We will soon tell you why our apartments are called Inferniño Apartments, as a modest underworld or a humble purgatory beside the Obradoiro Paradise. Today we are going to explain how the apartments, which are housed in a building that was erected in 1699, were rehabilitated and transformed through the camera lens of Daniel Riera, and how we can share our own story thanks to his shots.
Riera is one of the most important Spanish photographers among his generation. His professional success is associated with his connection to the fashion industry: he has photographed campaigns for brands such as Dior, Bally or Mango, and worked for magazines such as Vogue or Fantastic Man.
Riera’s work for Inferniño came about via the architecture studio of Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera, who used these shots to document the building’s previous condition. A graphic research project captivated by Riera’s look: intuitive images with sentimental values conveyed by natural lighting.
The photos of Inferniño move us even though they present a place that had almost been abandoned and was beginning to acquire a new life. The emotion reaches us by means of Santiago’s special light, captivated illumination that shines through the eternal cloak of clouds enveloping Compostela.
When Inferniño Apartments began its new life, we wanted to keep Daniel Riera’s excellent graphic testimony. Not only due to the quality of each shot but also because it helped us to establish a chronological dialogue, revealing the before and after of each room in the building.
The images provide proof of the spirit of restoration and the integration within the Galician landscape behind the Inferniño experience. The photographs show how the structural parts of the balcony windows were preserved on the upper floors, how the enclosed gallery was restored respecting its characteristic wooden elements: with Galicia’s native chestnut wood and with cedar, one of the most noble woods that exist.
The walls are a museum featuring windows that open into the past. You can see how the work maintained the dialogue with the previous spirit but, at the same time, you can perceive the boldness behind many solutions, such as the restoration of the structural elements in the windows of Apartament 2, where we travel from the past to a magnificent enclosed balcony overlooking the garden.
In fact, one of Daniel Riera’s most evocative photos can be found in the room called The Shed. The image depicts the garden’s previous condition and conveys the state of nostalgia and longing from a past that disappeared a long time ago.
The contrast between the garden’s previous condition and the harmonious ensemble of the present, along with the sober luxury of the Shed room, gives us a great sensation of aesthetic pleasure, of admiring the past and enjoying the present; of contemplating the balanced ensemble formed by the wood, stone and water. In short, a work of art.
We invite you to discover Daniel Riera’s work for Inferniño Apartments and you will see how these windows open up a window into the past.