We had the good fortune of connecting with Sandra de Rivera and Beatriz Orbea and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandra / Beatriz, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?

I obtained my degree in Law, and worked in that space after university but following my marriage we went to live in London for a few years. There I had the opportunity to dedicate myself to my true vocation, decoration and interior design through my cousin Elena de Léaniz, an interior designer. I trained in decorative painting techniques and worked on some interesting projects in London where her studio fully refurbished and decorated houses that, when finished, were re-sold. I also had the chance to work on the decoration of a Chateau in Belgium while expecting my first child. Then we came back to Spain and for a few years I dedicated myself to my family, raising my four children which I combined with some sporadic decorating work. Once my children grew up, I had more time to eagerly return to my vocation. I was very interested in new techniques that could help me make my work better so I enrolled myself in a Másters dégrée in Interior Design and 3D that I successfully completed.

By that time, my sister-in-law Beatriz, an interior architect who had worked for years on renovation and decoration projects for hotels and residential projects, and I, decided to partnered together. She had also spent a good period taking care of her family (she has three children) and was ready to return to interior design with more intensity. So we immediately got to work and formed our interior design studio in Madrid, which we named ¨Orbea de Rivera Interiorismo.

We chose this creative career because we are passionate about it; designing and decorating gives you the opportunity to transform spaces, making them beautiful, welcoming, where people feel happier and more comfortable. In the end, our focus is to create unique and different spaces that fit like a glove to the way of living and the unique characteristics of each client.

We are passionate about our work and we love seeing the positive impact of being surrounded by beautiful and harmonious environments. We love to devote time a effort to every little aspect of our work, made-to-meassure style, so our clients enjoy thé process and the final result.
 

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We embrace every new project we are confronted with. We fully submerge to understand what would really please our client and how to make the most of what we have within our hands. For us there are no small or large projects, each one is unique. Our best recognition and source of new projects are happy clients who recommend us.

We find particularly important working with partners that consistenly deliver in time/dead-lines and cost. We can take responsibility of the full project when our client agrees to work with a constructor, carpenter, etc that we know and trust based on experience. Helping our clients make good decisions in relation to these providers is an important part of our work and it is really correlated to their final satisfaction (the feared delays and over-costs surely can be avoided).

It is also important to be resourceful to overcome problems that appear along the project. Last year we had a very interesting project in C/ Serrano, in Madrid. The owners wanted to turn two contiguous apartaments into one flat, fully refurbish and decorated. This was a legally protected historic building, with all the limitations that entails. We managed to find solutions to acommodate all regulation, from the complex reinforcing of the structure of the flat to not disturbing the neighbours with the movements of building materials up and down the stairs.

We are very excited about the incorporation of Home Staging to our studio. In these projects we clearly see the power to revalue properties through our actions on them.
Real estate investors and individuals increasingly see the need to carry out a Home Staging intervention to speed up and revalue property rentals and sales.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Madrid is a very welcoming city full of cultural and gastronómic proposals for visitors.

We could start by visiting the Prado Museum, maybe a selection of the 10 most important paintings so we can spend a couple of hours there before walking to the Retiro Park, 125 hectáreas of gardens and trees in the center of Madrid. Then we can continue our walk and explore the Salamanca district full of shops and restaurants and grab a bite at Magasand (Columela 4).

From mid April to the end of May I would take the opportunity to show my guest Casa Decor, in the Trinity Palace, where we could enjoy the latest tendencies in interior design, building materials, innovation and craftmanship. After that we will be ready for dinner at the 99 Shushi Bar Ponzano and drinks in this trendy neibourghood.

On Sunday a walk of the Royal Palace and the Opera making a stop for lunch at Dani Brasserie (Calle Sevilla 3) one of the best terraces in Madrid. In the afternoon we could visit a hidden gem, the San Antonio de los Alemanes Church (Calle de la Puebla 22), and finish our weekend watching a couple of short plays while enjoying a drink at Microteatro por Dinero (Calle de Loreto y Chicote 9).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Many people around us, our family who have always encouraged and supported us, especially to our husbands, our greatest support.

Collaborators, suppliers and trades with whom we work and without them it would not be possible to carry out our work.

Every project we have done, in wich we have tried to give our best and we have learned at every step. We are also grateful to each client who has trusted us.

Website: www.orbeaderivera.com ; www.homestaging-orbeaderivera.com

Instagram: @orbeaderiverainteriorismo

Facebook: OrbeadeRivera

Image Credits
Photos by Inés Velasco

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