Spotlight on the Spanish Design Scene.

I’m 33 years old. I was born in Barcelona. I’m an interior designer and I co-own a design studio Conti, Cert. I live in Barcelona in a very calm neighbourhood with my husband Carlos and my 7-month-old son Felix.

I liked interior design since I was a kid. I always knew I would have my own studio. For the first 4 years after I finished school I worked in different studios to gain experience and I clearly realised I didn’t want to have a boss. Working for myself makes me happy. The path has been difficult and even now it’s not easy but life is made for the brave. I can now say the studio is consolidated and that we have achieved it.

Conti, Cert is made up of my partner Isa, myself and our team. For us, the claim “Positive interior design” in our brand is an attitude, a way to understand life and work. We are a small studio and we want to continue to be small. Our objective is to grow a little bit more but not much more. We risk losing our essence. I’m happy with what we have and what we have reached. We started the studio in 2012. My partner and I we were and continue to be very good friends and at some point, we decided to work together on a project. We got along really well and we decided to start the studio. We like to cook everything over a low heat. From the first collaboration, we started to get new projects and these first projects led to what Conti, Cert is today. We started to work from home and I lost track of all the places we have been in the last 5 years. Two years ago we moved to a very nice studio in a small street in the Putxet neighbourhood in Barcelona.

We do all kinds of projects. Houses, hotels, cafés… But all of them have a common denominator. Each of them is customised. We drive the project up to the last detail. We are really perfectionists and nothing is left to chance. If we were a bigger studio we could not do it. People usually tells us that we have a very distinct style and that is something that we used not to like at first, but every time we feel more comfortable to have our own style. In the end, our style is our brand and our personal stamp that we have achieved over time with experience and with every single project we have done. We are recognisable.

I will not be able to list all of them but thinking out loud I would definitely love to have a piece by the Basque sculptor and painter Eduardo Chillida.

Possibly my couch. I’m not sure how long ago I designed it but it is the most comfortable couch in the world. It is in pretty bad shape but I’m not willing to change it. Its imperfection makes it perfect. All the lamps from Santa & Cole, my carpet from Nanimarquina and my designs with wood. Although what I like the most about my home is something as simple as natural light and the shadows that are created during sunset.

I love architecture from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Luis Barragán, Josep Lluís Sert, José Antonio Coderch, Antoni Bonet i Castellana and Ricardo Bofill are a reference for my work.

Right now we have a lot of projects we are working on. If I get half of them I will already be very happy. The long term is not something I think about, you have to live day by day and not to put yourself into too many new challenges but achieve the ones that you face in the short term. A personal dream I have is to make a project in another country, take a deeper look and get away from the “usual” projects that are normally done here and introduce our design there being able to risk more with Design.

My favourite place in Barcelona is the Joan Miró Foundation. It is an amazing piece of art. Everything that surrounds it is inspiring to me. The architecture of Josep Lluís Sert, the Miró collection, the temporary art exhibits and the surroundings around it. Nature is also very inspiring to me and a place I can’t take out of my mind.