it is a true C-shape, one that Pamela Harriman would
have enjoyed employing to keep an eye on simultaneous
conversations at her politically charged fundraisers.
The deep white armchairs are crisp and straight edged,
almost nautical. Pinto does modern, but he doesn't do
minimal. Flowering plants ornament the space, along with
a small, exquisite collection of African sculpture poised on
the side tables. Beyond the floor to ceiling window wall
an island folly, a few miles out to sea, would capture the
fancy of the most ardent nineteenth century romantic. By
contrast, the limitless sea beyond provides the sublime.
Hotel de la Victoire, Pinto's Paris studio, is appropriately
named. During the vast aesthetic sea changes of the last
half century, Pinto has navigated well, sailing past the
hackneyed or repetitive design schemes of the moment.
He has managed, as Marc Quinn writes, to be "always in
the moment" because for Pinto, as Julien Morel writes,
continuously "a unique creative horizon opens up." Our own
horizons open as a result. Having viewed these interiors,
one imagines, in any one of them, the designer holding
forth on those vistas, both intellectual and aesthetic.
Pinto deserves the laurels of victory, the crowning garland
of imagination. H
Christopher Hyland
Alberto Pinto: World Interiors
Written by Alberto Pinto and Julien Morel
ISBN: 978-2-08-020093-8
HYLAND
