About Genuine & Unique
A restaurant where the evening unfolds slowly. A home that feels like yours before you have unpacked every box. The atmosphere of a room begins with decisions about light, proportion, colour and materials.
At Genuine & Unique, we bring those decisions together to create interiors with character, shaped around the people who spend time in them.
Meet Ximena
I started in window dressing, bringing furniture, colour and objects together to catch someone’s attention as they walked past. Over more than twenty years in design, my curiosity has moved inside: once someone enters a space, what makes them feel comfortable, interested, ready to settle in?
Living and working across Spain, Kenya, Japan, Mexico and the United States has given me plenty to look at—and different ways of thinking about home, gathering and everyday life.
I love a room with something unexpected: a vintage piece that changes the mood, a confident colour, a quiet corner within a lively space. But I am just as interested in where the chair sits, what it faces and the light you read by.
For me, designing an interior means holding all of that together. The atmosphere draws you in; the way the space works makes you want to stay.
The approach
Every project begins with a place, its people and a conversation. Should a restaurant feel intimate, or full of movement and conversation? Where should a home bring people together, and where should it offer quiet? These questions give the design its direction.
We translate the mood into layout, lighting, colour and materials. Softer light around a table can draw attention towards the people sitting there. Texture can bring warmth to a spare room. The arrangement of furniture can invite conversation or give someone a little privacy.
Art, vintage finds and bespoke pieces introduce another layer. We consider their scale, placement and relationship to the architecture, looking for combinations that feel distinctive and comfortable to live with. Sometimes the room needs one surprising piece. Sometimes it needs a little breathing space.
Work with the studio
From full residential and hospitality interiors to focused online consultations, we help turn your ideas into spaces you can picture yourself in.