Water Sign

Aparthotel group Wilde has ambitious plans – and Stephanie Barba Mendoza is along for the ride. “We’re working on six Wildes,” says the Mexico-born, London-based interior designer. “They were all meant to be finished with very different timings, but sometimes it’s like buses… they all come along at once.”

We’re here to talk about Wilde Lisbon, which recently opened close to Avenida da Liberdade, the city’s tree-lined boulevard for upscale shopping and dining. Like almost all design-led hotel groups, Wilde creates a sense of place in each of its city locations, while holding on to some core values. Barba Mendoza says that the overarching brief – no matter which of the six Wildes she’s working on – is to create something “witty, sophisticated and artistic. But beyond those brand guidelines, it’s really carte blanche in terms of creativity.”

In Lisbon, her practice was inspired by the city’s maritime heritage (this is where Vasco da Gama set off for India in 1497, among many other successful expeditions in the Age of Discovery). But it’s a subtle reference point, and Barba Mendoza’s take is that she wanted guests to experience “the feel of being underwater. The different shades of green and blue are those you will find in the sea, but it’s in the form, too, where everything has a curve, like a wave.”

Guests step through an enclosed glass lobby into the hotel’s reception area, where they face a curvy, high-gloss welcome desk. Lush planting in terracotta pots evokes a sunny Mediterranean climate, and informal seating groups encourage a laid-back attitude. The mosaic floor, an homage to Portugal’s mastery of ceramic tiles, runs in big, swooping blocks of colour, in sea green, pale blue and darker seaweed green.

The large bar to one side is an integral part of the space: it’s made from lacquered birds-eye timber (with the ‘eyes’ of the grain visible through the lacquer) with an Arabescato marble top, and both of these elements have a wavy, undulating form. The walls are covered in a bespoke wallcovering whose ombré effect takes you from darker blue at the bottom to paler at the top – delivering that underwater effect that Barba Mendoza was hoping to achieve.

These hard materials are tempered by another kind of wave – a curtain of generous folds of material, which runs along the fascia of the mezzanine-level co-working space above. “We were very aware that we wanted some softness against the hard materials because of the acoustics, and because you want to walk into a space that’s comfortable and warm. It can’t just be tiles,” says Barba Mendoza.

It is witty and whimsical in places – like the checkerboard-tiled walls that mimic a gingham fabric in their pattern, and the dollshouse-like vintage metal chairs, given a sunny reboot with yellow upholstery. The practice designed most of the furniture specially for the project, but there are older pieces too, including the leather sling chairs that sit in front of the wavy, fluted limestone fireplace, and the elegant gilded pendants that hang in front of frilly Austrian blinds at the bar. “We always like to include some found items; it just brings a certain unique characteristic,” says Barba Mendoza.

The space as a whole has been designed with multiple functions and day-to-night activity in mind. Because this is a serviced apartment hotel (Barba Mendoza didn’t have a hand in the 95 guest rooms, split between self-catering apartments and traditional hotel rooms), the clientele could be digital nomads looking for a place to work, or people whose job brings them to the city for longer periods. A ‘deli’ of grab-and-go goods has been designed to feel homely, with oak joinery and a central tablecloth-draped circular table, while the outdoor courtyard can be used for working, hanging out with friends or dining alike.

This is Barba Mendoza’s first solo hospitality project, and sets the benchmark for her other forthcoming Wilde launches, including Vienna and Porto. “They put their trust in us, and give us a lot of creative freedom,” she says. “We love working with them, and I think it’s a mutual thing.”