Secret Garden

Tucked away behind a stone wall in a lush, landscaped garden on the west coast of the Balearic island of Mallorca, this private holiday home is a celebration of simplicity 

- LORI COHEN

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ is a remark often attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, and this very contemporary sentiment does seem as if it could have originated with the legendary artist, designer and architect of the Renaissance. For those leading successful, hyper-busy, 21st-century lives in a very large city, simplifying your existence can seem like a utopian dream rather than a genuine possibility. This is probably why the owners of this recently renovated holiday home in Deià on the west coast of the Spanish island of Mallorca decided to acquire this particular property – and why they asked Deià-based design firmMore Design to work on its rejuvenation with them.

The homeowner – who is the creator of more than one cooler-than-cool fashion label – and her partner, a famous musician, were instantly attracted by the extensive spread of land that surrounds the house and its magnificent exposure to the wild coastline, explains Oro del Negro of More Design.

"The site is well known as the old orchards of Son Bleda farm, says Oro, and the property included a typical summer cottage built in the 1970s: open plan, very basic and rudimentary, but honest. That was the upside. In the 'Not So Great' column were the facts that the home's layout was highly compartmentalised into small areas, and that the building had not been constructed very well. So, says Oro, although the project was technically 'a renovation, it [rapidly] became a full-blown new build, [albeit one] that respected the original footprint and volume' of the pre-existing house.