Plans Mayens, in the heights above the Swiss resort of Crans Montana, is home to a wonderful project that came to fruition with the help of Belgian designer Christophe Decarpentrie, a man whose ability to turn the ordinary into the sublime has led to an international reputation for creating dreamlike settings.

LeCrans HOTEL & SPA, first Leading Small Hotels of the World in the resort, seduces by its Alpine grand manor look and feel . Seven bedrooms, 6 spacious suites, one of which is 100m2, and 4 apartments of 200m2 – each painstakingly brought to life by this surprising artist.

Christophe Decarpentrie for many years worked only for special private clients, designing in a world where interior decoration is an art unto itself.

His signature – and challenge - has always been to move beyond the banal , using each object and piece of furniture, carefully selected, to make his point. Every aspect of the hotel reflects his approach to treating it as a home, with intimate touches provided by objects that recall history, voyages and the local surroundings. Eclectic is the word that comes to mind for this decorator who is a passionate fan of the arts, musical and literary.

His first thoughts were on the people who would be a part of his stage of 7,000m2. “I thought about those who would be on the stage here – the esthetics were a secondary consideration. Beauty for beauty’s sake is not enough.”

Art to order Light, comfort, intimacy: a number of artisans and professionals who specialize in work made to order have helped enrich the project . The world’s highest peaks and mountain ranges were the inspiration for these 13 bedrooms and suites, each one a guest room with its own separate identity: Oural, Everest, Anapurna, Kilimandjaro, Dolomites, Rocky Mountains, Alpes, Anatolie, Sierra Nevada, Atlas. Christophe Decarpentrie has created a very special mountain odyssey. Some of the rooms, reached through the billiards room with its giant television screen and fireplace, are sports oriented, dedicated to Alpine fauna – bear, marmot , chamois. The décor is treated with such delicacy that ancient moghul etchings come to mind, kin to giant Indian tapestries. Very large south- facing terraces, each with large beds for relaxing, extend the already spacious bedrooms. The large central hall boasts a rustic yet elegant wooden staircase that leads to the LeMontBlanc restaurant , wine cellar and lounge. Once through the sliding doors the eye comes to rest on a majestic fireplace from Lucerne with its separate 17th century mantel . Armchairs and sofas in varying shades of red lend a sense of warmth, comfort , relaxation. Alpine wooden décor is part of the essence here, but with Christophe Decarpentrie as decorator, we quickly move beyond the clichés. The imposing balconies in larch wood and the pine in the lobby are balanced out by 200-year-old wood from Canada, whose tones work well with the somber grays and white colours, and the silver trimmings in the restaurant.

The designer, an upright and complex man, is not someone who easily compromises his inspirations, as evidenced by the lamps, the outside lighting prompted by the Chateau of Lobkowicz and the appliqués from the throne room of Auguste le Fort in Dresden, reproduced exactly.

At home, away from home The serenity that is the hallmark of LeSPA Cinq Mondes® Soins du Spa has also been folded into this world tour that freely embraces the past in order to enrich our present. Exotic touches, the small Indian temple with its haloes of candlelight and orchids, an old colonial bench, the swimming pool with i ts bot tom graced by jade green Indonesian marble – all contribute to the sense of wellbeing of this intimate space in wood and soothing colours. What a surprise, then, to discover hidden among the infinite private charms of this scene a futurist ic side. The wine cellar’s 48 wines in their transparent room are available by the glass, and back in the guest rooms the bathrooms in marble inspired by 17th and 18th century Tuscan art all have f lat TV screens. Throughout the hotel dozens of high- tech touches, added at the decorator’s request , reflect one-of -a-kind at tentive service for the guest . Esthetics and a f lair for comfort are intricately interwoven.