Casa Tucán is our beach home. As founders of this company, this is a place we built to enjoy, to share, and a place where we could test everything we wanted, from lighting to furniture design to colours.

Two independent studios, rented apart or lived in together, on a mountain inside a gated community that looks down over the beach. Six people, or a couple.

— — Why Playa Venao?

We came for a few days, years before we bought anything. The energy of the surf village and the Pacific stayed with us.

"When I stepped onto the land, surrounded by forest, with ocean views and the sound of howler monkeys, I knew it was something special. It felt like a place where we could create something meaningful."

We love to surf. We wanted to be near the sea and we wanted somewhere that keeps you active — we can watch the waves from the balcony. Ocean on one side, mountains on the other, trees still standing because the community had been left properly alone. Enveloped by forest, close enough to feel the ocean, and still hidden.

— — Why two studios rather than one house?

So they could be rented separately, and so that either one still feels like a home when you're on holiday with a baby. Together they take six; apart, a couple. The price adapts. A place conceived as a home, and also as an investment that supports local tourism.

— — What did you want people to feel here?

"We wanted to create a place that reflects our love for the outdoors. A space where people from around the world come to feel inspired and part of the unique landscape around them."

Clean and modern, with touches of retro. A space that breaks away from the typical all-white minimalism — pops of colour, authenticity, character.

The furniture does the opposite of the colour. Everything matches the walls: elegant, clean, room to breathe. The built-ins stay calm so the rest of the house can be loud.

— — What did you build differently, knowing guests would use it?

The sofa is the piece people mention most. It's big, it works as a bed, it has two deep drawers underneath, and it wraps the wall to connect with the office. The other is the dining table: on wheels, it lives under the kitchen counter and pulls out when you need it. In a studio, a table you can put away is worth more than a bigger room.

And there is no direct light anywhere. Every fitting is indirect and built in — into the floors, into the furniture. Nothing shines into your eyes. We wanted the nature to be the main character, and at night, the stars and the moon.

Sustainability was in it from the concept: solar panels, a water reserve system, a more conscious stay.

— — What we learned here

Getting furniture to Playa Venao is the hard part. It's remote, and moving assembled furniture down that road is a bad afternoon. Ours arrived flat, in a fraction of the space, and we plugged it together on site.

That is the whole argument for the Plug and Play collection, and we didn't work it out in a meeting. We worked it out carrying our own furniture to our own house.

Casa Tucán is also where we test. New models, new finishes, new details for pieces that live outside — we build them here first, and we live with them before anyone else has to. It's five months old, so we won't tell you how it ages yet. Ask us in two years.