Estudio Nómada sprang from a collision of different personal journeys which converged in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia four years ago. The company’s interior design and architecture departments are headed up by Enrique De Santiago and José Antonio Vázquez Martín respectively.
They specialise in architectural projects with a strong emphasis on detail and an ability to work on a huge range of projects. This makes them stand out from other practices and allows them to cross over into related disciplines. However, in their forays into other fields of design, such as graphic, industrial furniture and interior design, they apply a similar methodology to the one they practise as architects. They continually move from place to place as evidenced by the variety of their projects which include private homes, commercial premises, bars and restaurants, one of which, La Cantina de la Ciudad de la Cultura, has been featured in various, high-profile international publications, and received a Restaurant and Bar Award in London last September.
The studio’s co-founders Enrique and José Antonio spoke to us about their company, its achievements to date, their inspirations, their work and future projects.
Interiors From Spain: ¿How was the studio founded and what made you two want to join forces professionally?
Estudio Nómada: We set up our company in Santiago de Compostela in early 2007. José Antonio had been practising as an independent architect six years ago, after another four in the architecture department of textile firm STL, while Enrique came from the world of fashion, having worked as a buyer for various fashion groups, such as Saks 5th Avenue in the US, STL and Inditex. Our different training and career paths before we joined forces gave our studio the focus it’s had from the start. Our architecture practically always goes beyond the boundaries of architecture, in the true sense of the word, crossing over into related fields such as graphic and industrial design and furniture and interior design, while adhering to an architect’s methodology. Working independently across the whole range of projects we participate in, our projects are hugely concerned with detail, a desire to travel and a creatively restless spirit – hence our name, Estudio Nómada.
Interiors From Spain: What inspires you?
Estudio Nómada: For us, it’s hard to pinpoint the unconscious influences we pick up accumulatively and which we draw on when we embark on any project. All sorts of things – history, cinema, travel, street life – make a deep impression on us and stimulate our creativity. Our attitude is always one of curiosity, of keeping an open mind, of steering clear of preconceptions, and, as a matter of principle, we never overlook anything that attracts our attention. But when we’re working, we always pare things down, gravitating towards simple, coherent ideas that help us to simplify the way we work. What’s more, we like to react to a specific context, which helps us give meaning to our contribution to a project and succeed in making it blend well with its environment or its intended purpose.
Interiors From Spain: Your main focus seems to be interior design. How do you approach each project?
Estudio Nómada: Rather than us specialising in interior design, it’s possible that we are identified with this because it’s unusual for our architectural peers to do it. We’re best known for our interior design but, strictly speaking, we do more construction work, for example for the Dominio do Bibei wineries as well as several examples of residential architecture, but always with a strong bias towards interior design, which explains why we’re best known for this.
Even so, we believe our real approach is conceptual. We don’t doubt that a design studio needs to specialise and, in this sense, what marks Estudio Nómada out as different is that it’s available to take on different kinds of projects. Our specialisation isn’t seen as limited in terms of typologies, styles or category of client but is dedicated to resolving projects by applying the same philosophy of exploring detail as much as possible, regardless of the size of the project.
We believe our specialisation is indivisible from our brand.
When we embark on a new project it’s very important to us that we’re clear what design issues we need to resolve and for whom. It’s essential for us to examine the needs and expectations we need to fulfil. Which is why, whenever we work for a new client, we give them a personalised questionnaire to find out their exact needs and tastes. This is extremely useful to us as it is for them, as it makes them reflect on and articulate their priorities. From a creative perspective, our approach is always to rid ourselves of preconceived ideas, and treat every new project like a clean slate.
Interiors from Spain: When you renovate a house or a public space, what do you think are the most relevant considerations: functionality, design, sustainability…?
Estudio Nómada: Every project has different priorities and requirements. But it’s essential that all our designs are in proportion to their needs. As a general rule, it’s important for us that proportions are balanced and that all the ingredients of a project harmonise and are applied – as we say in Galicia – with sentidiño, which means being sensible and assessing risks to avoid unnecessary hassle later.
Interiors From Spain: Have you designed furniture for any of your projects?
Estudio Nómada: Yes. Most of our projects necessitate a large amount of furniture that’s specially designed and made to measure. In Galicia, we’re lucky to have a large number of tradespeople and workshops (carpenters, upholsterers, metalworkers, and so on) who can produce all kinds of objects for our projects. We’re lucky to be able to benefit not only from their designs but from their excellent standards of manufacturing. Before this year, all our furniture was produced specifically for a particular project by different people, but now we’re creating prototypes for Artmotional, Arturo Álvarez’s new ecommerce site and platform for emerging designers.
Interiors From Spain: In 2012, you received a Restaurant and Bar Design award for restoring local restaurant La Cantina. How did you carry out this project and what repercussions have this international gong had for your studio?
Estudio Nómada: Our client, the City of Culture of Galicia, gave us total creative freedom to design and execute this project however we wanted. From the word go, no restrictions were imposed on us bar the budget, and an obligatory respect for the work of American architect Peter Eisenman, who led the group of architects who designed the building.
The prize represents for us a reward and recognition of the studio’s achievements, our methodology and way of approaching architecture. It’s also been an excellent opportunity to promote our work abroad, given that at the moment, with all the obvious problems Spain now faces in terms of carrying out new projects, this international exposure has opened the door to more work.
Interiors From Spain: What projects are you currently working on? What new challenges are you taking on next? Do you have any plans to undertake any project outside Spain?
Estudio Nómada: We’ve just carried out one for an optician’s in Burgos in Castile and are redesigning a flat that was originally a middle-class, early 20th-century home in La Coruña. We’ve just started working on a new concept for the corner areas of a shop selling a women’s fashion accessories label. As for work abroad, in addition to working in the future for an international hotel chain, we’re also designing the invitation and one of the spaces where the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards will be presented this September – London’s Farmiloes Building in St John Street, Clerkenwell.
