LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

This romantic hideaway on the Italian coast is pared back to the essentials yet feels like it has all you’d ever need

- Judy Diamond

Close your eyes for a moment and picture your dream house. Does it have a terrace and an uninterrupted panorama of the sparkling blue Mediterranean? Does it perch below a wooded slope on the edge of the sea, with a soft breeze carrying the scent of almond blossom and lemon groves? Is it secluded but not isolated, small enough to manage but big enough to have friends over to stay? Does it feel rustic and authentic but also beautifully finished and thoughtfully designed?

If this does indeed sound like the house of your dreams, there’s some good news: it really does exist – in a glorious spot on the Italian Riviera. There is, alas, some not-altogether unexpected bad news too: someone has already nabbed it and is happily using it as their beloved second home.

It sounds perfect, and it is, although there’s no denying it’s on the petite side, at just 48 square metres. Emil Humbert and Christophe Poyet, the interior architects responsible for its sublime good looks, call it “a cabin”.

The duo, who set up their practice in Monaco in 2007, have a glowing reputation for glamorous design, crafting villas, restaurants and hotels for a glitzy clientele on the Côte d’Azur and beyond. This project was a challenge on an altogether different scale, but it’s one they relished. The brief was simple: to create “an escape and a space that is a refuge” for the cabin’s new owner, an artist who travels a lot.