Paola Navone

Collezione Ivy
with Emu

PAOLA NAVONE
An architect trained at the Turin Polytechnic (1973), in the 1970s and 1980s she worked – along with Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass Jr. and Andrea Branzi – in the Alchimia group, developing an avant-garde position that was honored, in 1983, by the prestigious International Design Award of Osaka. During that same period she began the collaboration, still in progress, with Abet Laminati. From 1985 to 1988 she made a radical breakthrough: she became the consultant for the construction of image and product in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for UNIDO and the World Bank. This activity led to exhibitions, conferences and consulting. Born in Turin but a citizen of Milan, she moves with ease through different roles, from architect to designer, art director, decorator, writer, teacher, curator of exhibitions and events. In a context of professional research that absorbs and reworks many different kinds of input, Orient and Occident, crafts and design. Over her long career she has worked with prestigious companies like Abet Laminati, Armani Casa, Knoll International, Alessi, Piazza Sempione, Mondo, Driade, Orizzonti, Arcade, Oltrefrontiera, Casamilano, Antonangeli, Dada, Molteni, Natuzzi, Roche Bobois, Swarovski, Poliform, Egizia, Emu. Among her recent works of interior architecture: the restaurant “Pane e acqua” in Milan, the new Art Trading office in Moscow. She has been the artistic director of Gervasoni since 1998.