Photo by Javier Jiménez Iniesta.

Studio Animal, the Spanish practice directed by Javier Jiménez Iniesta, describes itself as an elastic platform that specializes in interior design and ephemeral architecture. They share a space in the neighborhood of Gracia, Barcelona where the fluctuating team sits at a 12.5 meter long table alongside friends that work in specific areas related with architecture: acoustic, landscape, technical developments, graphic design and so on.

For this week's Small Studio Snapshot, we talk with Iniesta about the practice: their structure, their ethos, and the way they deal with their projects.

How many people are in your practice?

Studio Animal grows and wanes based on the amount of projects that are on the table. Old professional structures aren't very sustainable nowadays so we prefer working with horizontal structures and create professional teams for each project. We always keep a minimum structure of one or two people. Currently we are Eli, Claire, Miriam and myself—my participation is constant for all projects but on some, other members are popping up that are equally important. Many times, these people are key for the specific project we are working on. Eli Cayuela is a designer we work with on projects where the graphic image is key. David Jiménez and MªÁngeles Peñalver are two young architects working in Madrid. We also love to establish temporary links with other practices. We have recently participated in some restricted competitions with other studios and friends like MAIO Architects or Enorme Studio, to mention some.

On the other hand, we are also surrounded by experts in almost all areas. From the very beginning of a project, we work closely with both industrialists and technicians that specialize in the different fields that the project requires: lighting, air conditioning, structures, etc.

Why were you originally motivated to start your own practice?

I guess it has to do with the idea of creating something for yourself—the challenge of testing your abilities and skills, trying to shape your thoughts about life and all its complexity. And of course, it is a way to position oneself in the world: it is the way I see myself in the time we are living, trying to ask the relevant questions and looking for the right answers. 

How would you describe the ethos of your practice?

I like to explain that our practice focuses on proposals that are related to ultra-contemporary thoughts about the habitat we live in.

What hurdles have you come across?

I would talk about challenges rather than obstacles. And for me, the biggest challenge has to do with being able to explain to my clients and for them to clearly understand that design is not just an aesthetic issue. Moreover, aesthetics is a consequence of the way of understanding what design is. What is important is a specific space and what happens in it. Space is the medium in which we live in, it is the setting of our everyday life so it does matter! Of course it is somewhat a question of designing beautiful scenarios, but it is also a matter of studying the ordinary politics that are being built on a day-to-day basis in order to rethink the spaces that these politics embrace. And then try to envelop it with beauty.

Aesthetics is a consequence of the way of understanding what design is.

Is scaling up a goal or would you like to maintain the size of your practice?

As I said before, our practice has no special dependence on size. It is elastic both in the number of people involved and in the size of the projects we develop. I like to boast about the way we deal with our projects: in Studio Animal we dedicate the same affection to the design of a washbasin as to a store. It is not a question of size, but of intensity!

What are the benefits of having your own practice? And staying small?

The only thing that interests me in relation to size, is to be sure that I can stay focused on all the projects that are being done in the studio, from the start up to its construction.

Beyond that, having your own practice allows you to develop and test everything you believe in; you acquire a commitment with the way of doing, thinking and seeing the world and it is purely your way of seeing it. You are able to develop all the intuitions that you have and start them up. In any case, I do not like the image of the solitary creator sitting at his desk suffering the creative process. I prefer to face it like a tennis game, enjoying having someone in front of you, throwing the ball and waiting to see how they return it.