Interior Design & Ephemeral Installations by Colapso.

The façade of the vegan restaurant Rayen at Lope de Vega street in Madrid was illuminated for 4 days and nights using more than 250 lineal meters of yellow duct tape and various painted décor items. Project developed as a member of (fos) team.

Susana Piquer is Barcelona-based interior designer and art director, working as a freelancer under the moniker Colapso. Previously, she was the co-founder of the multidisciplinary studio (fos). Her work is primarily centred on architecture with a multidisciplinary approach, focussing on ephemeral installations and interior design.

Colapso is a studio with a “laboratory soul”, with a global view of design, and open to all kinds of creative projects, but mostly related to space, whether permanent or ephemeral. In all her projects, Susana likes to reinforce the importance of a main concept which gives rise to ideas and allows each project to have it’s own story.

Todays we share some of our favourite projects, as well as a quick Q+A with Susana below.

Interior Design of multifunctional space for Softheads in Barcelona, located in the Palau Mercader.

+ How do you define what you do?

Colapso makes creative projects, mostly related to space, whether permanent or ephemeral. The importance of a concept from where all the project starts its palpable in every one of them.
I think other common aspect for all the projects, products and spaces, is that they have a “creative twist”.

Tables ö. Available in two sizes: side table and nightstand. Photography and Art Direction by Olga de la Iglesia. Courtesy of Matagalán.

+ How do you go about establishing concept and an overall direction for your projects?

I always start with a meeting with the client in order for them to explain to me who they are, what they do, etc. From there I do some research and write a lot of notes. The next step is organising all these notes and developing a strong concept, on which the project will be based.
I try not to draw until I have this concept, and just write some notes if some image comes to my head. Then I set out to think about the best way to visually reproduce this concept. I think that a good concept and the design details make all the difference.

Window display at Zuhaus, furniture shop in Recife, Brazil.

+ What has been your favourite project so far?

I couldn’t decide! Sometimes you make so much effort on one project that you don’t want to see it again for a while, but then you realise it was worth it.
There are many things that affects this opinion: a good relationship with the client, the visual result, the comments of the people that discovers the project…
I am proud of all of them. Like a grandma with their grandsons :)

Ephemeral installation and window display at the Nudie Jeans Concept Store in Barcelona.Photography by Maud-Sophie.

+ Any interesting/ funny/ quirky facts you could tell us about your projects or the process?

Usually the search of the materials becomes an adventure. I am not a super studio with all the infrastructure in place, so I do not always have the most appropriate means of transport at my disposal, or enough hands to do the job, so I’ve found myself in the suburbs under a tropical rain carrying IKEA furniture heavier than me, trying to speak Chinese with wholesalers, or collecting large sheets of cardboard and transporting them by subway during peak hours.
The other funny thing are the comments from the people: when I was buying copper tube for the ö tables, someone asked me if I was a plumber.

Design of ephemeral installation from figures that make up the branding of Refresco, which expands through the space of Über Barcelona. Photography by Olga de la Iglesia.