The whole poetic universe of Paola Navone is revealed in
the new Gervasoni collection. The spirit of eclecticism, the
pleasure of intermingling, the instinct to let loose one’s
imagination without limit of space and time.
The new and rich collection is known as the Sweet
collection. Included in the collection are articles inspired by
different “worlds”, by artisan knowledge going back to
ancient tradition and accommodated by the modern and
instinctively curious eye of Paola Navone.
Traditional and modern materials – wood, marble, pressed
bamboo, rattan, but also rubber and cement – are brought
together with a sensitive and masterly touch and coloured
in white, blue, grey to create a refined harmony of
contrasts.
Nothing is taken for granted in the new collection. The
sofas are characterised by a play of surprising proportions,
in which the back and the armrests – both in the rattan
interwoven version or the version completely covered in
fabric – represent significant volumes which envelop the
seat, like spacious rest surfaces. The fabric sofas come in
two depths – 107cm and 130 cm – and in two different
sizes. The range of upholstered fabrics is completed by an
armchair, a pouf of generous dimensions ( 107 x 107 cm)
and a special kind of day-bed of 260 cm.
In the version with rattan interwoven armrests, there is a
sofa and a refined chaise-longue. As with the sofas, the
new bed from the collection has new proportions: the
bedhead is wider, lower, slightly reclined to support the
pillows and covered in fabric to ensure a harmonious effect
with the bed as a whole.
Still for the living area, but not limited exclusively to it,
Paola Navone has designed a small upholstered armchair
for Gervasoni, its frame and armrests made from walnut
canaletto wood. Here too, formal perfection is the outcome
of a highly delicate play of contrasts between the slender
structure and the full-bodied fabric seat, devised for
maximum comfort.
Ideal for single placement or in combination and
arrangement with the new low tables of hexagonal form
with walnut canaletto wood top and white-painted metal
base, available in two sizes and at two different heights –
30 cm and 50 cm.
The collection’s furniture-for-containment series recalls
something of the charm and freshness of some articles of
furniture from the Fifties. It comes in five different models
with different dimensions and heights, from the low-lying
two-drawer item – from 47 cm in height and 250 cm in
length – to the model with drawers and door which is 70
cm in height. Up to the highest version of 180 cm by 140
cm in height. The rational rigour of the design is tempered
by the sophisticated play of fullness and emptiness created
by the drawers and the door - in walnut canaletto wood or
pressed bamboo lacquered white or blue – leaving
available open spaces. The image of these articles of
furniture is delightfully pictorial. The doors and drawers
are without handles and equipped with a press-open
mechanism.
The new small interwoven armchair is as naturally
beautiful and familiar as an object from one’s earliest
memory. It retains the essence of the traditional
comfortable and sturdy Philippine “papasan” seat which
inspired it. The materials, however, are different: iron for
the three-foot support structure and black rubber tubing
for the wicker work constituting the seat.
The same black rubber tubing - in smaller dimensions - is
the material used for the new suspension lamp which
comes in two generous sizes; the image is that of an
interwoven basket turned upside down and suspended from
the ceiling with a cable wrapped in red fabric.
We have a series of tables for the dining area, with frame
and legs in tinted oak and top in cement or Carrara
marble. The products come in three sizes: rectangular 260
x 100 and 210 x 100, and square 160 x 160. To
accompany the tables is a chair in walnut canaletto wood
with a curved wooden back and a seat of interwoven
rubber or taut reinforced fabric.
An unexpected guest has arrived from another “world”,
encountered In Buenos Aires, which has much in common
with the objects created by Paola Navone. This is a knitted
pouf designed by Martin Churba, a young Argentinian
fashion designer with a talent also in dressing articles of
furniture.
To complement the Sweet collection, a silk-screen mark
decorates the new mirrors: a rose or a spontaneous
graphic gesture, poetic as well as familiar.
A sweet collection by Paola Navone for Gervasoni
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- Elena Sommariva
- 22 January 2010