A glamorous pied-à-terre in Monaco

The Principality of Monaco is Europe's home of glamour. From the days of Grace Kelly to the famed Grand Prix, nothing in this Riviera city is low-key. And so it is for this duplex apartment designed as a quaint pied-à-terre for a high-net-worth businessman and his family and friends. While formost, a 1,000-square-metre home with a sprawling300-square-metre balcony overlooking the Mediterranean wouldn't qualify as a pied-à-terre, but, cheri, c'est Monaco! The apartment had previously belonged to a hotel,so much of the floor plan was already decided for master luxury interior designer Alberto Pinto. "The challenge was to re-imagine the volumes," he says. "I chose to open the spaces to create new volumes for a more airy feeling. Our client desired a good blend of formal reception areas and family rooms, all set against a lot of fresh Mediterranean colours." Pinto chose to devote the upper floor to entertaining and the lower floor to the bedrooms anda family room. The overall design scheme of the home was inspired by geometrical sketches. This shows in the decidedly rectilinear forms throughout, especially in artwork and sculpture. "The artwork [paintings, photographs and sculptures] was also a very important part of the decorating process. The variety of art pieces by the different artists who made them, creates a dynamic ambience, and dialogues with the eclectic, modern selection of furniture," says Pinto of this museum-quality selection. For Pinto, working on this glamorous apartment wasa study in salon design. How can a designer create a sea of entertainment spaces that takes up almost an entire floor of an apartment without appearing repetitive? Pinto's solution was flexibility. "The suite of three salons is my favourite space," he says. "They can be independent or totally opened. They gave me the opportunity to create numerous combinations with very different atmospheres for day and night, both for important receptions and intimate conversations."