Martínez Otero

I love Spain. The Spanish approach to life, food and work. I have long dreamt of being part of a Spanish project, and sometimes, chance intervenes to help make our dreams come true. At a dinner in Santiago de Compostela, my friend Marco Gil introduces me to good people from Martínez Otero: a Spanish company that makes furnishings for hotels and shops, including the fashion brand Zara. We are eating limpets, and the taste and smell of the region’s sea and minerals form the undercurrent of a talk about Martínez Otero’s work and the company’s specialization within the production and treatment of wood, glass and plastic boards. They invite me to come up with some ideas for them. At the time, I am really fascinated with Paul Smith’s colour palette, and on the spot, we begin to develop ideas for bringing fashion into furniture – a concept they later put into production. Stripes on glass becomes an element in a furniture series that continues to develop over several years, the colour scale transitioning over time from high-impact colours, like bright orange and screaming pink, to softer, muted, earthy tones.