Step into the Marbella Club showroom of Femont Galvan on the Golden Mile and you enter a space markedly different from the one you just left behind. Here the noise and bustle transform into a peaceful, private world of elegance, where gorgeous tones and textures surround you amid noble materials such as finely lacquered wood, richly veined stone and majestic onyx.

A glance around suggests the palette with which Geoffrey Femont and Ivonne Galvan work and the varied inspiration that forms the source of their creative touch. “We have a certain approach to our work,” says Ivonne, “but for us the passion lies in creating unique living spaces for every single one of the projects we work on.”

Where Industrial Design and Interior Styling Meet

Both the methodology of Femont Galvan and the styles they create are the product of a blend of industrial design and interior architecture, as represented by Geoffrey and Ivonne respectively. They met as students in Milan, and found such a shared vision for design that the two friends decided to set up for themselves after completing their masters at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts in London.

“We have a very complementary way of working and decorating,” says Ivonne, whose skill in visualising and then creating richly ambient interior and outdoor decorative environments finds equal expression in the bespoke designs of Geoffrey. The Antwerp-born industrial designer uses his technical skills to produce one-off pieces of furniture, artwork and also the kind of carpentry found in the finest of homes.

You may not expect it from an interior design company, but this even extends to swimming pools!

Swimming Pools with a Difference

For Geoffrey and Ivonne, swimming pool design comes naturally. In fact, they consider it a seamless part of the other decorative and lifestyle elements of a home, and as such an extension of the indoor and outdoor spaces they dress with such particular care. “Our work takes us in many different directions, exactly because of our flexible and tailored approach,” says Ivonne. “We began designing swimming pools at the request of our clients, who wanted a seamless continuity of style within their homes.”

What started as an interior styling project soon expanded into creating what were literally ‘made to measure’ pool designs that have become something of a specialist field for Femont Galvan. Here too, variety is the key word, as Geoffrey and Ivonne have shown in their highly varied creations to date. Though always one-off concepts that fit the property and express the style and preferences of the owners, these outdoor design pieces also feature the latest in modern technology.

From Garden Terrace to Sky Terrace

The initial projects were the natural evolution of exterior design work, requiring the team to extend the styling of indoor living spaces and terrace areas to the pools and sunbathing decks themselves. Here they discovered a joyous world of possibilities that gave vent to their creative energy, and before long Femont Galvan was creating eye-catchingly stylish swimming pools whose lines, materials and finishing dazzle entice, yet always in line with the rest of the home, be it at garden level or in a penthouse.

Special LED lighting effects, forms, textures and even cascading effects followed, applied with restraint and fine taste, but impressive all the same. “It is perhaps because we come from a fresh perspective that we have also dared to suggest more unusual pool shapes and configurations,” says Geoffrey, and of course indoor pools and spa areas are very much a part of what has become a rather unique form of expertise for an interior design company.

Engineering at the Service of Style and Comfort

All of this presumes an affinity with engineering techniques which has been honed across a large number of projects and innovative design concepts. “In this field as much as home reconstruction projects, our work is very much a blend of aesthetic design and technical execution in which the two become merged in applications such as pool tiles that produce optical effects by day and night.” The colours used create a wide range of ambiences, ranging from fresh blue tones and austere black to the green laguna look.

“All of this is carefully thought out,” says Ivonne, “so that the tonalities match the house, garden, terrace area, views and of course the materials selected.” Modern materials and building innovations have widened the scope of possibilities, and this again has inspired a great many creative ideas, not to mention high-tech applications that enable you to regulate the temperature of the water at the touch of a button, or should I say screen.

“Naturally, as elsewhere in the house, we apply not only aesthetic design but also incorporate the latest technologies when needed and desired, but perhaps the most singular of all has been a glass plunge pool set high on the terrace of a luxurious apartment.”
For Geoffrey, Ivonne and the team at Femont Galvan, overcoming the technical challenges while making it a design feature that merges with the endless sky and sea horizons was a pleasure that symbolises a unique company’s spirit and philosophy.
“In our work, we very much believe that challenges are merely a creative hurdle.”