What we learn from the new book Tham ma da: The Adventurous Interiors of Paola Navone, published last week by Point Leaf Press (by Spencer Bailey), is that travel and the experience of the lifetime traveler have come to play the most substantial and ambitious roles in shaping the rich and complex vocabulaties of the Milan-based architect. Named after Thai for “everyday,” it comes to present the search for the ‘ordinary’ a journey that has occupied Navone for the majority of her career. A member in the Milanese design collectives Alchymia and Memphis during the 70s and 80s, Navone has carried the experimental, radical design of those days into her bold, daring, dramatic interiors that embody the depth of her experiments. The book features the broad spectrum of interiros that Navone has creatred over the years, from private homes to hotles, to bars, retail shops, and temporary spaces, tracing her adventurous spaces, from Paris to Phuket, from Tuscany to Milan. The quality of the interiors are not always the same, but those which are particularly strong, representing her gift for mixing textures, colors, unexpected objects, and fresh color combinations, all reflecting the deep sensuality of the interiors.
