In that space
there was a film editing company
The building was in very bad condition because there was a fire
and, of course, a lot of this plastic was everywhere
And when the fire came, all the roof was burn
So I saw the roof. I say, "That is going to be my office"
My name is Paola Navone
I'm an architect by education
but I design many things
I'm living here now ten years
I start to sleep here sometime
then I start to bring some pots and pans for my kitchen
and then more clothes, and then shoes
and then, after one year
I decide that probably I was really living here
I was born in Torino
which is a very classic and beautiful city
My university was very strict, and I already was very curious
I discovered people that were producing idea
instead of producing real building or real object
Memphis later was full of curiosity
What can we do to break the rules of the Italian design
that was already "Italian design" at that time?
So we introduced colors
We introduced the idea that the skin
the outside became more important than the function
People come from outside
Probably they are captured by the mess
So I capture millions of these colors
shape, smell
and everything goes in a big basket
India goes with Japan, goes with a supermarket
Everything goes there in the same basket
So this is what I always do, try to make marriage
which are not really typical, or classic, or expected
It's not a box with nothing
I open my eyes, I see this wall full of things
I can imagine 10,000 stories out of this wall
The garden in front of the office is very important for us
because it's a barrier between the world and our space
When I came, I wanted to make a garden
and the landlord told me "no"
So I took one of my radical decisions
I said, "Okay, the land is my land. I cannot dig. Fine"
I put all these barrels
and now we have this little protection from the world
Radical is a word that has been used a lot
to talk about my attitude
I never did something on this regular basis
I have a very strong attraction, and I promote imperfection
Nothing is really planned in my life
Everything comes with a bit
by chance or by accident, or by
I have to say, I never plan what to do
I'm here now
and I don't know what I'm going to do later