Party Walls

It’s long been understood that decorating feeds the soul, but can it patch up a broken heart? It’s a question that the up-and-coming designer Erick Millán came to ask himself reluctantly, having moved to Guadalajara for love. He left behind a glossy Los Angeles life as a product creator to return to his native Mexico, only for the relationship to break down – leaving him in a new city, in a desolate apartment, with passion to burn.

Now his cacophonous Guadalajara flat answers that challenge with a resounding ‘yes’. Born in the coastal city of Mazatlán, Erick moved to California when he was 19 years old to study architecture. He lived in LA for almost 15 years, working for a series of architecture firms, before becoming a creative director for a company that designed dog products. ‘Most of the time I was coming up with ideas for someone else, and I had this urge to do something on my own,’ he explains. ‘But in that city it was going to be expensive to create my own designs and realise all the concepts that I had in my head. I wanted to make tapestry, tiles, furniture – everything.’

In LA, the designer had formed a relationship with a Guadalajaran, and when his life eventually took him back home, Erick followed. That doesn’t mean it was an easy decision. ‘Often in Mexican culture, we go to the United States to live the typical American dream, and for me, at that time, it felt contradictory to go back to Mexico. I thought: what am I going to do there? I got my degree in LA, I had a good job, my electric car… But in the end, my intuition guided me to Guadalajara.’

Erick set out to make his kitchen (little more than a sink and a fridge when he moved in), a ‘playful and cartoony’ space. The hectic, syncopated pattern of tiles, which is based on drawings by artist Pedro Friedeberg, were custom-made in Morelia, southwest of Guadalajara. Says Erick: ‘I wanted it to look like a quilt sewn into the wall’. The pink table/chair set is from Fermob, while the yellow countertops are fashioned from Venetian mosaic

Circumstances intervened, however, and Erick found himself alone in a new city, with no work and an empty apartment in an unassuming block (formerly an office) in the popular Colonia Americana area. With time on his hands, he had the idea of transforming the flat into a canvas for self-expression. Little did he know that this decorating process would also become a form of self-repair. Erick was naturally drawn to vibrant tones – only the most potent purples, pinks, reds and greens – as a way of brightening up his life from the inside out. ‘I came here with an eye to embracing my culture: arts and crafts, ceramics. Mexico is colour.’

In time, every inch of the walls and ceilings were rewilded with bright shades. A vivid miscellany of furniture was added, featuring some pieces upholstered by local makers, but also Ikea finds. When Erick moved in, the kitchen was completely empty – all white walls, no stove, nothing but a table with a microwave, and a white refrigerator. ‘I’m a huge fan of Pedro Friedeberg’s drawings, and that was my source of inspiration,’ Erick explains of the geometric tiles he had made by hand, the ones that clash explosively with each other in the kitchen.

In contemporary style, he’s reinterpreted those patchworks of Talavera tiles, products of an archetypal tradition dating back to the 16th century, when Mexico was under colonial rule. Now, there’s an air of a local mercado in the kitchen: Fornasetti faces wink on the table, and a chef joins Erick during the week and makes plant-based meals. (‘I even have piñatas in my kitchen,’ says Erick. ‘Why not? The little donkeys are cute.’) The result is a creative playground – not least for the hand-painted monkeys by Seletti that swing from the banisters. Elsewhere, in the living room, a shrine to Frida Kahlo goes almost unnoticed amid the vintage poster for Perrier water, a bunch of crocheted flowers and a pair of clogs. For Erick, the apartment is a modern take on ‘a temple of colour’, wherein a shrine to the Virgin Mary can co-exist beside hollow Chiapas animal masks, examples of which surmount each doorway.

You might expect such a colourful environment to have been created by an equally riotous personality. But, in fact, there’s a refreshing introspection to the designer. Erick describes himself as spiritual, a side of him he feels has bloomed since living in the apartment. In the course of the project, he got to know many local people and artisans with expertise in making textiles and ceramics using traditional techniques, connections that offered a deep well of inspiration. ‘Being here was the impetus I needed to create something that embraces Mexico,’ he explains. ‘I find being surrounded by colour and plants truly magical; Mother Nature allows me to refuel.’

This traditional love story has a conventional ending, though perhaps not in the way you might expect. Our protagonist finds a new love: not a person in this case, but a home. ‘When you share a space with someone else, you have to take into consideration their likes and dislikes, but the more I added to my apartment, the question became: how can I have fun and create a space that’s just for me?’ Erick says. ‘It was a way for me to grab a colouring book and play, connecting with my inner child. This was my freedom: starting from scratch, finding a new home and being on my own.’

To contact Erick Millán, mail hello@erickmillan.com

A version of this article also appears in the May 2024 issue of ‘The World of Interiors’.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, and be the first to receive exclusive homes stories like this one, direct to your inbox. Learn about our subscription offers