists

Our hands are tied.

We have made multiple attempts to resolve this privately with Esteban. He has not delivered the furniture. He has not returned our money. He has stopped responding to us, and he blocked me on Instagram when we kept asking.

At this point we feel we have no realistic way to recover what we invested with him. Publishing this page is what we have left. A public warning to other people, so that what happened to us doesn't happen to them.

We are sharing this because we wish someone had shared it with us.

Before you send a deposit

Thinking about hiring Belmares Studio? Please talk to us first.

If you are in conversation with Esteban Belmares right now, getting a quote, negotiating a contract, or about to send a deposit to Belmares Studio, please reach out to us before you transfer a single dollar.

We are not asking you for anything in return. We just want you to walk into this decision with both eyes open, the way we wish we had.

Or send a message here

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Belmares Studio (MoTu) logo For verification

Background on Belmares Studio

For anyone trying to verify they're researching the right person and the right business, here are the public details on Belmares Studio.

Belmares Studio operates under the brand names Belmares.Studio® and BLMRS®, registered as a trademark under Mexican industrial property law. The business is based in Mexico. No specific street address is listed publicly on the website. The contact email is hola@belmares.studio, and the studio also takes inquiries and orders over WhatsApp.

The studio sells custom furniture and lighting, split into two product lines: Studio Originals BLMRS® (Esteban's own designs) and a Re-edition series featuring his takes on mid-century pieces by designers like Pierre Jeanneret and Paul László. A current catalog is available to download from the website. The studio sells directly through its website and over WhatsApp, and also through retailers.

The owner and public face of the business is Esteban Belmares, who also runs The Getting There Agency.

Business
Belmares.Studio® / BLMRS®
Owner
Esteban Belmares
Based in
Mexico (no public street address)
Also runs
The Getting There Agency
Sells
Custom furniture & lighting — direct, WhatsApp & retailers
Contact
hola@belmares.studio · WhatsApp
His public profiles

So you know we're talking about the same person.