PARIS — Interior designer Alberto Pinto died Monday due to a pulmonary illness, according to a spokeswoman for his studio.
A world traveler and elaborate, frequently fantastical decorator, Pinto amassed a clientele ranging from Middle Eastern petroleum billionaires and politicians to celebrities. He was 69.
Born in 1943 in Casablanca, Pinto spent his childhood in Morocco. His tours across Europe and the rest of the world with globe-trotting parents would influence Pinto’s exotic, global design vision later in life.
In the Sixties in New York, he began working on interior design stories for Condé Nast, where he was introduced to avant-garde decorative arts, inspiring Pinto to experiment with varied and elaborate interiors within his own apartment.
Pinto founded a design studio in Paris in 1971. Viewing each project as a unique and global creation, he became one of the most cosmopolitan and worldly of French decorators, favoring Orientalist styles and pattern play.
Within his studio, Pinto surrounded himself with numerous artisans and collaborators, promoting a hyper-detail-oriented work ethic and putting colors and art at the epicenter of daily life. This ethos garnered him a variety of luxury commissions, ranging from bespoke airplanes and private yachts to luxury hotels across the world, notably the private salons of France’s Elysée Palace.
Pinto’s sister and longtime collaborator, Linda Pinto, will take over the direction of the designer’s namesake studio. Among Pinto’s final projects were Paris’ Hôtel Lambert, a mansion-turned-hotel in the city’s 4th arrondissement, and Monaco’s Tour Odéon, a double-skyscraper apartment complex slated for completion in 2014.
Pinto’s funeral is scheduled for Friday in Paris’ Montparnasse Cemetery.