Makers Mixtapes - Con Alma design
It’s the final month of the year and we wanted to ensure you had a mixtape that made you smile and want to grab the closest person to you and get up and dance.
Every month we ask one creative, or creative couple this month, to share a selection of the music that they like to listen to while they’re making.
As we look back at all of our photoshoots in 2021 - there is one that definitely stands out for its pure joie de vivre, Alvaro serenading us and making our sides ache with laughter. We wanted to share a little bit of that fun here as well as a little sneak peek into their wonderful story which is coming in Issue 4 of FAIRE, out January 2022.
Excerpt from their upcoming long-form feature in Issue 4 of FAIRE, which will launch in January 2022
Words by Maria Antònia Marqués
Photography by Ruth Ribeaucourt
Con Alma
Álvaro and Maria Antònia left behind the bustling life of London for the village of Binissalem, Mallorca, in search of a slower, better way of living. They have made a commitment to building their lives together, raising their children and founding a fulfilling creative business. Their design company, Con Alma, was created in 2013 as a way to fuse Mallorcan craft traditions and contemporary design with sustainable creative processes that are kind to nature.
Images courtesy of the Ruth Ribeaucourt
When I met Álvaro in Barcelona, where I was finishing a master’s degree and Álvaro was working in the hospitality industry, it seemed as if I had known him all my life. We are two people with the same values and ideals in life.
We respect each other and we bring a sense of humour to life. At the same time, we have very different personalities. He is energetic and I am quieter, so he gives me the energy I need and I give him the calm he needs. We make a good team.
GIVING LIFE TO FORGOTTEN OBJECTS
When we moved to Mallorca it felt important to start from scratch with a blank slate, so we did. We looked for a house to live in, we got married and we embarked on a furniture restoration course, which in the end we realised was not our thing. Our main idea was always to give life to forgotten objects, so we left behind the idea of restoring furniture and started to interest ourselves in the wood that was not used, the less ‘noble’ wood that would traditionally be burned to provide heat for homes. This was the beginning of Con Alma.
‘A good sense of humour and the ability to not take things too seriously are the keys to happiness in our experience. That does not mean that we never have any bad days, but despite the rough times we always make an effort to turn things around and see the positive side.’ Maria
‘My grandmother always used to tell me that deeds are love and it’s true. Giving without receiving anything in return is a beautiful way to live.’ Maria
‘Every month we read Arquitectura y Diseño magazine, which we love more and more. It talks about design, nature, architecture, how to merge design and nature – it’s a great inspiration and lately it’s been giving a lot of importance to sustainability and how to introduce it in our habits. On our bedside table is Next Station by Monica Gutierrez, which talks about a trip on the Orient Express train from Paris to Venice, and Álvaro is reading The Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci, a crime novel set in the Grand Canyon of Colorado.’
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