A unique state of tranquillity transcends a Spanish villa revival in the Balearic Islands.
In every home London-based interior designer Hollie Bowden revives, sculptural anecdotes from all corners of the globe unite to ultimately instil a sense of serenity. The designer’s latest revival, a bohemian, four-bedroom traditional holiday home in southwest Ibiza, is no exception.
Drawing visual cues from Mexico City, each space in Forest Estate pairs delicate material selections, like lime-plastered walls and sinks cut from single chunks of Taupe stone, with precisely curated Beatnik art pieces and furniture. “The materials were chosen for their character and the way they enhance what is already there, reflecting their surroundings,” Hollie says. “Core materials were the mineral plaster throughout, antique wood and hand-beaten ironmongery.”
Harmony prevails in the muted colour scheme, with a thread of green that runs throughout, serving as a gentle reminder of the forest which engulfs the halcyon ‘Finca’. A genuine commitment to the home’s natural context ensures it retains its elemental identity. “We kept the interiors organic and sympathetic to the surroundings, so you feel like you’re out in nature,” Hollie says. “I wanted to use an earthy palette and natural materials, but I knew I wanted to include some modernist pieces and design classics to punctuate the design; it was a careful balance.”
While a more industrial and modernist piece, Hollie says the age, depth and personality of the Joe Colombo Elda Chair spoke the same language as the interiors.
For Hollie, thinking about form in a sculptural sense was a very important part of the design process. “The form of the house itself and its thick, irregular, lime-plastered walls are incredibly voluptuous, so I wanted to find counterpoints to balance it.” This balance manifests in pieces such as the dining room’s bespoke, three-metre long walnut slab table and the living room’s fossil-stone coffee table that took twenty men to lift it in place, such is its weight.
Hollie’s vow to physically match the strength of structure with the volume of its interiors is spiritually deepened by the anecdotes behind the objects that fill the space, particularly the living room. “When I was in Morocco buying the Finca’s rugs, I happened upon the Joe Colombo Elda chair,” the designer reflects. “This piece wouldn’t necessarily be a natural fit for this project, given its more modernist, industrial design origins, but the patina of the dark brown leather gave it a unique character.” It’s this Columbo Elda chair that sets the design for the rest of the space, inspiring Hollie’s choice of a 1920s Antique Bauhaus Medical lamp.
Sitting at the intersection of rarity and nature makes Forest Estate a unique state of meditative being. Even though there are many elements at play, the entire home resides in harmony.
This piece originally appeared in est Magazine issue #41.
