Global Style Hits the Beach By Sig Bergamin’s

When decorators describe their beach houses as places built for wet bathing suits and flip-flops, it’s best to take the assertion with a grain of salt. Casual means different things to different people, and for those who spend their days trafficking in important antiques and exquisite passementerie, the concept of informality rarely jibes with the barefoot fantasies of the hoi polloi. In decorator-speak, seaside casual usually means that silk velvet upholstery has been kept to a minimum.

Sig Bergamin’s retreat in Trancoso is a delightful exception. With confidence and wit, the Brazilian designer has conjured a mad amalgam of styles, periods, colors, textures, and patterns, all whirled together into lighthearted compositions set against a crisp backdrop of white floors, walls, and ceilings. The furnishings and art range wildly—high to low, old to new, Paris to Beijing—but nothing seems so precious that it couldn’t withstand a few spilled caipirinhas or an errant kick during an impromptu samba session.