Perched high on a terraced slope above the picturesque village of Deià on the Spanish island of is a very special house with a venerable past – and a rejuvenated present.
DESIGN | STYLING Tille del Negro | PHOTOGRAPHY Greg Cox
Situated a short distance from the centre of the charming village of Deià, Mallorca, this house is jointly owned by several members of a large Nordic family. They use it on a regular basis as a getaway property, and when it was renovated for them recently by Deià-based design practice More Design, the team ‘had to make sure the house could accommodate multiple needs with people coming and going, while creating an intelligent yet simple and beautiful space,’ says designer Manuel Villanueva. ‘The family are design-savvy and were very much involved in the process,’ he says, ‘mixing their own aesthetic into our Mediterranean vision. The result blends a Nordic minimalism with Mallorcan accents.’
Villanueva explains that the group of properties that includes the house dates back to the 13th century, when Cistercian monks established a monastery in the area. As the monastic complex evolved, additions were made until early in the 20th century, when two houses – including this one – were built on the south side of the property.
The house had had a previous final extension added to it in the 1970s, and the result was a rather ‘heartless, dull building’, which More Design proceeded to reorient and transform. Situated over three storeys on a steeply terraced site, the house is accessed via the middle floor, where the kitchen, dining room, and a bedroom and bathroom are situated. The floor above houses the master bedroom and an ensuite bathroom, as well as affording access to the spacious main outdoor terrace, and on the lower floor are two more bedrooms (including one with multiple built-in bunk beds for kids) and a shared bathroom.
The materials used for the renovation are all part of an updated palette of the traditional materials used for building on. Local craftspeople created all of the key elements of More’s reworked interiors, from the sinuous metal balustrades forged by local artisan Toni Calafell – to the handcrafted baths and basins made of local Binissalem stone by master craftsman Juan Camposol.
All in all, the carefully integrated combination of the traditional and the contemporary in this home makes it a house designed to facilitate getaways that calm the spirit and restore the soul.
This piece originally appeared in est magazine issue 28. Read the entire magazine online
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