Courtesy of Ignazio Lozano

For the latest in our series of conversations, we sat down with Spanish interior designer and creative Pablo Molezún, the founder of eponymous practice, Pablo Molezún Studio. After studying in Madrid, Pablo’s career has seen him journey across London, Rome and Milan, working at the avant-garden Dimorestudio and later with Studiolucaguadagnino, the interior architecture studio founded by famed director Luca Guadagnino with whom he had the opportunity to collaborate on the Palazzo Talia project, among others; an experience for which he remains genuinely grateful for. 

From his Milanese base, Pablo spoke to us about his fondness for Brutalism, aesthetic responsibilities, and the art of balancing instinct with intention.

Palazzo Talìa by studiolucaguadagnino featuring a graphic carpet designed by Nigel Peake. 
Photography by Ignazio Lozano

Palazzo Talìa courtyard under construction
Photography by Pablo Molezún

What’s something people misunderstand about what you do?

A thoughtful question to start.  While I am formally an interior designer, my creative interests extend far beyond this discipline; I like to embrace as much as I can, everything if I could. There’s no field where I don’t feel there’s space for design and creativity.

What excites me most about this profession is its boundless possibilities; its malleability, and versatility. Being confined to a single area would stifle me. I have a strong urge to participate in all areas of design, in every layer, whether it’s an interior design project, a furniture collection, textiles, ceramics, glass, graphics, or any form of decorative arts.

However, this holistic and multidisciplinary approach may confuse people as they don’t understand at first sight if I am an interior decorator, a furniture designer, or even an architect. Decorator? I am a proud decorator too, sometimes I feel people think I might get offended to be called a decorator, but I am not, I am a proud decorator but as an interior designer I am not just that. So, I put it in this way: “details”.

I ensure every detail is in place, leaving nothing to chance.

Palazzo Talìa by studiolucaguadagnino, project led by Pablo Molezún, garden design by Blu Mambor
Photography by Giulio Ghirardi

How much of your process is instinct versus planning?

I am an instinct-driven person, a crazy one I would say, when my gut knows, it knows. But over time, I’ve learned that to recognise and be capable of translating that instinct you need to be ready, it takes preparation, experience, structure and therefore planning.

Years in the design industry have taught me that discipline, rigour and consistency are not incompatible with creativity. You have to stay curious, keep researching and keep working (especially when inspiration is quiet). Creativity needs structure too.

So, I like to live within this duality that is never equally balanced, it mutates accordingly. But if you want me to give you a graphic, I would say that currently planning leads my process with a solid 70% of my time while 30% goes to instinct (it wasn’t like this in the past).

Instinct is powerful, but it works best when it finds you ready, I guess. As Pablo Picasso famously said once, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working”.

Palazzo Talìa by studiolucaguadagnino, led by Pablo Molezún.
Photography by Giulio Ghirardi

Is there a historical movement you feel a deep, personal connection to?

Is the whole Twentieth Century a possible answer? If yes, as a passionate historian, I would say the entire century is necessary and crucial to understand where we are today. History is directly connected to art movements, and to understand them, you’ve got to look at how society was in that precise moment of history, economically, socially, politically and anthropologically. I am interested in every decade of the Twentieth Century.

If by historical movement we mean an architectural one, I must admit I currently feel very connected to Brutalism. I am obsessed by its bold geometric forms, the raw exposed concrete mixed with glass, and the social utopia of post-war reconstruction. To some, Brutalism is the odd cousin of Modernism, the unnecessary one, the Rococo to Baroque, dismissed as ugly for decades, even today. But to me, it’s the most fascinating and expressive of them all. An expressiveness you simply can’t contain.

The Barbican Centre in London; Torre Velasca in Milan; the Babylonian Edificio Princesa by Fernando Higueras and the breathtaking Torres Blancas by Javier Sáez de Oiza in my beloved Madrid. These are some of the projects that have shaped who I am today and how I see architecture and design.

Most recently I’ve been touched by the Brazilian brutalism in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, a more tropical one.

Palazzo Talìa by studiolucaguadagnino, project led by Pablo Molezún.
Photography by Giulio Ghirard

If someone stumbled upon your work in 100 years, what do you hope they’d think? 

I probably hope people will still see my pieces as contemporary in a hundred years, that someone in 2125 might say, “Oh look, it fits perfectly in my apartment!”. That would truly be a compliment and deeply fulfilling, and it would mean I have valued design and quality over trends.

Moreover, to influence future generations through my work would fill me with the greatest pride and satisfaction. But even just dreaming that my work could last that long is already overwhelming.

Palazzo Talìa by studiolucaguadagnino, project led by Pablo Molezún.
Photography by Giulio Ghirardi

Do you think designers have a responsibility beyond aesthetics?

Beyond aesthetics? Aesthetics is already an enormous responsibility for designers. There’s no such thing as free will in aesthetics. And when it comes to it, it’s about beauty. I tend to avoid people who think beauty is purely subjective, or who believe aesthetics should come after comfort. The two must go hand in hand.

I’m a very pragmatic person, yet I’ve built my entire career on aesthetics, and I’ll tell you why. You have to see people’s faces when they walk into a room full of colour, texture and form; when they are stimulated by design, by architecture, by patterns and patina. They like it, they do like it, they respond to the stimulus.

It’s not just about catching their attention, you make them vibe on a higher level. Will they stay after that first impression? Only if everything else is well-executed.