Francesc Rifé

May turn his attention to many different types of interior product, but whatever he’s doing, he adheres to his design principle: to achieve spatial order, geometric balance and a restrained, rational form.

Take Loud, for example,a new family of furniture for Martínez Otero. It comprises a series of horizontal and vertical storage boxes, which can be configured as you want on a base platform or used separately. It also features glass and metal shelving units and high and low tables, which can stand alone or be attached to the storage boxes. The collection’s name is ironic, given that its design is restrained, elegant and unadorned. But it demonstrates Rifé’s skill at incorporating elegant lines into large scale pieces and his desire to give people a genuinely moveable feast when it comes to furniture.

For versatility is what we increasingly want and need in our interiors, be they home or office. And elements of the office are increasingly to be found in our homes, observes Rifé: ‘More and more I see that interior design is adapting to the way we actually live now, especially in the cities, where work does dominate our lives. Inevitably homes absorb the professional dynamic of their inhabitants.

Rugs, office furniture systems, sofas, ceramic and textile designs – Rifé, 37, is without doubt a highly versatile and original designer. ‘I need variety. I get stuck if I have to repeat a single theme,’ he says. ‘And I’m not that comfortable working on a single product, which is probably why I have gravitated more towards interior than industrial design. I tend to think in terms of collections.’