Focus on Masquespacio

Text by

Bun Burgers Turin, ph. Gregory Abbate

Masquespacio’s interiors are eclectic, brightly coloured and Mediterranean, transporting us into dreamworlds with the promise of new experiences in the round. Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and Christophe Penasse design a large number of restaurants, shops and hospitality venues, leveraging the design approach of hers and the financial-managerial skills of the latter – a winning combo.

Name of the studio: Masquespacio

Place where you work: Valencia

Your Instagram account: @masquespacio_ana & @masquespacio_chris

Describe what your studio does: we are a design studio focused mainly on interior and product design. Chris concentrates on management and communication, while Ana concentrates on project design.

Where did you study? Ana studied interior design at Barreira, Valencia and Chris studied marketing at KHM Malinas, Belgium.

What are you working on right now? Right now we are working on several projects for restaurants in Saudi Arabia, as well as a beauty salon in Qatar, a lot of mainly hospitality-related projects, and also some offices, shops and houses in Italy, USA, Australia and Spain. Besides the interior design projects we are also working on an interesting co-branding project for a collection of more than different 50 products with a French company, and we are also growing our Mas Creations collection.

Your dream project? Our own home/studio which we will start working on in the next few months

The project that’s influenced you the most: Hit Gallery by Fabio Novembre.

A crucial detail in all your projects: The wow factor.

City centre or far-flung places? Both, depending on the type of person you are. In our case after working and living for more than 11 years in the city centre, we are moving to live and work in the country.

Something you have at home designed by you: the Poggi Uno skyscrapers and our Mas Creations collection.

What gifts do you like giving? Unconventional masks and frames made of different geometries, colours and textures.

If you could build a secret passage in the house, where would it lead? To a peaceful meditation room where you can switch off from the routine of daily life, when you feel stressed or anxious.

What do you usually do on Sundays? If we are not travelling or working, we like to take a long walk, usually around 10 km, taking in new places outside Valencia, from the countryside to small towns.

Your favourite place in Milan: we have to say Bun Burgers at Dell’ Orso, as it is the most recent place we designed in Milan.

Davide Fabio Colaci would like to ask to Ana: "Was there a moment when you realised you were a designer? If so, when?" When I arrived in Spain I was deeply struck by the amazing architecture around me, so I was always walking around with my head in the clouds. That was when I realised I wanted to be an interior designer.

Would you like to ask the next interviewee a question? Do you think creatives reach a point where they are satisfied with what they have achieved or do you think they will go on wanting new challenges?