Born in Cascais, in 1923, Duarte moved to Paris in the mid-1940s. His friend António Carvalho da Silva had a house there and Duarte decided to move in. “It was a very stimulating time, because I caught the end of the Second World War. Everyone was restarting, rebuilding and being reborn.” Duarte went with the flow and he has no doubt that the positive energy that was palpable then helped him become the man he is. “I remember, at the time, being part of an organisation that was re-launching the Bellevue Casino in Biarritz, and on that occasion we did a number of musical events and exhibitions.”It was only the start of a dazzling career in the world of interiors. In Portugal, he studied law to get into the diplomatic service, but he himself admits: “I was never a great student”. Decoration, however, came naturally. “I’ve always lived in lovely houses and from an early age I’ve had that vocation, putting furniture in its place.”
Duarte Pinto was a Spanish soul who made Spain his new home and the Castillian plateau his golden dwell. Passionate about design and decoration, he soon went to Paris to develop his creative spirit that would soon be taken advantage of by the Dukes of Windsor, Queen Elizabeth II of England, the baroness Liliane Rothschild, Salvador Dalí or Cary Grant.