Quick Takes With: Pablo López and Iñigo Aragón

Pablo López and Iñigo Aragón first met as art history students, then moved together to Madrid, where Pablo worked as an art guide and Iñigo as a fashion designer before discovering their shared knack for interiors while working away on their own place. Today they’re better known as Casa Josephine Studio, where they infuse everything they touch—interiors, furniture—with saturated color and a fresh point of view. They’re also the proprietors of two of the most design-forward bed and breakfasts we’ve seen in Spain (or anywhere, for that matter).

We’ve shared the pair’s country house in Rioja and their geometric, “precision built” retreat in Segovia, and we’re eagerly awaiting their next collection of furniture and tapestries, too. Today, the Madrid-based designers write in with their must-have architecture books, a surprising rubric for good sheets, and the kitchen essential they really (really) can’t live without. Read on…

You’re invited to dinner. What’s your go-to gift?

We send flowers. Always. And if the hosts have children, we bring books for them.

What’s on your bedside table?

A pile of books, hand cream, reading glasses…Very generic, nothing exciting.

What’s your desert island design/art/architecture-related book?

Alain de Botton’s The Architecture of Happiness would make us dream, but Thoreau’s Walden is maybe a more sensible choice because it would teach us how how to build a sturdy hut.

What podcast or playlist do you put on when you need inspiration?

We have a playlist called “Sicilia” that we play in a loop in our studio. Angelo Branduardi, Giuni Russo, Mango, Alice…. Nonstop.

What’s a film or TV show whose aesthetic has stuck with you?

American Gigolo.

Which Instagram account do you go to for design inspiration?

@mrtmlv is a gem, but we usually go to Instagram to chat with friends or watch videos of scares, pranks, or fails.

What has been your best house upgrade?

Your life changes when you buy a good mattress.

A design move you wish you’d known sooner?

If you have limited space, decorate with very few XL pieces. The effect is the opposite to what common sense dictate: The space will look and feel bigger.

Our favorite sheets are…

The sheets in any bed in any holiday destination anywhere in the world are always the best. We are not particular about counting threads or asking if the cotton is Egyptian or Turkish. Far away and clean is good enough.

Our favorite paint color for the bedroom is…

No rules here. It depends 100 percent on the bedroom.

Our unpopular design opinion is…

What is ugly today will look interesting tomorrow. It is is important to search what is under the radar.

Your design pet peeve?

Budgets and finances are a pain.

Our go-to kitchen utensil is…

Coffee maker, no doubt. Italian, old style, no-nonsense. We drink a lot of coffee.

Three words that describe your design style:

Educated, balanced, coherent.

First design love?

For Iñigo, the house where Barbazoo lives. Full of plants and color.

What item from your closet do you have on repeat?

For some reason, we have bought the same trench coat or with similar variations (khaki or military green, loose, light fabric) several times.

What is the last thing you purchased for your house?

A pair of big yellow Moroccan plates.

Something you’re coveting?

The “Bocca Della Verità” bed by Mario Ceroli.

We don’t leave the house without…

Checking three or four times that the clothes iron is unplugged.

Thanks, Pablo and Iñigo! Follow their work at Casa Josephine and via @casajosephine on Instagram. And have a look at their B+B, too.