Meet the Maker : espanyolet

In the heart of Palma, Mallorca on a narrow residential street, an unassuming building houses a sunny studio space where the most extraordinary vintage textiles are being transformed into beautiful pieces for the home. This is espanyolet - a creative design studio run by Melissa Rosenbauer and Thomas Bossert. Dividing their time between Berlin and Palma, Melissa and Thomas are passionate creatives and makers, taking humble fabrics and coaxing them through a process of hand dying, drying and finally stitching to create one-off pieces for the home that, for me, define the idea of luxury.

The process for creating these one-of-a-kind textile pieces starts with a sourcing trip in Europe. Melissa and Thomas travel across Europe from Hungary to Romania, Germany and Spain to unearth antique fabrics woven of linen, hemp or cotton. These fabrics are sourced in their original state with imperfections, stitching, patches and embroidery in tact. Loomed in the 1920’s according to local traditions and washed hundreds of times throughout their long lives, each piece tells a story.

espanyolet’s approach to transforming these fabrics into beautiful bespoke pieces for our modern homes is one of respect. They employ a slow design philosophy that pays homage to colour and texture with all of their pieces hand painted or hand-dyed using special techniques developed in their studio. Nothing is rushed, there is no mass production and no two pieces will ever be the same. The result is a small range of beautiful textile products that have a rich, layered and textured depth.

In creating the first Shop Lottie Lifestyle range of espanyolet textiles, I met with Melissa and Thomas in Mallorca to visit their studio and discuss all things fabrics and colour. It was such a joy. The result is a range of cushions in three sizes created from a single piece of antique linen and painted in a spectrum of plums, dusty pinks - through to burnt oranges. Each cushion has a unique ombre finish and is a one-off. Each collection I create with espanyolet will be different from the next.