At Home With Toni Arola

Toni told us as we entered their home that when they bought the space fifteen years ago, there was no one living in the now up and coming industrial area of Poblenou, Barcelona.

Product and interior designer, Antoni Arola, took us on a tour of, what used to be a large open warehouse, that together with partner Ester Rovira, they divided into distinct spaces, and even took the roof off one part to create a central open courtyard and roof terrace. The double height open living room is topped by the bedrooms and play spaces of the children, Maria and Felix, while at the back of the house is the large studio of Toni and high above IS the studio of Ester who designs and makes clothes for children, for her label DRAP de BRI.

Their bedroom and bathroom look onto the courtyard in the centre of the building, which lets in light to the rest of the house, and can be divided so that work visitors can pass to their studios without even getting a glimpse of their private world. The house is not only a place in which the family live and work but is also a “museum” to the collection of “found” objects that fill the many shelves and corners of every inch of the house.