Rafael: Polyhedral Shapes with an Exotic Feel

06/05/2019 - A sense of the exotic exudes forth from Rafael, the first outdoors project created by Paola Navone for Ethimo. Lounge chairs, day beds and coffee tables reinvent the aesthetic and formal outlook of faraway cultures and lands, absorbing the changing and polyhedral forms of nature.



‘This project was born somewhat by chance: we had a beautiful garden and we needed irregular chairs to create a relaxation area, a space dedicated to spending joyful moments together’, says Paola Navone. ‘Rafael was thus first conceived to be set in a specific place, and only later did we turn it into a product. Normally, if I work on a product I’ll just concentrate on that, and the product then finds its way into different spaces. If, on the contrary, I work on a space, I build products based on the needs of that specific place, so they are often one-of-a-kind pieces’. Design, material, and decoration thus bring to life furniture with an eclectic soul, robust solutions whose welcoming, enveloping volumes radiate color and energy. The artisanal processing of the teak, marble and volcanic stone materials used in the collection, comes together with the chromatic choices for the fabrics, all designed by Paola Navone. ‘The colder hues were conceived for maritime outdoor spaces, while the more saturated colors are ideal for a country garden or a city terrace’, the designer explains. Lounge chairs, day beds and coffee tables can all be mixed and matched or work well as a single piece. The unusual and original hexagonal profiles of the seats’ structures, in the new scratched teak finish, are animated by the asymmetrical slats held together by ‘brackets’. The organic wooden backrest forms a soft nest of cushions.

The coffee tables, which come in different forms and sizes, are the result of a careful combination highlighting the nobility of wood and the sensorial quality of the table tops. The marble and varnished volcanic stone of the table tops recalls the varying nuances of the sea. The ensemble comes together through a dimensional beat that confers movement and visual openness to the space, and makes the furniture dynamic and airy. ‘The collection is suited to any time of day: for morning coffees, afternoon naps, or sunset cocktails’, Paola Navone comments. ‘Rafael is robust, comfortable, and friendly’.


Ethimo on ARCHIPRODUCTS