Premises with the soul of Studio San Fernando

A new venue has recently opened in Santander that transforms when night falls. We speak with Carmen González, creative director of Studio San Fernando, who led the project.

Before we begin, we'd like you to introduce yourself and define in your own words, what is Studio San Fernando?

Studio San Fernando is this place where you are, where there's a team of people and they cover different interior design and architecture projects, and more, since there's a very complete team to provide service for various things.

Who is Carmen González, and where did your calling for this profession originate?

Well, my calling was born when I was very young, always... When I look out at the street and see the bridge, I remember my father very much because when I was little, my grandfather was a bricklayer and we had a storage room where he would let me mess around and paint and do lots of things.

So my father always used to say that one couldn't dedicate themselves to this kind of thing because they'd end up under a bridge. Over the years, I couldn't stop thinking about it and I started doing all of this, and we were in a studio in the city center. When we needed to expand and saw this house in this neighborhood in Santander city, and we saw the bridge you have behind you, I always remembered my father very much and said: I think this will be the definitive San Fernando studio because in the end, my father was right, we ended up under a bridge, and that's the meaning and connotation of this studio that we love so much, and that's where my madness and this profession come from. Over the years, it has also been a necessity since we have parallel businesses and a need that our clients demanded to carry out projects of various kinds. That's why it's the San Fernando studio, and that's where this madness was born, which has been able to take shape over the years.

How are you at Studio San Fernando approaching this new project, La Consentida? What kind of establishment are we talking about?

Well, it's a venue like any other, but it has its own voice, and sometimes when you come across a project, the venue itself speaks to you. This venue spoke to us very clearly when we saw it because it's a beautiful, well-defined space, and it fit perfectly with the proposals the owners were asking for. So, La Consentida, as it's called, is a special venue.

What did the owners need? How do you adapt to that idea?

The owners of this establishment come from the hospitality industry and had other hospitality venues where we had worked, but they were different types of hospitality: hotels, pubs as well... What they were looking for was something completely different with a strong personality and that wouldn't follow a trend, but rather be, as I said before, very personalized, a venue very different from any they were already accustomed to.

You collaborated with the artists from Bathco Atelier to develop the interior design of the establishment. How has it been working with them? What do luminescent pigments bring to this type of establishment?

Working with them, what can I say! They are our neighbors as well as great professionals, and the artists themselves, the artists at Atelier, like all artists, have that degree of madness and even surpass what you propose, creating great synergies. It's true that when we have special projects, we count on Bathco because they always add value and never say no to what you propose. As for the lighting effects, I remember three years ago at the Cevisama fair, in Bathco's stand, there was a beautiful sink with drawings and luminous pigments, and it stuck in my head.

When I walked into the restrooms at La Consentida—where they were looking for a unique and distinctive space—it occurred to me to go to Bathco, meet with the team, and ask if we could create something in large formats using designs that would reflect the overall theme of the space. And of course, of course they said go ahead, that they thought it was fantastic, and that’s when we started working. The result—I invite you all to go see La Consentida. These are the restrooms we designed together with Bathco to bring to life those lighting effects they presented at a trade show, but everywhere—because, really… I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s the whole atmosphere.

In addition, we always work with the same electricians for this type of venue, and we strive to find a solution that allows us to get the most out of the lighting effects we installed in the restrooms, on the walls, and throughout the space.

What importance does the bathroom acquire in your work?

Bathrooms are a key element, our work is both commercial and private. If they are private, a lot of time is spent in the bathroom, and I can't imagine creating cold bathrooms. Whenever we talk about bathrooms, “cold” comes to mind. With Bathco, the great thing is that you have so many options to bring life and quality to a bathroom, and if not, you can make suggestions, and they never say no. They always say, "Let's see if we can do it," so private bathrooms become more like a part of the house, a space in the house that you like to show off.

In public spaces, it's extremely important because it's often very sad to go to places where all the creativity has been concentrated in the areas everyone sees, and then you get to a restroom and the creativity hasn't reached there. So, one of the things I hope happens at La Consentida is that it encourages people outside to go into the restroom, to see it as another part of the establishment that has its creativity and personality just like any other part, any other corner, any other area of the project itself.

In many of your projects, you work with Bathco. How would you define the brand? Why do you choose their products for your projects?

Professionals, approachable, and what I like most, very creative, they never tell you no to anything, and there's an extensive variety, making it impossible not to find a fit for any project, public or private. I also have a special fondness for them because we are so close and have shared so many things together, so many projects, that I know them fundamentally. Therefore, I find them to be a different kind of company, a close-knit company, and a company very linked to interior design. It's not a cold company; it's a company that surpasses itself day by day.