Renowned architect and interior designer India Mahdavi has transformed a forgotten property in Arles, France, into a vibrant, color-saturated home that reflects her nomadic background and distinctive design philosophy. The 63-year-old Iranian-born designer, known for her bold use of color and her work on luxury hotels and restaurants worldwide, purchased the two-story house in 2019 and has created a personal sanctuary that serves as both family home and artistic statement.
Mahdavi's journey to homeownership has been unconventional. Born in Iran, she experienced a nomadic childhood, moving between academic centers in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Heidelberg, Germany; and southern France, following her father who was an economist and political scientist. She eventually settled in Paris, where she raised her son Miles and established her creative studios and gallery spaces on Rue las Cases in the 7th arrondissement. Despite her Paris base, she continues to rent in the city and travels frequently, spending time in Tehran visiting her parents and in Egypt collaborating with environmentalist Mounir Neamatalla at his hospitality outpost in Siwa. "I feel at home everywhere and nowhere at the same time," she explains.
The designer's connection to Arles began in 2008 when she started collaborating with Swiss art patron and philanthropist Maja Hoffmann on projects related to Luma, the four-year-old museum campus featuring a glittering steel tower designed by Frank Gehry. Mahdavi's work in the city includes designing Villa Des Alyscamps, a private retreat for Hoffmann's inner circle of curators, the whimsical boutique hotel Le Cloître near the Roman amphitheater, and a cluster of artist residency spaces. When Mahdavi mentioned her interest in buying a house in the area, Hoffmann immediately knew the perfect property: a former city notary's home surrounded by a walled garden.
"It was a sleeping beauty," Mahdavi recalls of the property she first encountered in 2019. The house had been empty for at least three years and carried a palpable sadness, but she recognized its potential for transformation. True to her design philosophy, she chose to preserve rather than demolish, keeping much of the original structure while adding her signature colorful touches. "It's about redefining the identity of the house without destroying it," she says. "I want to add a chapter to a larger story rather than tear out all the pages."
Mahdavi's design superpower has always been her unorthodox and effusive use of color. Her bubblegum-pink tufted banquettes at London's Sketch restaurant, which opened in 2014, are widely credited with sparking the millennial pink trend. She has also designed interiors for some of the world's most memorable hotels and residences, including guest rooms at Rome's 16th-century Villa Medici. It was actually after staying at the Condesa DF hotel in Mexico City, another of Mahdavi's colorful hospitality projects, that Hoffmann decided to seek her out as a collaborator.
The transformation of her Arles home showcases Mahdavi's thoughtful approach to renovation. She spent her first summer in the house adding nothing except a few pieces of furniture, using this time to understand the property's rhythms, the movement of sun through the spaces, and how each room could best be utilized. Her first major intervention was creating a screened terrace extending from the living room, designed for garden enjoyment despite the clouds of mosquitoes that descend at dusk during Arles summers due to the nearby Camargue rice fields.
Color serves as both decorative tool and mood enhancer throughout the home. Upon entering, guests are immediately immersed in Mahdavi's world as light filters through pink stained glass in the front door, flooding the hallway with rose-hued luminescence. A playful birdcage filled with colored blocks sits on a tall pedestal, highlighted by bright yellow wallpaper in a graphic pattern and accented by a five-foot-tall peacock-shaped mirror. "Playing with color is extremely important," says Mahdavi. "It's not that there is one great color. It's about the strength of a vibration created when one is next to another."
The living room exemplifies her philosophy of creating spaces for both solitude and gathering. Two anthropomorphic wicker Nalgona chairs by designer Chris Wolston appear to wave people inside, while an almost 20-foot-long yellow upholstered sofa and daybed designed by Mahdavi serves as both napping spot and social hub. She has repurposed two sculptures painted in primary colors by the late French artist Guy de Rougemont as coffee tables, and above the fireplace hangs a saturated watercolor by Cuban artist Armando Mariño depicting a figure frolicking between trees.
Upstairs, the library and TV room exude coziness with bright red painted walls and shelves, two papier-mâché throne-like chairs in matching red by Greek designer Polina Miliou, contrasted with a purple couch. Mahdavi's master bedroom features a lacquered violet four-poster rattan bed anchored by a monumental vintage rug from an Italian design gallery. The remaining bedrooms maintain a more minimalist approach, as Mahdavi notes, "not everyone can dream in a color." However, even the bathroom walls feature graphic, almost surrealist-style wallpaper designed by Mahdavi and inspired by one of the house's original patterns.
The kitchen showcases her fearless approach to color with multicolored Formica cabinets, while maintaining unexpected elements like an uneven zigzag line across the floor marking where a wall was removed. "I decided to keep the scar," she explains, demonstrating her philosophy of honoring the home's history while adapting it for contemporary living.
The garden represents perhaps the most personal aspect of the property, with landscaping that reflects Mahdavi's Iranian heritage and travels. Tall cypress trees line the narrow path from street to house, while pistachio and pomegranate trees shade the pool area. Hyacinth vines, native to Persia and symbolizing rebirth, grow over a pergola in front of the pool house, creating what Mahdavi describes as "a dreamlike oasis that feels like it has no time or location."
The home serves as more than just personal retreat; it embodies Mahdavi's expanded definition of family. "Part of what formed my design concept for this house were the different notions of family," she explains. "This was built as a family house, and it's a place where I welcome my own family. But I also have friends I consider family and I've decorated it with artists and designers that I know, admire and want to support." Through this transformation, the once-forgotten property has become a vibrant testament to the power of color, light, and thoughtful preservation, finally providing the nomadic designer with a place she can truly call home.
