LOBBYTALK: Paola Navone
Whilst presenting her latest designs for Gervasoni’s InOut collection at this year’s Salone del Mobile Milano, Italian designer Paola Navone took some time out of her busy schedule to answer Sleeper’s questions about new products, modern comfort, and designing for today’s guests.
Featuring an intelligent combination of materials including teak, ceramic, stone, aluminium and hand-woven polyurethane, Navone’s InOut furnishings – as the name suggests – have been created to blur the lines between indoor and out. Comprising tables, sofas, armchairs and accessories suitable for terraces, gardens, and pools as well as throughout guestrooms, versatility and adaptability is channelled throughout.
What new pieces have you presented at Milan?
I’ve been involved with many new challenging projects. I had the chance to work on collections both for companies I have a special and longstanding creative complicity, like Gervasoni, and on new collaborations and temporary installations for other companies producing lights, plastic chairs, laminates furniture and ceramics.
What do these pieces add to the Gervasoni portfolio?
Each collection for Gervasoni is a new adventure. This time the challenge was to use different materials, designing objects that bring with them a history or new technique, a special know-how or a bit of imperfection in the handmade aspect. The objects are all very different from each other, but represent a sophisticated and informal way of design thinking that belongs to Gervasoni.
What could they bring to a hotel environment?
All the Gervasoni collections – each one in its special way – have always been informal, friendly, delicate and never aggressive, each connected to our ideas about comfort. At the same time all products have a slightly chameleonic nature and easily meet the different styles of hospitality projects
What are the challenges in designing for today’s hotel guests?
My way of thinking about hospitality has to do with the idea that guests – wherever they are – should feel a complicity with the environment and with the objects they have around. I always like saying that, when you wake up in a hotel room, you need to open your eyes and feel where you are, whether that be on an a Mediterranean island, in India or in New York.
What design trends do you see becoming popular this year?
I think that people now are choosing more freely the objects and furniture they like to have around, they’re looking in different directions. And this is wonderful; a great push to creativity.
