My Interview with Paola Navone - Italian Designer and Architect. This article was published in "the Market" magazine (UK)

Paola Navone - Artist/Designer/Architect

Paola Navone is a successful italian architect and designer. She has designed furniture, and accessories for top manufacturers in Europe and Asia, including Alessi, Knoll, Roche Bobois, Swarovski and Habitat. She's a really fascinating person, and a delight to interview. I interviewed her for the Market magazine in 2011.

Her career spans three decades,

which have seen her at the

centre of progressive design.

A modern nomad, Paola has lived and

worked in France, Italy, Cameroon

and the Far East. She has a love of the

materials and craft techniques of Asia,

and uses them in her work. Her designs

combine mass production with hand

crafted techniques.

She is interested in combining diverse

elements with contrasts of textures,

colours, and a certain dream-like

playfulness.

She works as an architect,

designer, interior designer, stage

designer and essayist.

Born in Turin, she lives and works in

Milan and Paris. We interviewed her

at her Milan studio.

What are you working on

at the moment?

I am designing the interiors of a

jewellery shop in London, and one in

Milan. They are for the Italian jewellery

company Pomellato. They are due to

open in July this year.

Are you working mostly on

furniture design, or interior

design these days?

There are two groups of people working

in my studio. One group works on

furniture and product design, like

kitchen accessories. The other one

works on the architecture and interior

design projects. wI have about 15 people

working with me at my studio, they are

mostly very young and enthusiastic.

How do you motivate your staff?

I don’t need to motivate them, they

motivate themselves. They are working

on projects that they love, and that

motivates them.

How is your business in

the recession?

I still have lots of work, people still want

me to design for them, but there is less

money around. These days the budgets

are about 50% of what they were 10

years ago. It is harder to get paid these

days, you need to be more aware of your

cash flow than before.

The companies that are doing best in

the recession, are those that have a

clear identity and a unique product;

companies who do what they want, not

what the marketing people tell them to

do. You should follow your own path. I’m

lucky, I only work on the projects I want

to, that are right for me. I find projects

by chance, through friends who need a

designer for a project. I never actively

go out and look for work, it come to

me.

The product design that I do is for

manufacturers, and the interiors are for

businesses and also private clients.

You lived in Asia for a long time.

Tell us about that.

I lived in Asia for 20 years. I commuted

to Hong Kong from Milan for years! I’ve

designed furniture, glass, dishes, and

textiles for firms in India, Indonesia,

Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

They have a whole world of materials

and techniques that are not available in

Europe. I like working with them, with

new techniques and having something

nice come out of it at the end. I try to

link Italian companies with Eastern

European and Asian manufacturers.

Why do you think that Italy

produces such good design?

It started after the war. Italy had to rebuild

the economy, and some manufacturers

realised that good design had an economic

benefit. Some of the companies were run

by visionaries, and then other people

joined in, when they saw it was good for

business. The companies with the best

designs were the most successful, and it

built up from there.

What would you like to design that

you haven’t already?

I would like to design more kitchen

appliances. Men nearly always design

them! Men who don’t spend much time

in the kitchen, so the design doesn’t

work so well. I would like to design for

the kitchen more, kitchen accessories

and dishes.

What new techniques are you

interested in?

Nowadays with computers and laser

printers you can produce small amounts

of a wallpaper or fabric for a specific

project. It doesn’t need to go into mass

production. I can print specially designed

wallpaper for just one wall.

How important is the environmental

impact of your products?

Of course it is important to me. Some

companies are more environmentally

aware than others, it depends on the

client. Some industrial processes

can be changed more easily than

others. Everyone is more aware of the

environment these days.

I work with a company that makes

plastic laminate for furniture. They

recycle 100% of their plastic waste, it’s

sent next door and used by Fiat to make

car door interiors. The plastic is 100%

recyclable. At the end of the life of the

car, the plastic can be removed and

recycled again.

I work with a leather

company, and came up with a project

with them, that uses their rejected hides.

We developed a technique to re-dye and

soften the leather, so it is not wasted.

Recycling is also a philosophy, a way of

life. You can interpret in different ways.

I collected 1200 rusty metal spoons in

India, had them coated in silver, and

installed them in an art installation at

the Milan Art Triennalle. It’s a form of

recycling too, using existing objects in a

new way.

Can you tell us about your creative

influences? What do you like?

At the moment, I really like Indian art.

There are a lot of exciting modern Indian

artists and photographers. I like Subodh

Gupta and Anish Kapoor. I enjoy living

and working in India There’s also a lot

happening in art in China.

In the late 60’s, early 70’s I was

influenced by other young visionary

artists and architects, whose work

was more like art than architecture. I

traveled and met with artists. There was

a lot happening. Every so often there is

a generation of young people that tries

new ideas. I spent time in Florence,

with body artists in Vienna, with the

radical architects Archigram in London.

I went out to the desert in the States,

where Paolo Soleri was experimenting

with ecologically sensitive architecture.

These experiences formed the basis of

my thesis in architecture.

What is your favourite project?

My favourite project is the one I’m

working on at the moment!

A book of Paola’s work has just been

published by the German publishers Daab.

SaveSave