Paola Navone believes that life is full of difficulties, so it's important to find some joy in your work. She's managed to do just that, even though she's not the type to always work obsessively, but when she gets down to it, she wants to produce something that people will like. Her attitude may stem from the fact that at the beginning of her career, design didn't really exist, and she was one of the first people in her generation to invent the profession.
He was born and raised in Turin, where he graduated as an architect from the local university in 1973. He then moved to Milan, where he met Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass, among others, who involved him in the exciting milieu that was surrounding the city at that time. Navone recalls that they did not know what it meant to be a designer (such schools did not exist), they saw certain architects experimenting with this and that in a world that really had little to do with buildings. He also ran after them in the physical sense of the word: he went to London, Austria, even America. As he puts it, he was a treasure hunter at that time.
After a trip to Africa, Mendini approached him to join the Alchimia group and Domus magazine, and they published the book Architettura Radicale together. The group presented a stunning collection at the Salone del Mobile, and this was the turning point for Navone, when he realized that design was a real thing that he should take more seriously.
A series of coincidences
According to Navone, his life is like an unplanned journey, where things happen to him randomly. An example of this is how he became the creative director of the renowned Italian design brand Gervasoni. The Udine-based company underwent a generational change, and Giovanni Gervasoni, a fresh-faced, agile but completely outsider from the financial sector, approached the designer to design a collection. The father, who owned the factory, warned his son that the plans were complete disasters and that this collaboration would mean a complete failure and a big loss for the company. The pieces, on the other hand, were a great success, and the collaboration with the company now spans 17 years.
But it is an interesting interlude how the collaboration with the American Crate & Barrel also started. They had dinner with the company's newly appointed CEO in a place devoid of design in every respect, and when asked how he would start working together, Navone showed them around: "Well, with everything you need to have a good meal with your family and friends." The tables, chairs, glasses, and ceramic objects also brought the company a nice income, and at the same time taught the designer what large-scale mass production is like. To this day, this is not his favorite medium either, he rather believes in the symbiosis of industry and handcraft.
Paola Navone says design is like an omelette
Some people like omelets with mushrooms, others with spices. A designer has to make such a good omelet, or even several types, that as many people as possible will eat it. This is roughly how Navone's credo about his work could be described. And we have now been able to "taste" his "kitchen practices" in many places. He has designed coverings (for Bisazza), wallpapers, plates (for Richard Ginori, among others), watches (for Swatch), but he has also worked for Baxter, Anthropologie and Alessi. A recurring element in his work is the fish, which is an Asian symbol, a symbol of luck.
He spent a lot of time in Hong Kong, but he also worked in Miami, but currently he spends most of his time in Milan and Paris. You can't apply standard clichés to his creations, but they are all a bit unconventional, something you would put in your own home. He also has an incredible collection of ceramics and glass objects, he likes excesses, he's not exactly a minimalist. Just look at his hands, he always wears two identical, gigantic rings. But that's exactly how we love him!
