Villa Can Ressol in Ibiza was published in Elle Decor Spain, n.206 di July-August 2022.
The project was made by the Rodrigo Izquierdo Design Studio.
THE OTHER IBIZA
PHOTO: VALENTINA SOMMARIVA. STYLING: GIULIA CUT IT OUT. TEXT: EDUARDO INFANTE
Interior designer Rodrigo Izquierdo has mixed the codes of the Mediterranean home in his summer retreat with a result that is as ingenious as it is rational. Starting from its very position, in the heart of a pine forest on the island, nothing is predictable here.
The first time interior designer Rodrigo Izquierdo visited his house in central Ibiza, which he had acquired remotely with the help of friends on the island in the midst of a pandemic, what most caught his eye was was his position. “Being immersed in a pine forest, it was not the typical house with bougainvilleas and where the sun shines directly. I was surprised because here you are not used to being in the middle of a forest and surrounded by pine trees over twelve meters tall,” he recalls. Izquierdo and his partner turned to the landscape architect Flavio Pollano who decided to respect the vegetation as it was, and suggested only one thing: clearing the trees of dry branches.
What seemed to be the property’s biggest downer, ended up being its most special. “Now the light enters diagonally filtered by the branches and you see lights and shadows that move during the day. I can’t even describe it, you have to try it. It’s magical, it’s beautiful,” he says.
As for the construction, a “humble but authentic” building from the 80s and made up of two volumes, Izquierdo dedicated himself to reorganizing its entire interior, reducing the corridors and unifying the spaces in its 90 square meters, until having a living area that integrates living room, dining room and kitchen at different heights and three bedrooms with their respective bathrooms. That simplicity has been replaced by accurate coverings that are as effective as they are sincere: a floor in reddish Pietra Compattata tiles which recalls the floors of a typical country house, lime stucco-like finishes on the walls, built-in sofas made on site… Even if an immaculate white reigns on the ceilings and walls, it provided touches of color (and almost Sixties echoes) with a red wood boiserie that starts from the entrance, hides the kitchen furniture and covers the master bedroom door, and with the tiles that occupy the entrance area and the bathrooms. Additionally, original tapestries, fabrics or decorative pieces and furniture from many of his travels, brought directly from his Milan apartment, are featured throughout the home.
Although they are apparently not related, everything magically fits together. “Once inside, you don’t know if you are in Ibiza, the Costa Brava or the Costa Azul. Everything is Mediterranean and neutral because it is simply what the house required”, he concludes.
AESTHETIC RATIONALITY
“I’m very rational with projects and it was the same on this occasion,” explains interior designer Rodrigo Izquierdo, originally from Barcelona but based in Milan, about his home in Ibiza. Thus, inside this house, redesigned together with his partner, he opted for simplicity and functionality. In the garden, the same premise was followed: they kept olive trees, yuccas and pine trees and added Mediterranean plants that do not need irrigation.
“It is a rational house in the middle of the field that exploits its resources. Because the best solution is always to be as consistent as possible with what is there”.
“THE SIMPLICITY OF THE CONSTRUCTION MADE US LOOK FOR FUNCTIONALITY AND RATIONALITY”
The interior designer took care of redistributing the external spaces of the house. On the southern exterior wall, he placed a tapestry by the artist Bea Martínez, benches and pots made of reclaimed wood.
ON A WHITE CANVAS, THE LEFT HAS APPLIED PIECES FULL OF COLOR AND TEXTURES
To unify the spaces, Izquierdo added Tanganyika frisé wood cladding that dresses the walls, from the entrance to the kitchen, behind which it hides the wardrobes. “With that something reddish color we wanted it to be the link in the design and to provide functionality and timeless,” he says.