Tosalet
A mediterranean interior design vision
A mediterranean interior design vision
01 — The Vision
Tosalet is born from a radical idea: that true luxury resides in authenticity. Not in ostentation, but in the texture of a tadelakt wall under the evening light. In the touch of raw linen. In the sound of water in a pool reflecting the Mediterranean sky.
Every space has been designed so that the guest feels they have arrived at a place that always existed, that belongs to the land, the landscape, the history of this corner of the Mediterranean. We want to create a hotel that does not compete with its surroundings, but completes them.
The material palette — stone, wood, clay, lime, velvet, wrought iron — speaks a language that has been spoken here for centuries. But we do it with contemporary eyes: sculptural forms, design pieces that dialogue with local craftsmanship, and an obsession with natural light that transforms each room throughout the day.
02 — The History
Tosalet is more than a name: it is a place with memory. The stones that form these walls have witnessed centuries of Mediterranean life — of farmers who worked the land under the same sun that now bathes our terraces.
Our interior design proposal starts from absolute respect for this heritage. The arches that frame the doors, the herringbone terracotta floors, the wooden beams that cross the ceilings — none of this is decoration, it is the DNA of the place.
But history is not a museum. It is a living river. That is why every contemporary piece we introduce — a Bellini Camaleonda sofa, a travertine table with impossible volumes, a sculptural paper lamp — does not break with the past, but activates it. We create creative tension between the vernacular and the authorial.
The dry stone walls outside dialogue with the corten steel of the landscaping. The lime on the walls contrasts with the olive velvet of the seating. Artisanal wrought iron holds white linen cushions by the pool. It is this constant conversation between eras that makes Tosalet unique.
Jávea & The Mediterranean in the 60s
A cultural, architectural and social reading of the moment that gives the collection its name.
The 1960s in Spain were a rupture. After a long Francoist autarky, by the late fifties, Spain began to emerge from the dark pit of post-war isolation. Modern architecture started to reclaim the place it had lost during the war, and some pioneers of modern design sensed that an opportunity was opening for a new taste in domestic interiors.
It was a Spain that for the first time looked outward — toward Scandinavia, toward Italy, toward its own Mediterranean that had always been there but was now rediscovered as a value.
The Costa Blanca experienced its first real property boom in the 60s and 70s, coinciding with the takeoff of Spanish tourism and the arrival of mass travel. The first buyers, predominantly from Northern Europe, invested in holiday homes — often simple but well-situated along the coast.
Jávea at that time was still a village of fishermen and farmers. Quiet. Real. Without overdevelopment.
There is one fact that makes the name 1967 almost magical for Jávea in particular.
The Church of Nuestra Señora de Loreto was completed exactly in 1967. National Architecture Prize in 1969, designed by Fernando García Ordóñez of GO-DB Arquitectos studio.
In the 60s, brutalism burst onto the scene in Spain as part of the modernising impulse following the Francoist autarky. This style, characterised by the use of reinforced concrete and bold geometries, was synonymous with functional and economical solutions. The church of Nuestra Señora de Loreto, inaugurated in 1967, fitted this paradigm — it was considered by many as strange and misunderstood, but its singularity did not go unnoticed in architectural circles.
The BBC in London compared this church in Jávea with Liverpool's new cathedral and the cathedral of Brasilia, giving it an unexpected international reach for a Mediterranean fishing village.
In 1967, Jávea was producing world-class avant-garde architecture. Misunderstood locally, recognised globally. Exactly the kind of creative tension that 1967 as a collection can invoke.
In Madrid, Darro was born — a showroom where furniture was combined to suggest ways of living. It was about teaching the public to use new furniture, conceived for apartments that were starting to have less surface area. The fundamental references lay in modern rationalism and, especially, in Danish and Scandinavian examples — Nordic architecture also exerted a great influence on the young Spanish architecture of the time.
The emblematic piece of this moment: the Riaza chair by Paco Muñoz — walnut frame, seat and backrest in hand-stitched natural leather — fused modernity and tradition through the use of noble materials. Steel, leather and wood became essential elements.
The important thing: Spanish design of the 60s was neither psychedelic nor futuristic. It was austerely modern. Wood, leather, visible structure, real craftsmanship. The Mediterranean counterpoint to Anglo-Saxon pop art.
Residential development began around the Arenal area and the Montgó Natural Park. Expatriates, captivated by the mild climate and relaxed pace of life, bought summer houses and retirement properties. By the end of the 20th century, the town had become an established expat hub.
But in the 60s this was still nascent. The first foreigners — Dutch, Belgian, German, British — arrived in Jávea seeking exactly what remains valuable today: light, stone, silence, sea.
Traditional Mediterranean houses in Jávea were built with thick stone walls, terracotta roof tiles and interior courtyards designed for shade and air circulation. Materials like tosca and terracotta are synonymous with the region, and are now becoming increasingly popular among luxury developers who want to marry the old and the new.
That is the key: the materials of the 60s in Jávea were not artificial. They were local, humble in origin, rich in texture. Tosca, terracotta, lime, red pine wood. The same palette that today is considered quiet luxury.
The research confirms and deepens the concept of the collection.
1967 in Jávea is the year when the misunderstood turns out to be the most advanced. The Loreto church was considered "ugly" locally and recognised as a masterpiece globally. 1967 as a collection can operate in that same tension: objects that don't shout, that don't explain, that take time to be understood — and that therefore endure.
Local tosca, unglazed terracotta, undyed linen — these are not trends. They are the material vocabulary of Jávea in the 60s, before overdevelopment. 1967 recovers them without easy nostalgia, from a contemporary standpoint.
The first foreigners who arrived in Jávea in the 60s are the cultural grandparents of today's JBG client. Dutch, Belgian, German people who sought Mediterranean authenticity. The circle closes: 1967 speaks exactly to that transgenerational memory.
A phrase for the collection
«In 1967, Jávea built a ship-shaped church that the world didn't understand until years later. That's what worthwhile objects are like.»
Too long for a tagline. But perfect as an internal story — the one the team knows and that gives depth to everything else.
03 — The Spaces
The hotel is articulated in layers of intimacy: from the most public and social spaces to the absolute refuge of each room. All share the same language, but each has its own emotional temperature.
Tadelakt walls that absorb the light. Headboards upholstered in earthy velvet. Travertine bedside tables. Bed linen in raw linens and washed cottons. Each room is a cocoon of calm where the earth palette and natural materials invite deep rest. Open showers facing greenery, backlit oval mirrors, matte black fixtures.
The lounges are the heart of Tosalet. Sofás modulares de terciopelo agrupados en torno a mesas de piedra natural. Arte abstracto de gran formato en las paredes. Lámparas de diseño que funcionan como esculturas de luz. El bar con barra de barro cocido artesanal, vigas de madera y lámparas de latón. Rincones de lectura con sillas de autor junto a ventanales que enmarcan el paisaje. Comedor con mesa de mármol rojo, sillas bouclé y cestería colgante.
The pool is the soul of the outdoor space. Rodeada de piedra natural, con tumbonas de estructura metálica y textil rayado — un guiño retro-mediterráneo que se ha convertido en la firma visual de Tosalet. Sombrillas con faldón ondulado, mesas de ratán, cojines de lino. Jardines con olivos, palmeras y aromáticas que perfuman el atardecer. Zonas de daybed bajo pérgolas de madera con cortinas de lino que danzan con la brisa.
A space where tadelakt and stone create the atmosphere of a sacred grotto. Iluminación indirecta que emerge de los propios muros. Lavabos cilíndricos de piedra. Duchas de lluvia abiertas a jardines interiores tropicales. Baños de vapor con velas y aromas de romero y lavanda. Un lugar de ritualidad lenta, conectado con la tradición de los baños mediterráneos.
04 — Materials & Textures
Each material has been chosen for what it evokes to the touch, to the eye, and with the passage of time. We seek materials that age with grace, that gain character with use, that tell stories through their imperfections.
Dry stone walls, travertine floors, monolithic tables. Stone as an anchor to the territory.
Oak beams, solid furniture, artisanal basketry, rattan. The warm, the organic, the living.
Velvets in earth and olive tones. Raw linens. Stripes that dialogue with maritime tradition.
Tadelakt on walls and bathrooms. Terracotta on floors. Cork as sculptural material. The terrestrial.
Art for Tosalet
Two artistic lines that coexist in Tosalet. La figurativa — cuerpos al sol, acantilados, arcos, bodegones, olivos — conecta con la vida del Mediterráneo. La abstracta — composiciones geométricas en tonos tierra, ocre, oliva y negro — traduce esa misma paleta en un lenguaje contemporáneo. Ambas comparten textura, color y alma.
Murals, Tapestries & Sculpture
Woven tapestries in earth tones. Calder-signed textiles. Mediterranean murals through arches. Totemic sculptures in black and turquoise. Art at Tosalet is not decoration — it is the cultural layer that transforms a building into a place with memory.
Brise-Soleil & Mediterranean Construction
The brise-soleil is fundamentally a climate negotiation device. Le Corbusier codified it in the 1930s, but the logic is ancient and Mediterranean: the deep loggia, the screened courtyard, the overhanging pergola — all are the same idea without the formal name. Direct solar radiation on a southern facade produces interior temperatures that no HVAC system handles economically. A horizontal fin at the right depth eliminates the problem at source.
In Jávea, a south-facing facade without solar control is a failed facade. Summer solstice sun at approximately 72° elevation means the critical angle is steep — fins need to be deep enough to block altitude from roughly 45° upward while letting winter sun in at 25–30°. This is a precise geometry problem, not a decorative one.
Concrete or precast stone fins — Functional, but reads as technical rather than residential.
Natural stone cantilevers (Bateig, limestone, travertine) — More expensive, but they carry thermal mass and identity.
Timber louvres (iroko, teak) — Add warmth, allow rotation for variable control. The risk is maintenance; the reward is a facade that feels crafted.
Ceramic or terracotta blades — Underused but strongly Mediterranean. Lightweight, thermally effective, artisanal texture.
The brise-soleil signals sophistication without ostentation — a buyer or guest who understands architecture reads it immediately. It reduces operational cost: in a wellness venue, passive solar control means lower HVAC load, more stable interior temperatures, better acoustic quality. It defines the Mediterranean premium: the difference between a villa that looks Mediterranean and one that is Mediterranean is often this — whether the architecture negotiates with the climate or pretends it doesn't exist. The brise-soleil is the negotiation made visible.
Terracotta
Terracotta is the foundational material of Mediterranean construction. From floor tiles to structural bricks, from amphitheatre steps to pool decks — its warm red-orange tone anchors every space in the geological reality of the region.
Tosca Stone
Tosca is calcarenita — a sedimentary limestone formed from compressed marine shells and calcareous sand, amber to cream in tone, with a characteristic warm porosity. It is the indigenous building material of the Marina Alta. Every old house in the Jávea casco histórico is built with it. The Tosalet compound almost certainly has it in its walls, its arches, its original structural logic.
Workable by hand tool — softer than granite or marble, it can be carved without industrial equipment.
Thermal inertia — stays cool to the touch even in direct sun. Not a small thing for outdoor furniture in Jávea in August.
Absorbs patina — it weathers, develops tone. That is not a defect; it is the material's intelligence. It ages the way good leather ages.
Tosalet has tosca on-site. You excavate, restore, or work with the stone already present. Some of that stone becomes designed objects. Those objects carry a provenance story that no import catalogue can replicate. Stone extracted during the renovation becomes the first series of designed objects. The bench in someone's villa in Amsterdam was carved from the same stone as the wall that was opened to create the new wellness terrace at Tosalet. That is not marketing. That is provenance.
Monolithic carved bench, 160–180 cm. No legs, no metal. Just form carved from a single block. €2,800–4,500
Raw or lightly honed tosca slab on iroko or blackened steel trestle. Works indoors and outdoors. €1,200–2,200
Hand-carved tosca vessel, interior sealed. A plumbing component that happens to be a sculpture. €1,800–3,500
Limited series of five to ten carved objects. Signed, numbered, site-specific. The fine art layer — where Tosalet's story crystallizes into a collectible.
Materials & Color
Tosalet's material identity is drawn directly from the land it sits on. Russet, brown sugar, almond, sage, ebony — five tones that move from fired clay through weathered stone to the green of olive groves. Every surface, every textile, every object is selected to belong to this chromatic family. The result is a space that feels inevitable rather than designed.
Stone, terracotta, undyed linen, blackened steel. Four material families that move from the weight of tosca to the softness of velvet — all united by their origin in the Mediterranean earth.
The Church of 1967
Completed in 1967, designed by Fernando García Ordóñez of GO-DB Arquitectos. National Architecture Prize in 1969. The BBC compared it with Liverpool's new cathedral and the cathedral of Brasilia. Its structure is shaped like an upturned boat hull, dedicated to the fishermen of the town. In 1967, Jávea was producing world-class avant-garde architecture — misunderstood locally, recognised globally. Exactly the creative tension that defines Tosalet.
Architecture References
The architectural references for Tosalet draw from terracotta-coloured modernism — perforated brickwork facades, sculptural spiral staircases in pigmented concrete, and the monumental yet warm aesthetic of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent and similar institutions that honour earth tones at architectural scale.
Furniture & Objects
Tosalet's furniture language draws from three currents. The Castilian tradition — heavy cuarterones, wrought-iron hardware, dark walnut — reinterpreted by a new generation of European dealers who place these anonymous mid-century pieces alongside Noguchi lamps and linen sofas. Stone furniture in travertine, marble, tosca and limestone — monolithic tables, consoles and benches born from the territory. And contemporary craft objects — brutalist credenzas, carved cork, design pieces that anchor each room.
The Castilian furniture returns
Castilian furniture is back. Heavy cuarterones, wrought-iron hardware, dark walnut — pieces from the 60s, 70s and 80s that European dealers are now placing alongside Noguchi lamps and linen sofas in contemporary interiors. The geometry of their panelled doors, mixed with rustic rush seating and alabaster lamps, creates entirely current environments.
«These are almost always anonymous designs, created by artisan guilds, very capable of competing with their European contemporaries» — Fargo Furniture, Barcelona
Read full article on Revista AD
Stone Furniture
Garden & Landscape
Mediterranean gardens that feel inevitable rather than designed. Stone pathways, olive trees, cypress, lavender, agave. The garden at Tosalet is not landscaping — it is the continuation of the Montgó hillside into the built environment.
Lifestyle
Straw hats and linen. Wicker baskets and wildflowers. Tadelakt walls and bare feet. The lifestyle references for Tosalet speak of a Mediterranean sensibility that is effortless, tactile and timeless — fashion that belongs to the landscape, not imported from it.
Floor Plans — Ignacio Carbonell Cantí Arquitectos
The architectural plans for the Tosalet compound across 5 parcels. Reception, restaurant, bar, wellness & spa, gym, 55+ accommodation units in 2 heights, chapel, and extensive landscaped areas. Located at C/ Algarrobo 15, Urb. Tosalet, 03730 Jávea, Alicante.
• Reception with lounge seating
• Restaurant & Bar
• Wellness & Spa
• Gymnasium & Changing rooms
• Multipurpose room
• 55+ accommodation units (2 heights)
• Staff quarters
• Chapel (Capilla)
• Parking: 52 spaces across site
• Laundry & Storage
Color Palette
The palette is born from the landscape: the ochres of rock at sunset, the dusty green of the olive tree, the terracotta of clay, the warm white of lime, the black of wrought iron. Each tone reinforces the connection to the place.
05 — The Landscape
The landscape is not a backdrop: it is the first interior design. Olivos centenarios, pinos que filtran la luz, palmeras que enmarcan las vistas, aromáticas que perfuman los senderos. Jardines que se funden con el monte, piscinas que reflejan el cielo, terrazas que miran al horizonte donde la montaña besa el mar.
06 — What we must create
A guide to everything we need to define, design and produce so that Tosalet comes to life exactly as we envision it.
Fichas técnicas de cada material: proveedor, acabado, tonalidad exacta. Muestras físicas de tadelakt, barro cocido, travertino, piedra natural, maderas.
Catálogo definitivo de piezas: sofás modulares, mesas de piedra, sillas de comedor (bouclé, terciopelo), tumbonas de piscina, camas. Mix de diseño italiano y artesanía local.
Definir telas por zona: terciopelos para interiores, linos para habitaciones, rayas para exterior. Colores, proveedores, resistencias. Cortinas, cojines, ropa de cama.
Proyecto lumínico completo: lámparas de autor como piezas escultóricas, iluminación indirecta en muros, temperatura de color cálida (2700K). Exterior: balizas, uplights en vegetación.
Curación artística: obras abstractas de gran formato, esculturas cerámicas, espejos artesanales, piezas de neón. Artistas locales e internacionales. Una pieza icónica por espacio.
Diseño completo de baños: tadelakt, grifería negra mate, lavabos escultóricos de piedra, espejos ovalados retroiluminados. Concepto de spa: materiales, iluminación, aromas.
Tumbonas, daybeds, sombrillas con faldón, mesas auxiliares de ratán. Definir la imagen de marca del poolside: textil rayado como firma visual. Pavimento perimetral.
Proyecto vegetal: olivos, palmeras washingtonia, buganvillas, romero, lavanda, gramíneas. Maceteros de cemento pulido. Integración monte-jardín. Riego sostenible.
Barra de barro cocido artesanal. Taburetes de madera maciza. Vajilla de cerámica artesanal. Cristalería soplada. Mantelería de lino. Carta y concepto gastronómico.
Tipografía del hotel, logotipo en piedra, señalética en materiales naturales (cerámica, latón), papelería, amenities, packaging. Todo coherente con el mood.
