The founders of Spanish studio Masquespacio have transformed a traditional Valencian farmhouse into their self-designed home and studio, with maximalist interiors that nod to the Memphis movement.
Creative and life partners Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and Christophe Penasse renovated the 1920s villa, which was once a farmhouse on the outskirts of Valencia, to create a hybrid home and studio that reflects their maximalist approach to interiors.
“Everything revolves around the concept of play,” explained Hernández Palacios, who co-founded Masquespacio with Penasse in 2010.
“We’ve been influenced by many styles over the last decade, from New Memphis to art deco and futurism,” Penasse added. “We can say that our private home is a mix of it all.”
The duo maintained the building’s original timber front door and white facade decorated with light-blue window frames and ornate grilles.
Inside, the ground floor was reserved for their studio, spread across several interconnected meeting rooms in the former farmstead, known locally as an alquería.
Here, Masquespacio restored the building’s decoratively patterned hydraulic floor tiles alongside its traditional doors and windows.
Painted in bright hues, they help to colour-code the different office spaces, filled with the studio’s characteristic chunky, lumpy and latticed furniture.
“As always, the project includes a mix of colours, textures and forms – one of the main aspects of all our designs, no matter what aesthetic we’re working with,” said Penasse.
At the centre of the home is a double-height interior courtyard illuminated by skylights, with exposed-brick walls painted in lilac surrounded by wiggly flowerbeds with lush statement cheese plants.
From the courtyard, visitors can see up to an interior balcony on the first floor, which is accessed via a purple concrete staircase and contains the living spaces.
The balcony reveals two sculptural objects – a giant green dome that conceals the couple’s bed and a curved hot-pink screen that hides a seating booth.
This immersive furniture – Penasse’s favourite part of the project – creates a focal point that connects both levels of the house but also provides more private quarters for the couple despite the open nature of the overall plan.
“There are no wall partitions to hide our home [from downstairs] but it’s kept private by the bed’s form and a semi-transparent green curtain that allows us to take advantage of the natural light almost everywhere on the upper floor,” explained Penasse.
The sleeping area is connected to the main living space via a tunnel-like corridor, which includes an all-yellow bathroom with triangular cabinets and walls clad with a mosaic of handmade ceramic tiles.
Opposite the bathroom is a colourful open-air terrace featuring circular windows and similar built-in seating to Bun Turin – an Italian burger joint designed by Masquespacio with boxy blue-tiled tables created to look like swimming pools.
“Geometry can be found all over our house,” explained Hernández Palacios. “Everything is a game of circles and triangles.”
The light blue kitchen includes large, triangular alcoves and cupboards finished in natural stone and aluminium, designed to conceal utilities.
There is also an island made from veiny marble and petite glazed tiles. Bespoke Masquespacio bar stools were wrapped in matching pale blue fabric.
Next to the open-plan kitchen, the living and dining spaces feature more brightly coloured furniture from the studio’s Mas Creations collection, which features the same twisted and angular shapes and soft upholstery as the pieces downstairs.
Floor-to-ceiling curtains form a backdrop for a snaking lime green sofa, while dark green dining chairs with pyramidal backrests were positioned around a jewel-like glass table.
“Ninety-five per cent of the furniture and objects in our house are part of our Mas Creations collection, locally designed and produced by our studio,” said Penasse.
Similarly bold projects from Masquespacio include a restaurant in Milan, Italy, with interiors that take cues from futuristic spaceships and the first Mango Teen store in Barcelona featuring vivid graphic shapes.
The photography is courtesy of Masquespacio.
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