Villa Tabaiba, a mysterious house…Who lives there?

May 25, 2024

Arriving in Corralejo, from the road of the Dunes, there is a colorful house full of plants and sculptures, a little surrealist: Villa Tabaiba.
Tabaiba is the name of a typical plant of Fuerteventura, a species of cactus of the Euphorbiaceae family.
The curiosity to enter and find out more is very strong, it seems a magical place and quite different from other places. With this desire and a lot of luck, thanks to the help of the Corralejo Camera Club group, we head towards this magical enclosure and discover that imagination was not enough.
We have in front of us a wonderful place where Art and Nature are in perfect harmony.
The owner of this mysterious house in Corralejo is Carlos Calderón Yruegas, an architect born in Seville, and also a painter, photographer, sculptor, writer… in short, a 360-degree artist. He welcomes us with great cordiality to let us visit the Villa, photograph his works and interview him.
Entering we perceive a lot of vegetation mixed with works of art, an artistic and magical garden, it seems to enter an oasis.
Carlos Calderón Yruegas is above all a minimalist architect who designs very efficient and practical houses that need very little maintenance to do.
For over 30 years he has lived in this house and enjoys his art by creating colorful works and sculptures full of hidden meanings.
You can understand his works by looking at them with the eyes of the heart, looking for what the artist wanted to say, and then giving a personal opinion.
We asked him: Why this house? “For my personal taste, it’s like a joke. I am an architect and I design very rational and minimalist projects, but with this house I have fun and enjoy my art.” In addition, Carlos Calderón Yruegas, is a writer very fond of the island, he has written several books such as: “Escrito en Fuerteventura” and “Apuntes para un viaje a la isla de Fuerteventura” Day after day, working as an architect and writing books, he has created this artistic house, wonderful but at the same time very complicated to maintain.
Every corner of Villa Tabaiba is special, every window is different from the other, there is a tower in the middle with fixed glass very difficult to clean, large plants in the garden, statues, and so on, everything needs to be in good condition and to maintain it well there is a lot of work to do.
“This house was a whim,” Carlos comments, “but in the end I fell into the slavery of the house which takes a long time.” It has been defined ”
the artist of mannequins” and we asked him if all the works are made by him: “Yes, I did everything, only the mannequins I bought and then I transformed them”.
My last exposure was more about manipulation.
I make a composition and then transform it to my taste”. Carlos Calderón Yruegas is a great artist who has been doing exhibitions since he was 14 years old and his catalogs are scattered in all parts of the world where he has exhibited his works.
He also exhibits some of his permanent sculptures here in Fuerteventura, in Puerto del Rosario, in Antigua near the “Museo del Queso” and the airport, for example.
Carlos Calderón Yruegas’ desire is to expand the offer of Art in Fuerteventura, when he arrived on the island, many years ago, there were only six artists, there are many more and of all nationalities and it would be nice to give them the importance they deserve.
We agree and think that “Villa Tabaiba” also deserves more artistic recognition from everyone.
We leave you with a gallery of photos to appreciate this incredible building with a few more details.