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A FASHIONABLE LIFE

The Chinese chairs are painted in a chlorophyll shade of green

Her talent for evoking memories with subtle combinations of shade and light, colours and textures, creates a particular atmosphere for which she is widely recognised. That and the various trends shes autered; oversized furniture for the home and the appallingly titled shabbychic. Her pure principles transcend denition; shes just at home collaborating with Knoll as she is working with Armani. She calls herself an ethnic nomad, a term that so comfortably ts with many in the Middle East, and one that seems to be characterised in her wonderfully dreamlike, eclectic apartment in the heart of Paris. Set in the 11th arrondissement, one of the most important residential districts of the city, Paolas home on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine was once the heart of revolutionary Paris, of 19th-century worker riots shared by three now-demolished prisons. Today, it is a thriving district, busy with the noise and bustle of craftsmen and furniture manufacturers, where beautiful cobbled courtyards are visible through the cracks of unassuming street doors, a gateway from the confusion of the city. It is through one of these doors that we venture to the designers home. Along a winding corridor, and up a naked, loose, delabr staircase, we nd ourselves in something of a new dimension. Crossing the threshold, you are hit by the dazzling light streaming through the windows of the main living space. It is vast, raw and simple, left as honest as the day Paola found it. It was
76 | Harpers BAZAAR INTERIORS

already done, she says with no need to explain further. Preserving the integrity of the wooden oor, brick walls and the twelve enormous windows was her way of cherishing the structure - the perfect canvas from which her life and the design could then grow organically. The wonderfully grand proportions set the stage for a museum-like curation of her objects and creations and the everexpanding collection of pieces collected from her traverses around the globe. Against this white backdrop, you start to feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland, dwarfed by huge objects. In her signature style, most of them are out of range: starting with the immense white couch that she designed for Casa Milano, then the gigantic Naska Loris, the big wooden hand from the Philippines, the long cabinet with iron doors that separetes the kitchen from the rest of the space, and nally the swing lamps, one made with a crinoline

The rectangular table is made with gray painted planks, pierced and sewn together with red string

Vulcano, coffee table designed by Paola Navone for Poliform

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