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08.07.23

Sighted

These Woven Outdoor Chairs Are Built to Withstand the Test of Time — As Well As the Elements

By now, we’ve become accustomed to the reissues of classic furniture designs for interiors — so much so that it can sometimes be hard to keep track. But the same can’t be said for outdoor furniture, so when the relaunch of an iconic product for exterior use does come along, we sit up and take notice. Case in point: Spanish manufacturer Expormim’s Lapala collection of chairs, typified by their woven seats and backrests, which turns 25 this year. Highly chameleonic and adaptable to almost any plein-air setting — from garden patio to urban balcony — the design has proven its longevity through a variety of only the subtlest tweaks over the years. 
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11.04.21

Travel

How Two Sisters Turned Their Childhood Home in Mallorca Into an Artist’s Residency and Coveted Airbnb

Claudia del Olmo and her older sister Isabella got to grow up in a richly decorated villa in Mallorca, playing in the garden and watching their mother host countless parties and dinners. "It was always really magical," she says. So much so that as adults, the sisters wanted to recreate that magic, first channeling their own gift for hosting into a dinner series in London, and ultimately reclaiming their childhood home for themselves, transforming it into an events space, artist's residency, and Airbnb property called Casa Balandra.
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10.27.20

Interiors

This Spanish Studio Just Took the Checker Craze to the Next Level

In Masquespacio's interior for La Sastreria restaurant in Valencia, nearly every square inch of the bar area is covered in a different variation of our biggest trend prediction of the year — checkers — from your standard monochromatic Vans grid to various multicolored takes on the classic harlequin pattern. While it may seem at first like an attempt to become some kind of post-COVID Instagram Influencer pilgrimage, though, the design actually had a completely unrelated objective.
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10.10.19

Interiors

A Spanish Architect’s Wildly Colorful Renovation, Inspired By Disco and Nightclubs

Mario Montesinos Marco is just one year out of architecture school, but this marks already the second time we've featured his interiors, and this one's a doozy: For the renovation of a friend's apartment in Valencia's Ruzafa neighborhood, the Spanish architect designed most of the furniture and lighting according to the same principle that drove his art school thesis — "disco space."
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08.01.19

Interiors

Is Menorca the Next Puglia? Probably, Thanks to This Hotel Designed By Dorothee Meilichzon

When we first saw photos of the Experimental Menorca, the latest hotel to be outfitted by one of our very favorite interior designers, Paris-based Dorothee Meilichzon, part of us wanted to keep it to ourselves — at least until we got a chance to personally visit it. Especially since its resume is so hip it's almost ridiculous: 43-room agriturismo on an under-developed and overlooked island, Meilichzon's signature style, au courant branding, textiles and ceramics by LRNCE, food sourced from the hotel's garden, pottery and painting classes on offer, owned by a boutique hospitality agency... We could keep going.
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08.21.18

Sighted

An Architecture Photographer on Ricardo Bofill’s Social-Housing Masterpiece, Walden 7

Ricardo Bofill's Walden 7 is grouped around five courtyards and encircled by curved, terracotta balconies that give the building the appearance of having barnacles. Most of the apartments face both out towards the sea and into one of the courtyards; at many levels, a system of bridges and walkways allow residents an array of vertiginous vistas. We'd seen photos of the place, of course, but when we received these images — taken by trend consultant and travel blogger Pauline Chardin — we had to share.
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02.15.18

Interiors

A Concrete and Pastel Oasis in Spain

Normally we'd dismiss an all-concrete restaurant as a terrible idea — too Meatpacking District circa Sex and the City, too cold and impersonal — but a submission we received today, from the Spanish architecture firm Lucas y Hernández-Gil, may have just opened our minds a little bit. Their interior for Casaplata restaurant in Seville, Spain, softens the chilly material with saturated colors, pale untreated woods, and tactile materials like velvet and perforated metal.
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10.20.16

Sighted

This Spanish Lighting Brand Just Got a Major Makeover

In Masquespacio's latest project, the Spanish consultancy was charged with redesigning the identity and reinventing four products for the Barcelonan lighting brand Raco — as well as designing their own — infusing the Spanish lighting brand with a new sense of cool.
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06.23.14

Eye Candy

Los Objetos Decorativos by Rosa Rubio

Barcelona-based Rosa Rubio founded Los Objetos Decorativos with a focus on creating editions of handcrafted objects designed to forge a subconscious emotional bond with their owners. Her first collection consisted of Surrealist, unconventionally tactile brushes and mirrors outfitted with ostrich feathers and synthetic hair, while her newest series — Obj. No. 5, 6, 7, and 8 — is meant to evoke the emblems of an imaginary tribe or clan. "Their patterns provide a feeling of belonging," says Rubio, which in turn conveys a sense of "protection" and "gratification, which every culture stores through these kind of elements." The one-of-a-kind pieces are made from recycled textiles which Rubio has embellished with dried plants and small clay beads.
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05.23.14

What We Saw

New York Design Week 2014: Spanish Design at Sight Unseen OFFSITE

We've had a special place in our hearts for Spanish design for as long as we can remember. After all, the very first scouting trip we ever took for Sight Unseen, way back in the summer of 2009, was to sunny Barcelona. (Don't even get us started on Design in Spain, the last full issue Monica and I worked on at I.D. Magazine, and one of our personal favorites, period.) So when the Spanish trade commission in New York asked us earlier this spring if we'd be interested in curating a selection of our favorite recent Spanish designs for Sight Unseen OFFSITE, the answer was an unequivocal yes.
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05.21.14

What We Saw

New York Design Week 2014: Interiors from Spain at ICFF

Imagine this scenario: 14 American design brands banding together to take over a large swath of the Milan Furniture Fair, all with the financial and logistical support of the US government. Sounds hilarious, right? While we can't dream of enjoying such privileges here, in one of the world's most prosperous nations, Spain has been throwing its weight behind its homegrown design industry for ages. In addition to marketing services, the Spanish trade commission — through an initiative called Interiors From Spain — has helped its local furniture manufacturers have a unified presence at ICFF for the past 10 years. This year's selection included Apavisa, Capdell, Ebir, Fama, Inalco, Isimob, Kriskadecor, Lladro, Marset, Nanimarquina, Now Carpets, RS Barcelona, Santa & Cole, and Texidors — check out our highlights from those makers after the jump, then watch our site for more coverage of the overall fair in the coming week.
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