In Conversation with Interior Designer Sofía Aspe

A lover of design, architecture, nature and art, Sofía Aspe has quickly soared as one of Latin America’s top interior designers. Since establishing her practice in Mexico City nearly a decade ago, her projects have taken her across her native country, the U.S. and Spain, where she has designed homes, restaurants, hotels, residences, clubhouses, and offices among other spaces. 

Most recently, she took on the task of crafting the interiors for Four Seasons Beachfront Casitas, wherein she has taken cues from the desert landscape to craft spaces that are exquisitely livable and comfortable, spaces that speak to the elemental luxury of the East Cape.

How would you say design and interiors can elevate an environment?
I am interested in creating spaces that fulfill the functional and practical needs of the client, spaces that are inviting, warm and aesthetically pleasing. Function, comfort and beauty—I believe you need all three to create a space that is compelling and elevates the living environment. 

These three factors are important. But equally important is designing spaces that produce different emotions. A bar that is inviting and draws friends and family; a home study that inspires the residents to read, to write, to concentrate in whatever task is before them; a bedroom that feels like an oasis fully disconnected from the hustle and bustle of the world outside its windows.  

Sofia Aspe Beach Casitas bedroom
Sofia Aspe Beach Casitas dining room
Sofia Aspe Beach Casitas dining and living rooms
Sofia Aspe Beach Casitas Beds
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A home is more livable when it offers a perfect balance between warm materials—like wood, ceramics and textiles—and cold ones like marble, granite and porcelain. A home needs harmony in its color palette and a balanced game of textures.

When you walk into a home or a room, what is the first thing that you notice?
The first things that draws my attention when I enter a room are the sensations and the emotions that a space instills in me. More so than noticing a particular object or piece of furniture, the first thing I do when I enter a space is to feel the vibrations that it emits. 

Those vibrations or sensations that a project radiates, or doesn’t, can be achieved through an intricate combination of things like symmetry, function, the balance of materials, colors and textures, the use of natural and artificial light, the presence of art, and other factors.

What was your approach to using color and texture in the Beachfront Casitas?
We wanted to give each home its own palette of colors and textures. While each home has a strong color presence, the general ambiance is one of harmony because each space offers a nice balance of color and monochromatic tones to create a feeling of zen. The result is spaces that are at once warm and inviting while also relaxing and comforting.  

For the design of the Beachfront Casitas, were there specific feelings or ideas that you were trying to convey through the interior design?
I aim to design spaces that in some way capture the essence of the geography they occupy, but also speak to and relate to that particular time and space. 

Sofia Aspe Beach Casitas bunk room
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The landscape on the East Cape and in Costa Palmas is unique because it combines desert with very unique flora and the intense blue Sea of Cortez that laps at a magnificent stretch of beach. We were inspired to incorporate into the interiors certain tones and colors drawn from the sand dunes, the nearby mountains and other desert elements. There’s a kind of balanced performance between the interior life of the home and nature’s spectacular performance found just outside.

For the Beachfront Casitas we had certain priorities that were top of mind. First, we needed the homes to be functional but also designed to withstand the elements that come with a home by the beach. We also wanted the casitas to be exquisitely comfortable while at the same time rooting them in Baja California through the use of aesthetics and craftsmanship that’s entirely Mexican.

There’s a love of craftsmanship from across Mexico that has been incorporated into each home.

For example, we designed the tapestries and sent them to be hand sewn by artisans in Teotitlan Del Valle in Oaxaca, other pieces were crafted by artisans in the Yucatan; some decorative straw objects were crafted in Tenango. Much of the furniture was handcrafted in ateliers of Mexico City that specialize in marble, in cabinetry and upholstery of the finest quality. All of these handcrafted pieces help tell the story of a home—a story that is organic, full of character and portrays a unique personality.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021