Designers

Born in Turin, Italy, Paola Navone graduated in 1973 in architecture from the Turin Politecnico. From 1970 to 1980, she worked alongside Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass Jr. and Andrea Branzi in the Alchimia group, the most progressive set on the Italian design scene. Navone developed a highly-productive and stimulating avant-garde stance early in her career, which gained her the prestigious Osaka International Design Award in 1983.

Between 1985 and 1988, she was a consultant for the UN-UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization-mission in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. She later moved to Milan although she is first and foremost a citizen of the world. Driven by her extreme interest in the most widely differing cultures – particularly oriental ones – she travels a great deal, bowing to a natural inclination to cross boundaries, and not only geographical ones.

In 2009 , Richard Ginori gave Paola Navone 1000 kilos of white tableware and asked her to experiment.The result – Prova Prima – was inspired by the proof strokes that porcelain designers paint on ceramics to test glazes