Designers Nona von Haeften and husband Wolf Siegfried Wagner are dedicated to creating beautiful homes on Mallorca, including this brand-new finca with that traditional touch.

 
Some ten years ago, German interior designer Nona von Haeften and her husband Wolf Siegfried Wagner, a stage designer, paid their first visit to Mallorca. The couple had been looking for a holiday house for some time, but convinced that Mallorca had long since been ruined by mass tourism, they had never visited the island. One day, an old friend who had a house in Mallorca and knew the island well persuaded them to make a visit in order to inspect an old finca that she knew was for sale in the eastern part of the island. Although highly sceptical, Nona and Wolf agreed to fly down from their home in Hamburg for a short visit. It was a classic case of love at first sight and just three weeks after their arrival, the finca, together with a sizeable plot of surrounding farmland, was theirs.

Building work to renovate the house, with its warren of small rooms and outbuildings, proceeded forthwith, with Wolf supervising the project. As architecture had formed an integral part of his studies during his training to be a stage designer, Wolf found the transition from designing sets for the make-believe world of the theatre to the more permanent concept of house-building not as radical a change as it might at first appear. The friend who had originally enticed them to the island had excellent contacts amongst the local craftsmen who worked with Wolf and Nona to ensure that the original style and structure of the house remained largely intact. Once the building work was complete, the business of furnishing the house took over. Nona sourced most of the fabrics and furniture from her contacts and suppliers in Germany, France and England. No easy task, but the house was eventually made ready to receive its first contingent of guests who were thrilled to find themselves staying in such delightful surroundings.

It wasn’t long before the finca became the couple’s main residence. Word of the successful transformation of their new home soon spread and within a matter of months Wolf had been asked to renovate and design other houses on the island. At present, in collaboration with his partner, a local architect, he has around a dozen projects in various stages of development.

Meanwhile Nona wasn’t content to settle down to a quiet life of soaking up the sun. As she puts it succinctly, “for me, living in such a place with nothing to do is just not possible.” Nona’s solution was to set up an interior design business in the nearby town of Manacor. Her shop, called Unicorn, stocks everything one could possibly need to set up home - antiques from Europe, stylish furnishing fabrics ranging from ravishing silks to cool, practical cottons, furniture in wrought iron and wood made locally to Nona’s design, together with ceramics and accessories made by talented craftspeople living on the island. Some years later, Nona opened a second warehouse-type shop, called Coconut Company, in premises next door - a treasure trove of stylish rattan furniture and affordable accessories imported from the Far East.

One of the couple’s most ambitious projects to date is this impressive house, which they built recently for the widow of a German businessman. The plot of land on which it stands is situated on a hillside and enjoys far-reaching views of countryside with the coastline visible in the distance.
“Apart from the pine trees, there was absolutely nothing here,” recalls Nona. “So before building could start there was a huge amount of earth-moving to be done in order to create terraces for the swimming pool and the broad expanse of lawn in front of the house.” Their client specified that she wanted a traditional house built in the style of a finca, except that it should be lighter, with larger windows than is usual in such houses. Wolf used the sloping site to design a house in which the unpretentious main entrance opens into a hallway, with a staircase leading down to the living area on the floor below. From the drawing room, dining room and kitchen, French windows lead onto shaded terraces, each one designed to be used at a different time of the day. The cloister-like outdoor seating area with its vaulted ceiling provides shelter from the sun during the middle of the day while the west-facing terrace just outside the kitchen is positioned to take advantage of the setting sun - a perfect backdrop for evening meals.

 The layout of the living area is designed for informal entertaining and family life - the client’s children and grandchildren are frequent visitors. A series of broad arches provide a link between the library area at the foot of the stairs, the main drawing room and a more informal lounging area next door which is used for watching T.V. - the change in floor level adding character and definition to the two separate sitting areas. The Louis XVI stone fireplace is the focal point of the drawing room, furnished with comfortable George Smith sofas and armchairs. Over the years that Wolf has been building houses in Mallorca, he has accumulated a vast stock of the architectural features that play such an important role in his designs. Old doors bought on the island and on the mainland are recycled into his new houses as are stone and ceramic tiles, antique fireplaces and ancient stone troughs. Together with other authentic period details such as internal walls half a metre thick, ceilings supported by stout beams and the occasional quirky window inserted high up on a wall, the result is a fusion of traditional design combined with a contemporary feeling for openness and light.
    The owner’s informal approach to entertaining is illustrated in the way kitchen and dining room adjoin one another. Whilst candelabra and a decorative French chandelier hanging above the wooden Catalan dining table add glitter and sparkle to dinner parties, the hostess insisted that guests and cook weren’t to be segregated. “I might be busy preparing the next course but I don’t like missing out on the conversation.”

Whilst the kitchen is fully equipped with the most up-to-the-minute gadgetry, an ancient stone drinking trough and decorative splashback of Sevillan tiles provides a picturesque yet eminently practical link with the past.

The main bedroom suite is situated off the entrance hall at first floor level - perfectly positioned to take advantage of the breathtaking view of the valley below. A set of antique double doors lead from the hall into a lobby dressing room where a quartet of antique 18th century Spanish paintings were each cut in half and mounted on a wooden backing, to form doors for the four large wardrobes. “It was a simple way of making the dressing room look decorative and interesting. Maybe the artist would not have been so pleased but the owner likes it very much,” says Nona with a laconic smile.
In the spacious bedroom next door, a sloping beamed ceiling and plain white walls give the room a hint of rustic simplicity - a foil for the folds of Fortuny fabric used for the curtains and the valance around the bed. “The house is used throughout the year so it was important that the bedroom should feel warm and comfortable during the winter but still look airy and cool during the summer months. The yellow ochre colour of the fabric, which is also picked out in the design of the carpet, give the room a warm glow without detracting from that feeling of airiness.” A green-painted Provençal commode, together with a pretty Louis XVI gilt mirror, can be seen on the far wall, next to the shuttered door leading to the terrace outside.

Wolf allowed his imagination to take over in the bathroom, where he created a little Arabian fantasy based on the twin openings to the cubicles for the shower and the loo. Shiny stucco walls and polished cement add to the sense of asceticism while a decorative bathtub with lion’s paw feet fits neatly into the curved niche and allows the bather the luxury of being able to lie back and contemplate the view of the trees and sky seen through the window.

As Nona says, “The whole point of this house is the view, and Wolf Siegfried was determined to exploit that feature wherever possible - even from the bath.”