At Home With | Melissa Rosenbauer of espanyolet

Melissa Rosenbauer and Thomas Bossert call the Spanish Balearic Islands home. There, they spend their days making the textiles and specialty finishes for their highly bespoke interior design projects. Their creative studio is named espanyolet, and in their words, it was born out of a very simple but authentic desire: to use their hands on surfaces beyond a computer keyboard. 

The couple was living and working in New York when they took a creative sabbatical year exploring the world. The decision changed the trajectory of their life - three months into their travels, they decided to leave their management positions in New York and focus on building an artisan business. Initially based in Berlin, they created textiles and ceramics inspired by traditional processes like Indonesian Batik and Japanese Raku. Searching for a warmer climate, they took a friend's advice and moved to Spain, eventually settling on the island of Mallorca. 

Their studio name comes from the Son Espanyolet neighbourhood in Mallorca’s capital, Palma, where they rented before buying their villa in Génova, four kilometres away. Génova sits at the foot of a mountain range and is blessed with the most beautiful sea views and what Melissa calls an imperfect quaintness. “It’s one of those charming little villages that still feels a little rough around the edges. There seems to have been no urban planning, so all the homes are just kind of built on little wobbly corners and into the unevenly terraced hillside.” 

Melissa and Thomas’s compact two-storey villa is one of three built in the 1950s by a Barcelonian family as their summer home. When the couple first viewed the property in 2020, it had been a rental for decades and was a messy patchwork of unsympathetic updates from the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s. “We knew we’d have to get rid of all of those cheap materials and bring it back to its more authentic self, using noble materials,” says Melissa, adding that the plumbing, electricals, layout and outdoor spaces also needed attention.  

The home’s refreshed material palette chimes with the tightly held ethos that imbues any espanyolet interior design project—“We value and prioritise natural things above all else: wood, stone, lime, and linen,” says Melissa. They selected Spanish stone for the alfresco areas, the bathroom floor and the kitchen bench, and timber flooring for the rest of the spaces. The walls are finished with limewash paint– lime washes and renders are a signature surface selection for espanyolet and their Mediterranean-inspired designs.  

Layers of linen bring rich texture and an easy lived-in look to the bedroom and lounging areas, including the siesta-ready built-in seating on the first-floor balcony. “We started espanyolet as a textile design studio, so we know linen,” Melissa offers. A Uma Throw in Natural from The Dharma Door sits amongst the couple's curation of textiles from around the globe, some of which they’ve hand-dyed in their signature colour palette of earthy neutrals and muted berry tones. “When we got The Dharma Door throw, we knew we’d stumbled upon quality,” says Melissa.

The couple embraces raw, natural materials, honouring the beauty of imperfection and the natural aging process. “Just as these elements evolve, so too does the character of our home, which makes it feel both vintage and alive, rooted yet transforming,” Melissa proposes. 

The light, relaxed mood of the refreshed interiors belies the immense challenges the couple faced during the renovation. Thomas was diagnosed with cancer a month after the works began, and his chemotherapy treatments commenced immediately. “Needless to say, the start of the project was a very stressful one,” says Melissa.

Thomas’s recovery was aided by Mallorca’s slower pace, where simple living and a close connection to nature, family, and community are indicators of a quality life. Daily three-hour lunches are centred on home-cooked meals, and the sun, sea and mountains are savoured and revered. 

Melissa speaks candidly about her adjustment to this lifestyle, which sharply contrasts her previously hurried existence in New York City. “‘I’ve leaned into the slowness of Mediterranean life. I will still complain about how nothing is open ever on a daily basis, but the weekends have become sacred for me.” 

When Saturday comes around, Melissa and Thomas drive to their weekender on the other side of the island. Here they truly disconnect from work and relax by reading, hiking and swimming. Lola, their gorgeous rescue dog who never leaves their side, is particularly fond of the ocean. The couple renovated their holiday house and decorated it with natural materials and meaningful objects, echoing the look and feel of their Génova villa and the inspired spirit of espanyolet.

“We have been fortunate to have travelled far and wide, collecting handmade items from all over the world,” Melissa shares. These autobiographical treasures tell the story of the couple's global adventures and speak to their committed and continual support of makers, from the roadside artisans in Namibia to the women weaving in huts in Thailand. “This is why we admire and continue to buy from The Dharma Door,” Melissa explains. “What they have created is a sustainable living wage for the craftspeople with whom they work. And this is what matters — that the artisans are not only celebrated for their handmade goods but that they can make a living from it and put food on their table.”