Farm style

“We knew that in redesigning the house, we wanted to express the spirit of the land, both in its aesthetic and in its lifestyle,” say Tatiana Baibabaeva and Tyson Strang of their Mallorcan home, Finca Alfabia. The couple, who previously were based in New York, have been making sought-after ceramics since 2015. They have also long enjoyed travelling throughout the Mediterranean and had “always dreamed of one day owning an old stone house” somewhere in the region.

That somewhere ended up being Mallorca — mainly because of the quality of life and close proximity to nature that residents enjoy on the Balaeric island. Baibabaeva and Strang took the plunge and bought the 300-year-old Finca Alfabia, having realised that Mallorca’s combination of “nature, beautiful old fincas [farmhouses], quality of life, international community, and easy connections” made it the perfect choice for them. More specifically, they wanted a house that felt authentic in terms of being “rooted in the landscape”.

Initially, the plan was to spend summer holidays on the island. Then, the combination of ever-increasing interest in their ceramic designs, the birth of their son Ferran, and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a turning point in September 2020. The couple had decided to spend a few months working on the house while on childcare leave and “just never went back”. And so it was that their design business, Terra Coll Home, also came more fully into being. 

As Terra Coll Home’s first major interior-design project, Finca Alfabia presented some big challenges. While their ideal was “a raw bohemian stone beauty with the soul of the land, surrounded by wild nature”, the reality was that large portions of the house had been renovated in the 1970s, with the unfortunate result that it was generally cold, formal, and dark. It had small rooms, no heating, primitive plumbing, and intermittent electricity.

But they loved many of its features: the fact that it was “made with earth and stone — and was full of rustic elements, such as the curving tree trunk holding up the staircase and massive hand- chiselled stone sinks”. An added bonus: the house is surrounded by dense, protected forest as well as a wild garden full of pine, oak, and olive trees. “We could see everything we wanted the house to be, and we just had to make it.”

By this stage, their design aesthetic was already clearly defined: as designers and makers, the couple have always been attracted to elemental, tactile finishes”.

For them, it is essential to blend form with function, because “whether you are creating a bench or a bowl, a design should reflect what it is made of, and how it is made”. Their aim was thus to both restore and enhance the traditional, hand-built feel of the house, and “our ideal was to find all the elements locally and make things by hand”.

In other words, old and new elements had to work together seamlessly. It was not easy, but Baibabaeva and Strang did all the design work, the sourcing of building materials, and much of the construction themselves — no mean feat when you consider that they had a small child to look after, too. While they had help from a builder and plumber in dealing with some structural elements — as well as installing a new heating system, replacing electrical cables, and building the pool — the rest of the work is their own.

The same goes for the earthy, elemental aesthetic: in the kitchen, for example, local stone counters have been created, with shelves and supports built from recycled sandstone from the property and braced with wooden supports made from branches harvested from their own trees; the farm sink found in the yard was re-chiselled to the required shape for indoor use.

They decided to use what they had, and taught themselves traditional Mediterranean construction techniques such as river- pebble flooring and tadelakt plastering, which were used throughout the house. “All of it was designed for practicality, purpose, and longevity, and to grow more beautiful with wear.” And all of it, they reflect, constitutes a continuation and development of the design ideas that first took shape for them when creating ceramics, with a rustic feel that is “rooted in rawness”.

When it came to furnishing and decorating the spaces they had so lovingly restored, Strang and Baibabaeva took a similarly handmade, detail-oriented approach. As “the décor and furnishings had to complement the house and have a human touch”, every element was considered with care. When designing the seating near the fireplace, for example, a process of experimentation led to new, lower, and more comfortable inbuilt seats.

Likewise, beds and storage were designed especially for each bedroom, where the couple also experimented with integrated lighting and found elements. Most of the furniture in the house is built in, saving space and adding to the Mediterranean-farmhouse feel, although they also worked with local artisans on bespoke items such as the dining table. Vintage décor pieces from local flea markets are used too, alongside many repurposed items. And, of course, all the crockery was made by the couple themselves. Ultimately, as they suggest, every element deployed here has been “designed and chosen for its simplicity, practicality, and connection to the land”.

At Finca Alfabia, one project has led naturally to the next. When the house renovation was complete, Baibabaeva and Strang decided to plant a kitchen garden. Then they converted an old shed into their new pottery studio. They have a list of projects that constantly evolves. “Of course, we also make time for hiking and swimming in the sea and enjoying meals with friends.”

Among Terra Coll Home’s upcoming projects are interior designs for a kitchen, dining room, outdoor space, and bedrooms at another house on the island, and the couple are also about to start work on the refurbishment of a shepherd’s hut in the mountains that is due to be transformed into an artist’s studio. As they put it, “the reformation of our house has turned into our own evolution”.