A life-size monkey welcomes you at the door, you step in and are surrounded by greenery and, upon seeing the floral and palm tree wallpaper, you can’t help wonder whether you’ve ended up in the jungle.
“It’s to do with light,” explains Nina Wiemer who lives in Hamburg. “I didn’t use a pure green but mixed it with a yellow shade. This reflects the light better and makes the flat appear brighter. A white would create too much shade and too many shades of grey.” Her idea worked out just as she had hoped. For an apartment in the old town, the rooms are very light and there isn’t this feeling of darkness that you often get in the buildings of Palma’s compactly built old town.
Smart design is all part of Nina Wiemer’s daily work. The qualified interior designer has been developing sophisticated stands for big companies for many years, including Siemens and Volkswagen, and for the most important trade shows. The budget for a stand at the IAA (although exhibition site would be a better description as more than 5,000 m² need to be planned) goes into the millions. A challenge that involves more brains than purely creativity. The company brand sets the tone and social trends, and concepts such as “analogue with digital” need to be incorporated into the exhibition.
In the design of her flat she had a great deal more freedom and was able to give freer rein to her imagination. In doing so, she always followed one basic principle that “design needs to occur in context.” With an apartment’s interiors, this could reflect the country’s culture, the building, and the surroundings.
The palm tree wallpaper attempts to bring the outside inside – a palm tree grows from the courtyard into the flat. The idea of incorporating the context is also reflected in the decor with two Miró works adorning the walls above the desk and an ancient Mallorcan olive tree trunk made into a floor lamp. The wallpaper has a further important effect – it breaks up the green and pushes it into the background.
Each room has been given its own style, none resembling the last and each concealing a surprise. “Eclectic,” as she puts it. Nature acts as the main motif and the colours – gold and pink are also frequently used alongside the green – harmonise with each other despite being an unusual combination for a living space.
Nina Wiemer has already been coming to the island for more than 20 years and two years ago she, together with her partner, fulfilled their dream of having a second home on Mallorca. Palma’s historic old town was at the top of the list. They chose the flat in the centre partly because of the capital’s positive development: “The city is buzzing!” she says, “and we didn’t want a holiday home by the sea but to be close to city life.”
The city apartment was her first interior design project. Now she is toying with the idea of working on further interior design projects alongside her design work with brand spaces. In the world of trade fairs and exhibitions, she envisages a rosy future for Mallorca – the new congress centre and the many opportunities of the island attract big companies. “The classic trade fair hall has had its day, people want more of an experience and Mallorca is perfect for this. Here you could offer a test ride on the Mediterranean at a boat show – something which wouldn’t be possible at the boot show in Düsseldorf.”
Anyone seeking inspiration can follow Nina Wiemer on Instagram or on her online magazine. By the way, what was the monkey doing in the flat? “He’s our bouncer,” she laughs.
Photos: Matthias Soeder & Estefanía Durán
