Original Article on :- https://www.architecturaldigest.in
For his debut range of fabrics, all made in India, stylist and interior designer Carlos Mota brings out his signature flamboyance in a fun styling session, shot exclusively for AD, at the Kathiwada City House in Mumbai.
Everything that Carlos Mota does is touched by his unfettered love for colour. The stylist, taste-maker, and globe-trotting aesthete is known for injecting a certain joie de vivre in every space he imagines, a trait that he now seamlessly extends to his debut range of fabrics. While his love for
dazzling hues can be traced right back to his childhood spent in Venezuela—“We were constantly surrounded by jungles, beaches, mountains, birds, and orchids; it was impossible to not let colour become a part of my DNA,” he once told AD—his love for textiles was fanned by his travels.
“Fabrics—especially vintage, found textiles—became a big part of my life when
I began travelling, especially to countries like Morocco, India, Spain, and Portugal.
Whenever I’m in a new place, I try to find my way to the nearest flea market or
vintage store to discover local textiles,”says Mota.
While the idea for a range of fabrics had begun brewing a few years ago, it only
took root when Mota returned to his home in the Dominican Republic as the
world went into lockdown during the pandemic. When he began sketching his
first ideas for the collection, the former style editor for Architectural Digest gravitated
towards just one hue, which also happ-ened to be his favourite: verde. In many
ways, the colour green had been on Mota’s mind for a while. It appeared in an 18th-
century Portuguese tile he found in a friend’s apartment; it was used with great
abandon by French designer Madeleine Castaing, whose fabrics became a
springboard of inspiration for the collection; and it is also at the centre of Mota’s
upcoming book, titled G: Forever Green—to be published by Vendome Press in
September—a toast to the colour in its manifold manifestations: in nature,
food, fashion, jewellery, art, interiors, and architecture.
Echoing the cover of the book, curling tendrils of ivy and tessellated patterns
of fern fronds became the spotlight of the collection, simply titled Verde. At times,
sprays of floral patterns are neatly framed
by solid stripes—nods to one of his key
inspirations; Mota says, “Castaing loved
stripes, as do I.” In a meeting of mind and
matter, his sketches for the patterns were
fuelled by his daily rituals, as he tended to
his garden ever y day during the
lockdown. “At home for five months,
I got to observe my garden in all its
beauty—drenched in pouring rain, in
sharp sunlight, or in the dark of the
night,” says Mota. Soon, he called on two
of his friends: artist and designer Titina
Penzini, who turned Mota’s sketches into
luminous watercolours, and Neha
Malhotra of Raintree Design, who found
the perfect fabric and printer to bring the
collection to life.
Mota has already found new homes
for his textiles. He’s upholstered chairs
and cushions in his Dominican Republic
home — which he lovingly calls
Casamota—and used the verdant patterns
to create “a moment of green” in projects
across Lisbon and the United States. In
the Los Angeles home of model Jessica
Hart (featured in AD’s November-
December 2021 issue), he wrapped the
walls of the bedroom in one of his striped
textiles, filled with looping fronds of ivy.
Mota’s debut range of textiles, then, is
quite simply a joyous celebration of a hue
he’s loved and held very close to his heart
over his decades-long career. “I use green
like the colour white,” he says, “It goes
with anything.
