Paola Navone is the exception on the Italian design scene. For the past thirty years she has been a welcome feature of the otherwise male-dominated Italian design elite.

In the 80s, Navone was active in the avant-garde design movements Alchimia and Memphis. In 1988, she created the Mondo brand together with Giulio Cappellini. After living for many years in Hong Kong, Navone now sees herself as an enlightened and enlightening ‘ethnic nomad’.

Due to her early experience, Paola Navone has a particular talent for rediscovering design from the past and bringing it to life in new, contemporary forms. This process always relies heavily on traditional handicrafts and has proved very successful.

Nowadays, she works as an interior designer and consultant to furniture and material manufacturers, and always tries to combine modern design with traditional handicraft.

She is interested in the unique, the unusual, that which is not banal, and she always endeavors to develop and process it in her own personal way. She likes to work with colors and light that provides warmth and awaken memories of previous experiences.

Paola Navone does not want to define herself within a particular niche or style. Instead she always tries to contribute to the development of design in her own way. Her intuition is widely known, and she was one of the first to create large furniture for the lounge. She was also a pioneer of shabby-chic, and she was well before her time when the Otto furniture series, her first series for Gervasoni, was introduced in 1997.

As a boundary-crossing designer, her portfolio includes a broad spectrum of products, from china, clothing and beds to fabrics, lamps and jewellery, plus interior design work for showrooms and exhibitions. Her client list is full of famous names: Armani, Knoll International, Natuzzi, Alessi, Driade,Orizzonti,Abet Laminati and Molteni are but a few examples.