The Serra de Tramuntana is a mountain range that runs along the northwestern edge of the island of Mallorca, off the coast of mainland Spain. The towering peaks and valleys are lined with ancient olive groves, lemon groves and picturesque hilltop villages. The winding paths along the rugged cliffs plunge through pine trees and herds of goats to the Mediterranean Sea.
Nine years ago, British fashion photographer Kate Bellm decided to make these mountains her home, building a house just off the coastal road between the towns of Deia and Soller and commutes to shoots for clients like Gucci and magazines like British Vogue. In 2020, after falling in love with the 18th century finca next door, she and her husband, Mexican artist Edgar Lopez Arellano, decided to turn their hands to hospitality.
Hotel Corazon opened its doors earlier this month, after more than two years of work by the couple alongside a team from Moredesign, a local architectural firm that is a mainstay of glossy magazines such as Architectural Digest.
“We were covered in dust for months,” said Ms Bellm, 35, as she made her way from a cavernous room with a fireplace centerpiece — perfect for cuddle pools or sound baths, she explained — and into a verdant courtyard. The hotel’s aesthetic, and the bedrooms in particular, feel heavily influenced by the organic architecture movement of the 1970s, which espoused a harmonious balance between the synthetic and natural worlds.
All rooms are individually designed but share curved pigmented limestone walls in soft shades of pink, sage and ochre; custom furniture by local artisans; rough rugs; and windows opening onto gardens filled with palm and jacaranda trees, honeysuckle and cacti (Mr. Arellano, 40, who specializes in creating cactus gardens without water, was busy potting various varieties on the terrace of the restaurant in the neighborhood.) Rooms range from 550 euros (about $600) to 1,800 euros.
“When I first came here I knew straight away what we had to do and what it had to offer,” said Ms. Bellm, who wore stonewashed denim flares and braids in her head of hair. “A place this island is missing: a super cool hotel that feels like a friend’s private house, with wellness at its core and where you can’t break the rules, because there aren’t any. I wanted to create a place that my people – fashion people – will love.”
Earlier this month, supermodel Anja Rubik, who owns a house in Mallorca, booked Hotel Corazon to celebrate her 40th birthday. Alexandre de Betak, who produces runway shows, and Mario Sorrenti, the fashion photographer, also have holiday homes nearby.
But doesn’t most of the ‘it’ fashion crowd descend on Ibiza in the summer? Mrs. Bellm wrinkled her nose.
“I feel like the big dogs come here,” she said. “Ibiza is great to pop into, of course, but it’s just a different scene, shall we say. I feel Mallorca is very unpretentious. You can basically stay in your pajamas all day, especially here at Corazon. This is a hotel for those who want to be barefoot, eat straight from the trees, swim in the sea at night and get lost in the pines.
Concierge services are available via WhatsApp for guests who want to know the best hidden swimming coves and caves for the summer, or hiking trails to waterfalls and meadows full of mountain wildflowers during the cooler seasons. Fuel for adventure can be found in the hotel’s homemade date shakes or matcha smoothies, and recovery in the yoga, sound healing, massage and Reiki sessions.
The menu is designed to be “local, seasonal, medicinal and delicious,” Ms Bellm said, with most of the produce grown in Hotel Corazon’s newly planted organic farm with 50 garden beds. An artist residency program is also underway, with painters, sculptors and ceramists chosen by Mrs. Bellm to stay at the hotel and create work, with a final exhibition at Corazon’s gallery at the end of their time there.
“I love working with artists and seeing how they make things – it gives you inspiration to do things differently in your own world,” said Ms Bellm, whose main client is currently Zara, who added that she’s been getting more and more work photographed in front of the hotel and on the island. “In addition, we can also help them to take advantage of the creative community that exists here in Mallorca, who can repair their vintage cameras or fire their pots. I want people to thrive in this place like me.”
Having built her professional reputation with super-sexy depictions of, in her words, ‘rock ‘n’ roll babes’, Ms Bellm said her muses were now ‘the wild mothers of Majorca who live near me and their take babies in the rocks and like to swim naked with starfish in their hands. They are so tough.” Mrs. Bellm’s son, Sage, was born on the island.
It’s no surprise that topless gardening with neighbors is one of her favorite pastimes at the hotel.
“We should do a sound bath down here too, it really does drive you to another realm,” she said excitedly as she walked around the farm, chewing on a ripe peach. “The more I think about it, the more I just want to be around the veggies and let them experience the gong, too.”