For textile artist Adriana Meunié and painter, sculptor and ceramicist Jaume Roig, art and life come together in their dreamy home that reflects their unique and beautiful work.
Mallorca is famous for its visitors – and the fame of its visitors – as it has played host to a myriad of renowned artists, musicians and other creators who have felt the force of the Spanish island’s natural attractions over hundreds of years. The artist Joán Miró and the poet Robert Graves were among the 20th century’s adopters of Balearic island living, while in recent decades, celebrity creatives ranging from Annie Lennox to Stephen Fry have been regulars.
But of course there are also many born-and-bred Mallorquins, locals who have lived here all their lives, and among them are artists Adriana Meunié and Jaume Roig. Adriana creates textile works, while Jaume makes paintings, sculptures and ceramics. For both of them, the landscape and environment of Mallorca “is simply part of our identity,” they say. “For us it’s not like it’s ‘the best place in the world’, it’s simply the one we know and connect with because we have known it since forever.”
Right: AU NATUREL: The couple’s living space is pared-back, simple, and features mostly natural materials. The wooden dining table was restored by Jaume, who also made the bench, and the chairs are from a vintage market. The painting, Lines in Space 2, is by Jaume, while the textile work visible on the far wall through the doorway is by Adriana.
That innate depth of knowledge is contained in the couple’s work, which is very much a reflection of the natural landscape in which it is made. Asked whether the place in which she creates has an influence on her tactile, multi-dimensional pieces, Adriana agrees that it definitely does. “The vegetation, the animals, the colours… it’s quite a simple landscape in a way, [and] I love that,” she says. Jaume concurs: “The rocks, the shapes of quarries, the sandstone; all of this appears somehow in my work.”
The couple live and work in separate but adjacent studio spaces at their home base in Campos, in southern Mallorca – a place that is a study in earthy simplicity in its own right. The house and studio buildings were originally a set of old cowsheds, and Adriana and Jaume have gradually made the place their own. “We always like to adapt spaces to our needs,” says Adriana, “but as we do it on our own, it’s a lot of extra work.”
Also requiring consideration and daily care is the small menagerie of animals that lives with the couple, which includes Petit the goat and Tota the dog, plus various sheep, cats and chickens – almost all of which are rescue animals. Not surprising, then, when Adriana says if she were doing something other than being an artist by trade, “I would definitely be working with animals in some way. A dream I have is to be able to have a rescue farm.”
Aesthetically, the couple’s home and working spaces feel earthy, yet light. “We always look for [a space] to be visually clean and empty, and to retain its antique construction,” they say.
The couple share a love for traditional Mallorquin architecture, and a core of simplicity in design – combined with natural materials and textures – is also very evident in their work as artists. Adriana says, “My aesthetics are based in volumes and textures that play between rawness and a clean finish, producing a variety of sensations: harmony, animal sense, softness, and wildness.” Jaume looks for “timeless shapes” in his work, he says, explaining that he likes “a play between what isn’t perfect but may look like it on a first viewing”. The couple might work close to one another, but their preferences in terms of their everyday practice differ. Jaume likes change and variation: “I do periods of making ceramics, then I need some time spent painting, and even trying new things like carving,” he says. Adriana, on the other hand, relishes the entire process of making one of her textile works, she says, and proceeds rapidly once a concept is in place. “When I start a piece I want to see it done, and every stage is important.”
The daughter of a painter and a dancer, Adriana studied fashion design, and says her particular love for textiles has its origins there. Jaume is from a creative family, too: “My mother had a ceramic studio and both my brother and I followed in our own ways with this discipline,” he says. “I always loved the idea of painting,” he adds, “but it took me quite a long time to find my way. Once I felt like I had an expression in ceramics, the paintings came along.”
Middle: In a guest bedroom, one of Adriana’s bold textile works – this one is entitled Sunlight Line – adds earthy texture to an otherwise minimalist space. The wooden bedside pedestal was made by Jaume, and the Anglepoise-style lamp is vintage.
Right: TOUCH BASE: This lushly beautiful wall hanging, entitled The Animal Inside, is by Adriana and is made from wool and esparto grass rope. She uses a variety of materials in her work to create truly multi-textural effects. The wall shelves in Jaume’s ceramic studio (top right) hold a mix of items of natural and human-made origin.
So, there is both difference and similarity in the couple’s approaches to making work. They operate “very separately” – but also acknowledge that “ceramics and textiles are two practices that are traditionally used in craft work, so maybe this is why they connect well together,” says Adriana. And while they have “very similar sensibilities”, their influence on one another in terms of their creative work doesn’t happen in any sort of conscious or determined way. “We are lucky to have each other for some suggestions once a piece is finished, though,” she adds.
What about other influences? First and foremost, Jaume references the great artists Mallorca has produced. “I love Mallorquin artists from the 1980s and 1990s, including Rafel Joan, Ferran Aguiló, Margalida Escalas, Peter Marquand and Josefina Pino,” he says. “Joan Miró is always a reference for me, and Isamu Noguchi as well.” Adriana is also a great admirer of “Miró’s art and life,” she says, adding that she much appreciates sculptor Ruth Asawa too, “because she found her own and unique expression, and ceramicist Hans Coper, because I think his pieces are like poems.”
Made using the simplest of traditional-style frame looms, via a technique known in Spanish as tapiz de alto lizo (rug or carpet tapestry), Adriana’s woven pieces are lush, tactile and always contain an element of the unexpected.
Right: Adriana at work on a piece on a frame loom, using a technique known in Spanish as tapiz de alto lizo (rug or carpet tapestry). Her woven pieces are lush, tactile and always contain an element of the unexpected. “I would love to have a strict work routine, and I’m doing my best to get there, but for the moment I can’t,” she explains. “Our work is not only in the studio, it has many other layers: a lot of computer work, meeting with people… and then daily tasks like taking care of the animals and the house. It requires a lot of flexibility but can produce a bit of chaos…”
“Textiles for me are a language,” she says. “I see plenty of symbols, depending on the technique or materials you choose.” Jaume’s artistic practice is realised in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture and ceramics. For him, working across and between media is a way to realise ideas in related, mutually informing ways.
Place one of his ceramic pieces in front of one of the paintings, he suggests, and they create “a new, multi-dimensional work” together.
A sense of organic, conscious interconnectedness emerges as key to both artists’ work: between the spirit of a place and what is created there, between artists and their chosen media, and between two makers of pieces that beautifully and precisely reflect an intermeshed sense of self and art. And it’s this sense of connection that makes Adriana and Jaume’s making practices so special – and unique.
By Robyn Alexander
Production: Sven Alberding
Photographs: Greg Cox/Bureaux
