Playful Mediterranean with a Dutch Twist

A colorful modern aesthetic bringing more than fresh air to Jávea’s Costa Blanca coast with designer Jessica Bataille leading the way. Having built up her eponymous interior design and architecture studio she is now focusing her energy on rebuilding existing houses to bioclimatic standards with her luxury Mediterranean development company Bataille Living.

Tell us a little bit about where you originally come from and where you grew up.

Well originally I am from Holland, I was born in a little town called Amersfoort which is about a 20 minute train ride from Amsterdam. As my father was a professor we moved around a few times through my childhood, we moved to Utrecht and after the south in Maastricht until I was 12. We then moved to Spain, as it was always a dream of my mother that my father wanted to make true for her, to live in the sun. My dad was from Holland and my mother is Lebanese and he always promised her a warm place to live one day. Unfortunately very soon after we arrived in Spain, my Dad passed away suddenly, which was a big shock especially just having come to a new place where everything including the language was so different. Immediately after he died my mother sat my siblings and I down, and asked what we wanted to do, if we wanted to stay or go back to Holland. We all wanted to stay. But we always say in my family that Dad gave us his last and greatest gift which was bringing us here, to Spain.

How and why did you get into the design industry?

Well actually I was not a huge fan of studying but at the same time wanted to learn. If we are quite honest with ourselves, all of us creative people, we sort of stay in the creative side as it feels connected to our soul, and it’s easy to us, so in a way it’s an easy way out. So I went to an art school in Valencia which was extremely inspiring. I was coming from a little town to this big city to an extremely open minded environment and it felt like there were so many possibilities. I lived in Valencia for 3 years at that time.

Did you know that interior design is what you wanted to do, or is it just what interested you most?

Even though at the beginning you start with a general design study including graphic design and fashion design, I was always really connected to interior design. I have been thinking about this through the years, and I feel like now I really understand where it comes from. I’ve always been moving homes with my parents and in that way I have adapted myself quite well. But when I came to Spain, combined with all the trauma of my father passing away so suddenly, I said I need a home and I want to be from somewhere. I really got attached to home. I didn’t want to be moving around anymore from one place to the other.

“And I think in a way, that feeling of trying to find the perfect home, the perfect space has inspired me.”

Because I came from Holland, where the weather is cold, they know a lot about comfort and cosiness. In Spain, where it’s hot, everything lives outside and the inside wasn’t as much of a priority. But even here, we get cold winters and the houses are not as insulated so there is still a need for this kind of comfort. I started to create warm and cosy spaces here in Spain, and people liked it and were excited about it — they needed it here too. So that’s when I really started to connect with the different parts of my culture, and how they inspire me, and to bring more of a comfort to the Mediterranean lifestyle.

You speak fluent English, Dutch, French and Spanish. No doubt that has helped you.

Even though Jávea is a small place compared to the big cities it’s very international. I think that did help at the beginning as business was mainly through word of mouth. Because there are so many interesting people here, a lot of people from all over the world, they all bring something to this place. Something that is their own style and culture and then it creates something new for all of us.

How has living in Spain influenced your work?

I think when you come from another country to live somewhere else, you always see things a bit differently. You see a fresh perspective, another point of view. And the light. The light is amazing. Coming from Holland, where it rains almost every day, it’s grey. When you come here, the light is so strong and gives you so many different colours, you feel like you want to use more and more colours to add to it. Just to show the beauty of the light. It’s so bright, it’s so happy! And in that way many people have told me that I have introduced them to using colour, because generally people are scared to use colour.

What do you think makes you so adventurous with colour?

I wear a lot of colour, I like red lipstick. My personal style reflects my love of colour. People want to go for a safe colour but actually there is much more emotion behind bright and vibrant colours where people feel happy and they don’t even know why. Suddenly they come into a space and they say this feels good! But still I am always working with people and they want to keep it safe with cream and beige and I am trying to gently push them with excitement to just try colour. And it makes them happy! And if not, at the end of the day, what is it, you just paint a wall or change the cushion.

What do you love the most about your work?

It’s actually every day when I create a space I get a surprise, and it’s not because of the creativity necessarily but the process of getting there. When you move things and they have their own energy and you move them and you improvise and you start connecting things, colours with an object. And you grow into this creativity. It’s like you get this feedback from that energy. And when I finish it, I think what a nice space. I never really know what’s going to happen even if there is a general plan.

What part of your job would people find the most surprising?

Probably that they don’t know the process of what’s behind it all. The process to finish a space. That it’s not just choosing curtains and some colours of paint. When you see everything that you have to do to create a perfect space, they are surprised by it. We have a team of over 20 people working on interior architecture, styling and design, reworking and recycling furniture, administration and many other jobs that go into this kind of work.

What have been some defining moments of your life?

Traveling is what truly helps me the most. When I travel, I recognise so many things in myself. I realise my parents really introduced me to this way of living, this free way of not being completely tied down, but to feel a certain freedom through traveling and experiencing new things. I feel it’s when I am connected to myself. Because when you create a space, you have to be real. For example it’s very difficult to create a Moroccan space if you haven’t actually been to Morocco. How does it feel — that’s important to know.

What in design inspires you right now?

I think more and more I have been learning, actually a lot from the Nordic European because I love their perfectionism and their excellence in their design. And to use that with the artisans here in Spain, I think is a great combination. I think when you combine things like that, the modern space with the rustic materials — the rustic material becomes more of an art piece with soul, more of a statement, and I like that.

How has your aesthetic evolved through the years?

Before I used to love quantity. I would clutter the room a lot, as I would feel that empty spaces would not talk to me. And I think I have evolved — ultimately less is more. I love empty spaces, I always have even before, but I used to think you had to fill them. Now I appreciate the space. There is a lot of beauty in an empty space.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

Be yourself. When they say it, you don’t really understand it, but when you grow you realize what it really means. That to be yourself is — don’t lie to yourself.

Who or what would be your dream collaboration?

I would love to do a hotel. That would be the next thing I would love to do.

Where would your dream hotel be?

Here. In Jávea. Definitely here. What I find interesting about it is just like when I build the houses, I have the showhouses and I love to show the whole feeling but I want to show even more. That’s why the parties, the concerts in my studio, they are part of the whole lifestyle. The emotion people feel when they hear the music with the light of the candles, that whole feeling combined. And with a hotel, it’s complete. It’s the pure experience of the Mediterranean lifestyle.

Photography by Workhouse Collective