Mountain meadows in summer, larch and pine forests in fall, blueberries, wasps, moss, gentians. 

Nature has created and preserves each colour, inviting us to experience them as integral parts of our existence and, through them, to celebrate the beauty and richness of diversity.

Nature, without asking anything in return, fascinates, teaches, shelters.

Beyond simply beautifying the world, colours serve essential functions: they help endangered animals camouflage, signal impending weather changes, and attract pollinators.

In daily life, the colours people choose for clothing, furnishings, and walls are more than just decorative; they evoke emotions and create connections.

For Paola Lenti, the story begins with observing nature to explore its colours.

The series of seven short videos titled “Oasi di Colore” is the means through which Paola Lenti shares the emotions and associations that each colour awakens, blending colours and music in a play of aesthetic and chromatic analogies. 

Each episode concludes with words that renowned philosophers, painters, and writers dedicated to the seven protagonist colours.

Let’s discover them together!

Blue has no dimensions; it is beyond dimensions. – Yves Klein

My Fuschzia’s Coral Seams Rip – while the Sower – dreams. – Emily Dickinson

… the young Dawn with her rose-red fingers. – Omero

I have finally discovered the true color of the atmosphere. It’s violet. Fresh air is violet. – Claude Monet

How lovely yellow is! – Vincent van Gogh

All theory is gray, my friend. But forever green is the tree of life. – Claude Monet

My heart is like this red disk of the moon… – Hannah Arendt

Director Maurizio Natta
Cinematographers Maurizio Natta, Fabrizio Polla Mattiot, Gianlorenzo Bernabò
Sound designer Matteo Fusi
Soundtrack Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl
–
© 2024 Paola Lenti srl



L'articolo Experiencing Colours: An Act of Freedom proviene da Paola Lenti.

Made of straw, wood, or better yet, bricks.
In childhood, home means protection—from the weather, strangers, and anything that could threaten the well-being of its inhabitants. As adults, the house remains a trusted shell, a place where one feels content without the need to seek solace elsewhere, surrounded by personal objects and cherished memories.

The home is a poetic place, where care is evident in the cushion, the plant, and the small feline wandering silently among surfaces of every size, material, and shape. These horizontal and vertical surfaces offer infinite sensory perceptions. Hence, it is also an aesthetic place, from the Greek αἴσθησις (aísthesis), “to perceive through the senses.”

Rugs, furnishings, paintings, family memories, and travel recollections define a temple where daily private rituals occur.

Every house finds its rhythm with the passage of time, a time marked by the presence of what we introduce, akin to the pages of a novel or the growth rings of a tree trunk.

By definition, it is an anthropic element, connecting us through its walls with the surrounding environment. If all walls were made of natural materials, the boundary between inside and outside, natural and artificial, would blur, bringing humans closer to nature.

This philosophy inspired “Àlfa, a Possible Home,” a project presented by Paola Lenti for the 2024 edition of Milano Design Week. This subtle architecture and interior exercise ultimately responds to a precise ethical choice.

It reminds us that initiating new and better practices requires positive thinking and a good dose of willpower.

INSIDE THE ROOMS OF ÀLFA
Director Maurizio Natta
Filmed by Fabrizio Polla Mattiot
Soundtrack Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl

ph. © Maurizio Natta

© 2024 Paola Lenti srl, all rights reserved

L'articolo Home, the temple of private rituals proviene da Paola Lenti.

The rustle of leaves in a city park, stirred by the wind; the dust particles dancing in the sunlight filtering through dense urban buildings; the gentle patter of raindrops on a military green raincoat; the fiery red sun setting against the backdrop of a bustling street in Tokyo as seen from a van.

These fleeting moments, captured through the eyes of Hirayama in Wim Wenders’ acclaimed “Perfect Days”, evoke the essence of perfection. They remind us of the joy found in simply experiencing nature’s spontaneous offerings without any prompting.

Oki Sato, known as Nendo, finds inspiration in these subtle cues from nature – what he refers to as “hints” or “whispers”. It’s these whispers that he explores in his solo exhibition, “nendo: whispers of nature,” held at Paola Lenti’s new space in Milan during Milano Design Week 2024.

From their shared geographic coordinates in Tokyo, Japan, Nendo and Wenders, with a distinctly Western perspective, advocate for the importance of living in harmony with oneself and the natural world. They encourage us to appreciate life’s simple pleasures and to cultivate a deep respect for the environment.

“Exploring the connection between nature and humanity is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture,” explains Nendo. “That’s why I felt compelled to delve into this theme and chose Paola Lenti Milano as the perfect venue to showcase my exhibition. Nendo and Paola Lenti share a profound love and respect for nature – it’s what unites us.”

In the richness of the Japanese language, there exists a treasure trove of words that encapsulate intricate concepts and the beauty of natural phenomena with remarkable brevity.

Komorebi, as unveiled by Wim Wenders at the conclusion of his film, captures the ethereal shimmer cast by sunlight filtering through swaying leaves – a fleeting glow frozen in a singular, precise moment.

Hana-arashi, as disclosed by Nendo, describes the mesmerizing spectacle when cherry blossom petals detach and dance through the air – a transient beauty more captivating than the blossoms themselves, lasting mere moments.

Lastly, Mottainai, elucidated by Paola Lenti, embodies the ethos of waste not – a call to utilize existing resources rather than squander them. This concept has been embraced by the company, transforming into a project aimed at imbuing surplus materials with renewed function and aesthetic value.

The imagery of petals dancing in the air directly evokes Paola Lenti’s philosophy, which, through the Mottainai project, gathers and repurposes what remains, what literally falls from production processes, thus avoiding any form of waste.

“We were intrigued” explains Paola Lenti, “to explore collaborations with designers boasting diverse aesthetics, distinct from those of the Campana Brothers, with whom we initiated the Mottainai project’s first chapter. Thus, we engaged with Nendo studio. Oki Sato artfully breathed new life into Maris offcuts, harnessing their inherent structure and texture to inform the collection’s form. The resulting Hana-arashi collection exudes a restrained yet vibrant charm, evocative of quintessential Japanese design.”

Nendo’s concept for creating objects that experiment with various forms and combinations crystallized only after visiting Paola Lenti’s headquarters, witnessing the production processes, and grasping the company’s research efforts and unique savoir-faire. The Maris cutoffs, with their quality and array of colours, meticulously recovered and thoughtfully combined according to a cohesive chromatic scheme, give rise to petals of newfound and unpredictable beauty.

“The initial impression I had” recounts Nendo, “is that Paola embodies a certain Japanese sensibility. Quiet, exceptionally courteous, with a deep respect for nature. She truly sees and understands nature in a manner that resonates with me, reflecting an authenticity reminiscent of my own culture. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter the term Mottainai within an Italian company. It immediately felt familiar, akin to home. Through this project, I believe Paola and I achieved a harmonious balance between spirituality, materiality, and sustainability, as we, in a way, speak the same language. It was akin to composing a haiku.”

THE PLAY-DOUGH MAN
Director Maurizio Natta
Author Alessandra Noto
Filmed by Maurizio Natta – Fabrizio Polla Mattiot – Gianlorenzo Bernabò
Interview Dop Luciano Limoli
Editor Mattia Cutaia
Colorist Michele Ricossa
Audio Recordist Andrea Serventi
Audio Editor Matteo Fusi
Soundtrack Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl
© 2024 Paola Lenti srl, all rights reserved

Go to the dedicated page to watch all our videos

L'articolo Nendo and Paola Lenti: A Symphony of Signs, Colours, and Emotions proviene da Paola Lenti.

Over two decades have passed since we embarked on a pioneering journey in the production of contemporary outdoor textiles, forever transforming their essence, scale, typology, and colour with a thin, impalpable thread – one suitable for twisting, coupling, shaping, and flattening into fabrics and cords.

The present and future of our company began with the unprecedented intuition, against the tide at the time, that such a flexible and potentially infinite raw material – akin to a thought relentlessly intertwining images, inspirations, and new connections – could transcend the conventional and establish the idea of a home without boundaries between indoor and outdoor.

From short film «Per filo e per segno» © Paola Lenti srl

However, we were not satisfied. We improved its performance, enhanced its qualities, and uncovered its aesthetic potential. Thus, a synthetic material, previously trapped in technology that rendered it rigid and soulless, superficially essential yet a source of ecological issues, became a valuable, sustainable material, functional for designing long-lasting and durable products, meeting the present requirements of the circular economy.

Over the years, that thread transformed into cords of various dimensions and forms, flexible enough to be woven, and into intricate, high-performance textile structures. It also manifested as soft knitted fabrics, reminiscent of classic craftsmanship like rib or plain stitch – a modern take on traditional handmade with a familiar, timeless essence. Additionally, it gave rise to dozens of unprecedented outdoor fabrics in exclusive colours, plush, inviting, and nearly indistinguishable from indoor fabrics, yet equipped with all the necessary qualities for outdoor use.

From short film «Per filo e per segno» © Paola Lenti srl

Per filo e per segno: the title binds the protagonist of our narrative to the meticulousness, care, and precision with which it is worked by the skilled hands of our staff, following the invisible threads of fantasy with their minds. This same attention is devoted every day to our work, to inventing new solutions, and to facing new challenges.

The enduring, contagious enthusiasm, the same as twenty years ago, has defined our identity. Paola Lenti herself guides us on this journey, unravelling and reweaving the thread of our history once again: a delicate yet resilient thread, leaving an indelible mark.

PER FILO E PER SEGNO
Director Maurizio Natta
Author Anna Vullo
Filmed by Maurizio Natta – Fabrizio Polla Mattiot – Gianlorenzo Bernabò
Interview Dop Luciano Limoli
Interview Gaffer Mattia Rossetti
Editor Mattia Cutaia
Colorist Michele Ricossa
Audio Editor Matteo Fusi
Hair styling and make up Karine Valbrun
Soundtrack Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl
© 2023 Paola Lenti srl, all rights reserved

Go to the dedicated page to watch all our videos

L'articolo Per filo e per segno proviene da Paola Lenti.

Curious by nature, cosmopolitan by choice. Hugo Yoshikawa is a young artist who mainly draws inspiration from nature, from its diverse forms and myriad colours.

Born in Tokyo and raised between Paris, Bangkok, and New York, he graduated from Camberwell College of Art in London. Yoshikawa took his first steps as an illustrator in Madrid and later devoted himself to art in a broader sense, yet always maintained an original, graphic, whimsical, and sometimes naive style that still characterizes his work today.

To ignite his imagination as a child and push him to cultivate the art of illustration, especially influential were the bandes dessinées. These are the comic strips of the Franco-Belgian school, considered in those countries as real coming-of-age novels. One such series was the adventures of Spirou and Fantasio, two journalists facing various vicissitudes and aided by the faithful and ubiquitous squirrel Spip.

In the imaginative world of this French-Japanese artist, nature enters the home and envelops everyday objects. Tree roots infiltrate between tables and chairs, leaves float freely in the air, flowers bloom from milk cartons, and citrus fruits hang from laundry lines like laundry itself. It’s a world of fantasy, permeated by the emotions often found at the heart of haiku poetry – the central theme of nature with all its mysteries. It’s also an expression of traditional Japanese manga culture.

Designart Tokyo provides the perfect platform. It’s an event born with the goal of erasing the lines between art and design, functionality and beauty. This international event transforms the entire city into a museum each year. Through various settings, artists and creatives from around the world can come together, creating new and unexpected opportunities, synergies, and connections.

To produce the animation that will be part of the exhibition, the artist has created a series of sketches. They draw inspiration from some of Paola Lenti’s iconic products: Telar, Frame, Hammock, and Tapio armchairs. They blend these pieces into a nature that’s “intrusive”, and yet inviting, positioning them as central figures within his unique vision of the potential fusion of art, design, and the botanical realm.

The “Outside Inside” exhibition, its title already a manifesto, is organized by Rikka Gallery and open to the public from October 20th to October 29th, running from 11 am to 6 pm. It is held at the Paola Lenti Tokyo showroom in Azabudai Hills, a modern residential district where buildings are nestled amidst lush green spaces and have rooftops teeming with vibrant vegetation, all in harmony with nature.

L'articolo Hugo Yoshikawa’s art in the new Paola Lenti Tokyo space proviene da Paola Lenti.

When Paola Lenti and Francesco Rota met for the first time, they were little more than teenagers. It was the end of the 1990s: The company founded by Paola at that time was still a small reality. Francesco had recently completed his degree in architecture at the Art Center College of Design in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland. It’s been 25 years, and the partnership of that time is stronger today than ever.

To celebrate this anniversary, we asked them to revisit together the milestones that have marked these 25 years of professional understanding while getting comfortable on a sofa, one of the products that have defined the success of this long-lasting collaboration. However, both of them preferred to sit on the floor. This gave birth to an informal, two-part narrative, which was summarized in an interview revealing a strong affinity of thought. Their bond is founded on mutual respect and freedom, as well as a shared vision of work: a ‘serious amusement‘, as they both like to describe it.

This brings us back to their first ‘official’ encounter. It was 1998 when they began to think together about a project that would enhance and give three-dimensional shape to felt, the material that had been used for the production of rugs already for some years.

The understanding between the two was immediate and at once translated into the essential and linear features of the Atollo sofa and Linea, the indoor chaise longue that over the years has become one of the most iconic products in the collection.

Thus began a collaboration that gave shape and function to furniture elements characterized by an unconventional design and originating from a strong propensity to research and innovation.

Some years later, new territories are being explored. The challenge is then to design outdoor upholsteries that are as welcoming and pleasant to the touch as those traditionally used in the interiors. The research focused on polypropylene, a light and waterproof fiber. While she was studying the materials, he was working on the forms: The success of Linea was renewed with Wave, the first of a long and articulated series of products designed specifically for outdoor life.

The rest is the story of a creative partnership punctuated by dozens of furnishings, innovative and original, that thanks to their understated elegance have survived unscathed over time – seats, tables, side tables, cabinets and complements such as Frame, Cove, Ami, Smile, Harbour, just to name a few –, many of which have been awarded prestigious accolades. In the meantime, the two “teenagers” have kept the same enthusiasm they had 25 years ago and still enjoy sitting on the floor.

Due sopra il divano

Author Anna Vullo 
Director Maurizio Natta 
Filmed by Maurizio Natta, Fabrizio Polla Mattiot, Gianlorenzo Bernabò 
Editor Mattia Cutaia 
Colorist Michele Ricossa 
Audio Editor Matteo Fusi 
Soundtrack Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl 
© 2023 Paola Lenti srl, all rights reserved

L'articolo Due sopra il divano proviene da Paola Lenti.

Paola Lenti was looking for a place to put down roots. A place integrated into the urban fabric of Milan, open to the city, and at the same time surrounded by green-ery. A venue to be purposefully designed for those who pass through the door to grasp everywhere the beauty of a plant, a flower, a tree, and thus nature, on which Paola Lenti has always drawn to envision her products.

A place that could not only become a permanent reference point during the Milano Design Week, but also maintain a constant dialogue with a diverse public and transmit an entire vision that goes beyond the usual retail concept to incorporate art and hospitality, food culture, and landscape design. A venue capable of telling a story that has a horizon that extends beyond that of a typical flagship store.

The new venue is located a former industrial estate surrounded by gardens in an area, which is undergoing a major redevelopment but far from the canonical routes of design.

 
The entire project has been designed to have as little environmental impact as possible, in keeping with the company’s concept, which has made sustainability one of its cornerstones. For the outside walls, neutral materials and tones were chosen to express the idea of harmony that underpins Paola Lenti’s creative choices and harmonise with the distinctive colours of the surrounding buildings.  
 
I want the new location to be a lively place where people can feel good, – Paola Lenti explains –. A positive oasis for Milan as well».

L'articolo Milan, the new Paola Lenti space proviene da Paola Lenti.

The fourth episode of Face to face is dedicated to Simona Sporchia, a master in the contemporary interpretation of the mosaic. Growing up in Milan, Simona was one of those little girls who always carried her sketchbook with her. She portrayed people, landscapes, and nature. Every chance she got, she’d arm herself with coloured pencils and give free rein to her imagination.
The artistic high school represented a natural landing place at the end of middle school. Simona discovered a passion for colours and materials; artistic techniques are the foundation for finding her expressive language.

She continued her studies at the Faculty of Architecture, but her heart was elsewhere: Simona felt the need to shape her thoughts with her hands, to return to her old love for a less icy and reasoned material. «I feel like art is a calling,» she says. She remembers the power of certain mosaic masterpieces she studied in school. It is where her inner gaze is focused. She drops out of university and enrolls in a mosaic school to learn the technique; she becomes a master mosaicist and opens her own workshop in Monza.

The encounter with Paola Lenti occurs during the first lockdown’s silence. They worked by assonance in that suspended atmosphere; in the warp and weft of the collection’s fabrics, they captured the same foundations of the mosaic composition: tesserae and joints, while intertwining and matching, create a decoration, just like the threads woven on the loom Furthermore, both realized that the combination of more shades determines the final colour equally in the mosaic and the company fabrics.

Together, they decide to subvert the traditional mosaic technique to create tesserae with different shapes and dimensions, round for example; they strip the joint of its function as a “hinge” to make it a background that recalls the chromatic palette of the collection products with which it is combined.

A new and contemporary vision of the mosaic emerges, where even the materials used support the desire to convey unprecedented suggestions: ceramics, recycled glass, silica powders, and oxides give rise to tesserae that differ from one another and in exclusive colours. The end result is a series of modules for flooring, side tables, and large table tops that have become part of the collection.

Nerikomi, a Japanese ceramic production technique, inspired the most recent experiments. Simona Sporchia creates coloured ceramic tesserae in her Monza workshop, which she then cuts, fires, and inserts on backgrounds made of concrete agglomerates and natural materials such as marble and recycled shards. The Venetian floor served as inspiration, with its chromatic bases in various shades punctuated by coloured grits.

Face to face with
Simona Sporchia, Monza

Interview by Anna Vullo
Director Maurizio Natta
Cinematographer Fabrizio Polla Mattiot @ateliermistral
Filmed by Maurizio Natta, Fabrizio Polla Mattiot @ateliermistral, Gianlorenzo Bernabò di Negro
Audio post production Top Digital
Soundtrack Universal Music Publishing Ricordi Srl

L'articolo Face to face with Simona Sporchia proviene da Paola Lenti.

Colours have their own sound, too. So thought Wassily Kandinsky, one of the leading exponents of abstract art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. According to the Russian painter, a special link exists between art and music. Indeed, his colourful works were conceived like true symphonies. “Red is vital and has the sound of a tuba, orange is energetic and resounds like a bell, yellow rings like a trumpet and is bursting, green is opulent, contented and recalls the violin”, wrote the famous abstractionist.

Nonetheless, Kandinsky was not the only one to identify connections between these two forms of expression. The ancient Greeks were the first to devise a color scale divided into seven parts, just like the seven notes of the musical scale. Three centuries before Kandinsky, the Milanese painter Giuseppe Arcimboldi created a scale of chromatic values starting from the Pythagorean system of harmonic proportions between tones and semitones.

The series of videos Variations on colour originates also from these suggestions: each color can be associated with a certain music; it is enough to be capable of grasping the rhythm and tuning in to the emotions it transmits. Hence, we have devised four “episodes” and as many mood boards, set in our garden in Meda and conceived to present outdoor materials, yarns and fabrics in different shades of the same colour, and have combined them, each time, with specific musical variations.

Each video is named after a different colour, each corresponding to one of the new chromatic proposals in Paola Lenti collections: Yellow (in A Major), Green (in F Major), Blue (in D minor) and Pink (in C Major).

Besides, they coincide with some of the shades celebrated by Pantone, the bible of color, in the new 2023 catalogue, like Viva Magenta, colour of the year, a warm shade of fuchsia, “vibrating with vim and vigour and promoting joy”.

Green – synonym of nature and well-being – and blue “ with its quiet and deep sound” in the infinite shades varying from pale blue to indigo, are also two of the colour-symbol of the company: available in thousands of shades, they have contributed to making Paola Lenti collections unmistakable in the world.

While pink, as noted in The Secret Lives of Colour by British Kassia St Clair, conveys calm and fosters relaxation. A feeling that corresponds to Paola Lenti’s philosophy: designing products that make people feel good.

Directed by Maurizio Natta
Filmed and edited by Fabrizio Polla Mattiot
Soundtrack Universal Music Publishing Ricordi Srl

L'articolo A symphony of colors and music: it is Paola Lenti’s home proviene da Paola Lenti.

Over the last twenty years, Paola Lenti has followed a thread: durable, long lasting and in its own way revolutionary. A yarn with a round sounding name – Rope – and an unusual textile appearance that has marked the history of the industrial development of the company.

It is the early 2000s. Paola Lenti is looking for an innovative material for the outdoors. She turns over in her hands a sample of a technical fabric from an Eastern European manufacturer, intrigued by the fact that warp and weft are the same size. She envisages a possibility there: to produce a round yarn with that dimensions, something similar to the lines used in sailing, capable of resisting water and ultraviolet rays. A yarn to be transformed into performing outdoor fabrics.

The research focuses on polypropylene, a not very noble fiber, nonetheless light and waterproof thanks to the “closed” structure of its molecules that prevents water from entering the fiber itself. Two intrinsic qualities that make it ideal for the outdoors. 

Rope, however, is still a long way off. Literature on polypropylene does not exist; it is necessary to test its resistance, functionality and lightfastness.

With the tenacity of newbies and a contagious enthusiasm for everything that needs to be invented, Paola Lenti embarks on a sometimes-naive quest: she uncovers shoe lace manufacturers in the Yellow Pages, regularly visits trade fairs in search of answers to her questions, calls on an automotive expert to verify the robustness and durability of fabrics as well as on weavers. Little by little she realizes that polypropylene, if properly processed, represents “the future”. She brings the pieces together and arrives at the Chemistry Department of the University of Turin to refine the research phases.

A high performing synthetic yarn that has the texture of a natural fabric to the touch, a peculiarity that has allowed it to cross the thresholds of indoor and fully establish itself even in interiors. This is one of the many reasons why Rope has given a new direction to the company: it is the “discovery” that has allowed it to establish a dialogue between inside and outside, to blur the boundaries between different environments to convey a fluid and harmonious domestic universe.

Thanks to its versatility, in these twenty years Rope has given rise to dozens of materials, from cords to weaves, from tubular “socks” to fabrics, which have become each time upholsteries for seating pieces or load-bearing structures of sofas, armchairs or sun beds. “And also outdoor rugs – Paola Lenti remembers -. A revolution for the times, when associating a rug to the outdoors sounded like an oxymoron”

Today many of Paola Lenti products are immediately recognizable thanks to that yarn, originated from an intuition, and to the extraordinary range of colors in which it is offered, which allows coordinating fabrics and materials of several collections.

And from the research on Rope, latest generation yarns, fabrics and materials arouse – Twiggy, Maris, Diade – even more performing and sustainable.

But that is another story.

L'articolo The intuition that has revolutionized the outdoor proviene da Paola Lenti.