PAOLA NAVONE: ‘My adventure with
design began when I was at the Polytechnic
University of Turin, where I studied archi-
tecture. I didn’t necessarily want to become
an architect. I wanted to learn about new
possibilities for the future. I’ve always been
very curious. Why did I study architecture?
Well, there weren’t many other options at
the time. Design education as we understand
it today didn’t exist.’‘During my studies I discovered, somewhat
by accident, that there were groups of archi-
tects doing something very different from
what I was being taught. They were not inter-
ested in designing “normal” buildings, like
the ones I was learning to build, but rather
fantastical ones, utopias. I was so fascinated
by their ideas that I started to physically run
after them. I travelled all over the world with
the objective of meeting everyone creating
this type of conceptual work. I went to see
Archizoom Associati, Superstudio, UFO
in Florence, Archigram in London, Paolo
Soleri’s Arcosanti in Arizona and so on.’
‘Those early encounters eventually became
the basis for my master’s thesis, which
focused on an alternative architecture, a
phenomenon that Alessandro Mendini later
dubbed l’archittetura radicale, or radical
architecture. As soon as I graduated in
1973, I left for Africa on another adventure.
Then, one day when I was back in Turin,
I got a call from Mendini, who at the time
was working as the director of Casabella.
He told me that he had read my thesis and
asked whether I would consider coming
to Milan to rewrite excerpts of it for his
magazine. I said, “Certo!”. I had nothing
else to do in Turin, so I moved to Milan.
I’m still here, more than 40 years later.’‘The move to Milan was a natural one. It wasn’t
the city that I was attracted to, but its people.
There were plenty of interesting people in
Turin, too, of course. Those were the years of
the great gallerists and Arte Povera. But to me
Turin was art, and Milan was design. And so
I went. I worked alongside Mendini for about
a year, adapting my thesis for his magazine.
Together with Bruno Orlandoni, we published
a book called Architettura Radicale. It was
around this time that I joined Studio Alchimia.
Other members included Ettore Sottsass, Ales-
sandro Guerriero, Andrea Branzi, Michele De
Lucchi and, of course, Mendini.’‘Our mission was to understand what we
could do for tomorrow. In 1978 we presented
our first collection, Bau.Haus uno, at the
Salone del Mobile in Milan, an event that
attracted thousands of visitors. Nobody
bought our collections, but we didn’t care.
We were trying to imagine a new way of
working – a new kind of design. By then Ital-
ian design was already famous, but it was all
black and made from leather and steel.‘I don’t pretend to have
anything to teach, and I don’t
take life too seriously’
We wanted to propose something different.
We worked with colour, pattern and asym-
metry. We covered furniture with designs
and patterns, when most of what was on the
market resembled a blank canvas.’‘From that point I started to focus on “design
primario”, which touches the senses. While
designing surfaces and patterns, I met the
people from Abet Laminati and started work-
ing with them. They were my first big client. It
all happened a bit by chance, like everything
in my life. In the beginning I designed lami-
nates. Slowly I started to work more closely
with the company, eventually becoming art
director, a title I’ve held for many years. I
sent my very first invoice to Abet Laminati –
Invoice #1 – and I’m still working with them
all these years later. If you stop to think about
it, it’s an incredible story.’‘So much has changed since I started with
Abet Laminati. The approach to design and
the history of design have changed enor-
mously. Production is very different now.
The use of digital printing has completely
changed how we produce, communicate and
sell our designs. Because data sharing is so
fast, we can go quickly from design to pro-
duction. Before, every collection we released
had a huge economic impact. We had to sell
thousands of metres of laminates in order to
make it pay. It was unthinkable for an archi-
tect back then to ask for a custom laminate.
Today we can print almost anything.’ »PAOL A
WHAT I’VE LEARNED 49