Inside Carlos Mota’s Vibrant Makeover of a Modernist Manse in Peru

By Mitchell Owens

Photography by Björn Wallander

Safe decorating is an international issue, it seems: gray and beige upholstery, a signal lack of patterns to delight the eye, and walls painted 50 shades of white. Even Lima, the capital of Peru, is not immune. “Lots of white, very light, modern, that kind of thing” is how Bettina Iolas, a Lima native, describes the aesthetic status quo. She subscribed to it as well for many years, before embracing chromatic change. "One day, I was going around my house, and all I saw was gray and beige," she recalls. “And I decided I needed more color in my life.” Which explains why she flew to New York City one day and had lunch with a friend, the decorator, stylist, and writer Carlos Mota, whose most recent book, G: Forever Green (Vendome), tells you all you need to know about his taste. Green is one of his favorite colors, along with purple and pink. (But fans of his style know that he also loves yellow, blue, red, orange, and much more, as long as the tones are clear and thevalues are vivid.)

A Martino Gamper rug anchors the living room. Draperies made of custom fabric by Toyine Sellers; yellow 1950s sofa by Federico Munari; 1960 Angelo Mangiarotti side table; Jacques Quinet chair; three lacquer tables by Aldo Tura; bespoke banquette in a Fortuny velvet; 19th-century wicker chair; 1970 mirror by Edward Zajac.

Mary Maguire Art Blue and White Herringbone Garden Folly in Antique Bamboo Frame

Mary Maguire Art

Arco Floor Lamp by Achille Castiglioni for Flos

Design Within Reach

Casa Mota Purple Dream Napkins, Set of 4

Casa Mota

Jayson Home Taureg Mat

Jayson Home

Iolas wanted to refresh her longtime digs, and though she was a bit fearful of taking that step, she was swept up by Mota’s enthusiasm. Soon, they were examining the property and pondering how to make it sing. Constructed decades ago by Theodor Cron (“a really amazing architect,” Iolas says), a Swiss-Peruvian modernist and an admirer of the buildings of Le Corbusier, the structure, centered around a courtyard, was originally low, lean, and rectilinear. But by the time Iolas and her former husband took up residence as newlyweds in 1990, a previous owner had tacked on an unfortunate second floor.

“It kind of ruined the house,” Iolas recalls. Mario Lara, another well-known Peruvian architect, was called in to come up with a solution, and he replaced the offending upper level with a more complementary one that would accommodate a growing family; he also added an inviting pool off the ground-floor terrace. The interiors emphasized the modernity, too, meaning a largely no-color palette and a decor that deferred to the architecture but never really took flight. “I changed my dining room four times,” Iolas admits. With Mota as Pied Piper, Iolas’s surroundings began to bloom. “Freedom, happiness, and sunlight—that’s what she needed,” the designer says, noting that, initially, his brief was merely to warm up the sterile professional-quality kitchen. Swiftly, the project expanded to include a hallway, and ultimately the entire house was placed at Mota’s disposal. “Once we combined three rooms to become a huge living room, what was a small project became a big one,” the designer says.

The pool was designed by architect Mario Lara.

A profusion of plants and a 1950s green ceramic lamp are displayed on and around a 19th-century Spanish table.

Vaughan Designs Avebury Table Lamp

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Vaughan Designs

Casa Mota Ivy Glass Tumbler

Casa Mota

Adds Iolas, “Family-wise, the house had become entirely mine. My daughter lives in the United States, so this place had to work in a different way. No more playroom, no more gym for the kids, and the TV room would be just for me. I told Carlitos that I needed new energy, new vibes.”

Presto, that’s what Iolas got. What Mota remembers as heavy-spirited rooms with colonial art and too many shadows is now like stepping into a kaleidoscope of saturated colors and zesty patterns, buzzing with electricity. From the moment a visitor steps into the black-floored entrance hall, the sea change is clear. Brilliant scarlet vintage ceramic lamps, overscale in size and vaguely Japanese in style, have been placed on a 1950s Italian credenza. A circular mirror framed in lozenges of purple glass hangs on one paneled wall, and brutalist brass pendants from the 1970s dangle from the ceiling like dystopian spaceships. “It’s global chic,” says Mota, adding that he and Iolas spent many happy hours shopping in Manhattan, Paris, Miami, and points beyond. “When you travel, your taste changes,” Iolas says. “Your eyes absorb new things.”

A vintage light fixture from Bernd Goeckler hangs in the dining room, which is outfitted with Martino Gamper tables, 1950s chairs, a 19th-century Syrian mirror, and a Tommi Parzinger credenza.

Low Table by Martino Gamper for Nilufar Gallery

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Nilufar

Amanda Lindroth Hope Town Side Table

Amanda Lindroth

Studded Cabinet by Parzinger Originals

1stdibs

Bonacina 1889 Antica Dining Chair

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Bonacina 1889

Today, Iolas lives with styles, periods, makers, and, yes, colors, that she never dreamed of sharing her life with on a daily basis. As a guest at her recent 60th birthday party told her, “This is so different for Peru.” A splashy orange abstract painting by Ricardo Grau, for example, graces the entrance hall. A brass-studded 1970s white credenza by Tommi Parzinger anchors one end of the dining room, an alluring space that Mota sheathed entirely in wood veneer set in a diamond pattern, a treatment that reminds him of the legendary 1920s parchment-dressed room that tastemaker Jean-Michel Frank created for the Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Noailles. A guest bedroom pits jungle-green-striped walls against a graphic purple Moroccan carpet and features white ceramic lamps in the shape of pineapples as well as portraits of Indian noblemen. The powder room is wrapped with banana-palm-pattern wallpaper on which, boldly and a bit discombobulatingly, Mota hung punchy works of art by Peruvian artist Iosu Aramburu.

Carolina Irving’s Patmos Stripe fabric envelops a guest room. The 19th-century bed and vintage bedspread are both Moroccan. The bench and wicker chair—both wearing a Pierre Frey fabric— and the pineapple lamps are all from Mecox Gardens.

Casa Mota Garden Party Fabric

Casa Mota

Casa Mota x Ecru Mughal Glass Plate

Casa Mota

Michel Contessa Oval Emerald Green Murano Glass Mirror

Michel Contessa

The only Mota-free space in Iolas’s house is the garden-facing terrace, which is an element of Cron’s original architectural concept and topped with a milky glass ceiling. “It was painted a very particular shade of green, the most beautiful shade of green, and since I love green, I told her not to touch it,” Mota said. Iolas was happy to oblige—and her designer was just as happy to accept her offer to conceptualize her daughter’s wedding in May. Thanks to Mota, the mother of the bride has taken a chromatic leap with her once-neutral wardrobe too: She’ll be wearing a green dress to one nuptial event, and lavender to another. “Purple,” she says, “is now my favorite color.”

This tour of a Carlos Mota–designed home appears in AD’s May issue. Never miss an issue when you subscribe to AD.

A pair of large-scale midcentury French ceramic urns preside over one end of the main living room. Vintage Jacques Quinet chairs; 1960 Joaquim Tenreiro daybed.

In a sitting area, a 19th-century Japanese screen hangs above a custom sofa in a Holly Hunt fabric. 1950s rattan chairs and lamp; Turkish ottomans from Artemisia; rug from Creel and Gow.

Wood veneer from Maya Romanoff covers the walls of the dining room, where an artwork by Vikas Soni hangs above a Tommi Parzinger credenza. Two 19th-century yellow Japanese vases flank a 20th-century ceramic head from Italy.

By Elizabeth Stamp

By Paola Singer

By Ilana Kaplan

A vintage light fixture from Bernd Goeckler hangs in the dining room, which is outfitted with Martino Gamper tables, 1950s chairs, a 19th-century Syrian mirror, and a Tommi Parzinger credenza.

Mota designed the kitchen’s tile floor. Achille Castiglioni floor lamp; 1960s dining set by Warren Platner for Knoll. Espalier wallpaper and Esteban chair fabric by Pierre Frey.

Custom lacquer paint colors the library walls and Mota-designed shelves. Christian Liaigre armchairs in a Fortuny velvet.

By Elizabeth Stamp

By Paola Singer

By Ilana Kaplan

A 1960s Jansen daybed with cushions of a ticking stripe from Claremont and a pair of 19th-century English chairs surround a white-painted Moroccan cocktail table in the guest room sitting area. The elephant pillow is by John Robshaw.

A 19th-century Japanese silk covers the primary bedroom walls. Side table wrapped in a Fortuny print; custom bed in a Christopher Hyland fabric.

By Elizabeth Stamp

By Paola Singer

By Ilana Kaplan

Mark, a pointer, in the corridor leading to the main entrance.

A vintage wicker sofa from a Paris flea market and two 1950s American rattan chairs stand on a sisal rug on the terrace. The lantern is French and the plates on the wall are Spanish.

A profusion of plants and a 1950s green ceramic lamp are displayed on and around a 19th-century Spanish table.

By Elizabeth Stamp

By Paola Singer

By Ilana Kaplan

The pool was designed by architect Mario Lara.

Designer Carlos Mota on the terrace.

By Hannah Martin

By Sydney Gore

By David Foxley

By Sydney Gore