The 2015 Paola Lenti collection was again launched at the beautifully serene Chiostri dell’Umanitaria as part of Milan Design Week

In the Centre of Milan, behind the courthouse, in a former Franciscan convent of  400 AD, divided into four Renaissance cloisters and a former refectory – the Hall of Frescoes – you can enjoy a variety of indoor and outdoor environments

In the frenzy of Design Week, this was one of the few places around Milan where visitors could retire for a few hours and take in the splendour of the truly special Paola Lenti experience of  Beyond Colour.

In a succession of integrated interior & exteriors, Paola Lenti created a series of diverse installations, which saw Paola Lenti again collaborating with artists, designers and different brands.

Thanks to Paola Lenti’s participatory philosophy, all the design pieces were available to all to be touched, tested and experienced: swings, lamps, beds, furniture, umbrellas, armchairs, chairs and textiles.

About Beyond Colour

Beyond Colour was the theme chosen to emphasise the visionary designer’s quest to go beyond the enveloping spell of colours towards a vision of outdoor and indoor living.

Beyond Colour is a vision centered on furniture intended as a functional and elegant product, simple and at the same time able to redesign the “togetherness”

Beyond Colour is the true marker of Paola Lenti, the life force that makes her constantly seek beauty that is never banal, never repetitive but emerges from experimentation, from keenly observing other artistic forms and different skills that express original codes, styles and forms.

ombra – offset adjustable garden umbrella with resort pergola

Going  Beyond Colour in order not to stand still, in order to go beyond the limit established by the ordinary, in order to capture even the flickering light of the fireflies that often eludes us.

Seeing Beyond, glancing over the boundaries, underpins Paola Lenti‘s vision, because the Company has always believed in imagination becoming thinking and thinking becoming object, geometry of forms, play of balance and colour, an idea of living capable of capturing all senses.

Going Beyond Colour to discover the discreet, invisible vein that gives new form and concreteness to the creative gesture, which thrives on inter weavings, balances and vibrations that unexpectedly lead to the perfection of the finished object.

In this revolutionary series, Paola Lenti sees beyond the boundaries of her daily work to create something that thrives off of the imagination.

The company believes that thinking is what translates into objects with its geometry of forms, play of balance and a design capable of captivating all senses.

Video at Paola Lenti discussing colour – presented in Italian by Vicky Syriopoulou ( colour designer at Oikos )

This Beyond Colour concept is vision centered on furniture intended as functional and elegant products, simple and, at the same time, able to redesign unity.

The original fabrics featured in this collection are the result of ancient knowledge and state of the art technology, giving rise to new ranges that reflect modern ideas of living. These works catch the eye, suggesting a human-centered conception of space.

The study of colours and shades enhances the harmony of forms, balance and perspective, leading to endless variations and modulations of light and shadow that reveal a silent, respectful dialogue with nature, a dialogue based on the thorough study of materials, on a coherent dual movement that is both search for beauty and for the concreteness of living.

paola lenti and designer francesco rota

For twenty-one years Paola Lenti & Anna Lenti and their working team have proposed this concept of living, of being together, which focuses on the piece of furniture as a functional and elegant product, that is also able to offer a new take on the beautiful and the concrete.

She does this through a relationship that is a dialogue, an encounter, a comparison and a search for horizontality capable of expressing the idea of man and his relationship with and in the space.

The original fabrics and technological sophistication of the materials in the collection of furniture and rugs are the result of this line of research, of this way of thinking aimed at bringing to the surface the sound and harmony of different voices.

anna lenti

The all-enveloping weave of the colours creates reflections that accentuate the harmony of the forms in a play of chromatic modulations.

Paola Lenti interior design objects seem to move and breathe, revealing the fascinating laborious search for unique materials and contaminations that create other captivating rhythms through a search for reciprocity and assonance that are reminiscent of a polyphonic choir.

paola lenti ryuka kida ( elle decor japan ) and anna lenti on frame bench

Paola Lenti’s creations are the result of this gift for dialoguing with the imagination, whilst seeking correspondences with reality and shaping and bringing alive the creative idea.

The gradations and nuances of the fabric, the technology of the materials and the fascinating colours are translated into finished objects that possess their own energy, during a creative process that is reflected in the precision and the geometry of the forms

Walk through the Cloisters and Gardens

Entrance gardens

rams sun bed

Rams, sun bed by Victor Carrasco

Rams is a new sun bed available in single or double size.

The structure is made of varnished aluminium and is stackable; the legs are in steel or coated with bamboo.

The sun bed has an adjustable backrest and is completed by a seat pad covered with Luz, Rope T or Brio, Paola Lenti’s signature fabrics for exterior use.

adagio single seat swing + swing dual person wooden garden swing

mogambo umbrella ( l ) bistro umbrella ( r )  background afra easy chair and float soft sofa

Central courtyard & NatureLeap installation

Paola Lenti’s creations reveal in their meticulous study of the materials and of their composition the constant underlying dialogue with nature, understood as a friendly, hospitable and welcoming space.

This exchange with nature is accentuated in the LAN installation made of bamboo and synthetic rope.

Thus it escapes from the confinement of the limit, from the compulsion to repeat, and draws from the uninterrupted interweaving of the filaments the vital force, the exchange of energy between man and nature that creates the lightness of a dream of flying.

taiki lights

Pavilion Courtyard

pavillion and greenery screens

garden pavilions with taiki lights, orlando and welcome sofa

ombra offset garden umbrella and greenery ivy screens. pavillion

sabi sofa, teatime sofa and heron low table

sabi sofas with teatime sofa

frame chaise + arc zoe rug with lenta side lights

Build, system of modular panels by Francesco Rota

move modular sofa & smile easy chair & shito pouf & edel coffee table

Build is a system of modular panels that are conceived to divide and equip interior spaces; they are covered with Brio fabric and can be fixed to the wall or can create freestanding compositions as well as furniture pieces with an architectural flair.

The panels can be completed with shelves and suspended cabinets.

The fixed and moving panels, the false ceilings and the light panels are available in different standard heights but also in custom dimensions to allow for the highest design flexibility.

build panels and shelving &elsie chairs with a kanji table mad davide groppi moon lights

Elsie, chair with armrests and armchair by Francesco Rota

elsie

New seating for interior environments are added this year to the Home collection.

The stress resistant padding, the seat area and the backrest provided with elastic belts make them exceptionally soft and comfortable.

The structure is in natural or dark dyed ash wood.

The removable cover is available in Paola Lenti signature indoor fabrics Blend, Dots and Mood.

Kanji, dining tables by Francesco Rota

kanji

Series of table for the indoor environments made of wood in natural or grigio ferro colour.

The top can be in one piece or feature the central part composed of removable, independent elements.

It is possible to replace the desired number of elements with a cutting board and containers in different dimensions and materials. The removed elements can be stored in a compartment existing under the top

resort pergola with cove and orlando outdoor furniture

cove outdoor armchairs and sofa, giro coffee tables

resort pergola structure

Onsen Bathing Ponds

pavillion screening structure

Inside the gardens of the dell’Humanitaria, you can also admire the result of the partnership between Piscine Laghetto, Studio Baitha and Paola Lenti

Onsen Baths Pond is a complex outdoor spa, a place where you made the original sensory experience of the four elements: air, water, fire and earth.

orlando bench seating

Onsen is composed of: Pool ./ Screen / Spa / Sauna = Resort style city living

City Pool = spa with bubbles, whirlpool, equipped with water heating, positive displacement pump for pumping air, water treatment and filtration, diffuse lighting and automatic control framework.

Tatami = modular screening system for external and internal units in various heights and sizes. Screens are upholstered with fabric Rope from outside by Paola Lenti.

Ethereal Spa = steam bath with shower, ergonomic bench, ceiling and floor in solid surface white, etched glass side walls white, decorated mirror inclined backrest

Ethereal Sauna = with ergonomic backrest inclined bench and the stove cover oak slats. Side walls, ceiling and floor are in walnut, the wall brown tobacco marble

bistro umbrella ( l ) mogambo umbrella ( r ) with sand outdoor armchairs

Outdoor dining and relaxing Area  ( reserved for VIP guests )

heron tables and mira dining chairs

heron table amd mira dining chairs

bistro umbreallas and ami chairs

Paola Lenti Materials

Rope and Aquatech yarns, the result of the Company’s continuous research and experimentation, allow for the creation of a range of solutions for the exteriors which are enduring and resistant to the atmospheric agents, sun rays, sea and swimming pool water.

The fabrics for interior environments, such as felts of unique quality and performance or wools and cottons proposed in coordinated colours, offer infinite chromatic combinations.

The woods and the stones used for the structures and the tops suited for outdoor use are the result of an attentive selection which is coherent with the Company’s product philosophy.

The metals, selected for their high performances, are treated to further improve their endurance.

Inter Weavings with Antonio Marras in the Umanitaria Chapel

Paola Lenti at Circolo Marras

So on the 27th Nov 2014, Paola and Anna Lenti celebrated the 20 years of activity of the company Paola Lenti and presented the book “Tessere Spazi Weaving Spaces”  to the press, the collaborators and the closest friends.

The soirée was held at the location Nono stante Marras in Milan, set for the event with Paola Lenti pieces, originally interpreted by Antonio Marras himself.

Antonio Marras re-interprets Paola Lenti at Chiostri dell’Umanitaria for the Salone 2015

Art and toil, creative imagination and the aim to go beyond are silent, fertile presences that accompany Paola Lenti’s creations, her daily work.

This interweaving is essential in order to arrive at a carefully considered concept of living that involves and must involve all the senses.

In crossing these boundaries that have become permeable thanks to the need to change position to observe oneself and the world, the dialogue and meeting with Antonio Marras becomes a loving challenge that stresses differences and at the same time eliminates them.

Different languages meet and blend through a movement that reveals that they belong to the same chromatic world, bathed in the flickering light of the fireflies.

Antonio Marras‘s and Paola Lenti‘s creations vibrate through the use of the same material, the same transparency, the light that eliminates distances and speaks a single language: the language of art and the dream.

ami chairs re-interpreted by antonio marras

frame chairs

Inter Weavings – Objects & Accessories Collaborations

And yet, stands, temporary ponds, rugs that run along the walls of a cloister as decorative panels, many new designed by Francesco Rota, Bruno Munari’s works where you least expect it, collaboration with Antonio Marras presented in incredible Hall of frescoes, paintings by Maria Morganti.

And as always the color protagonist, played by new plots of materials and shapes.

Interweavings like the warp and weft of fabrics, an ancient map that conjures distant lands and seas, which reveal in the front and back of the weave the visible and the invisible, and open up to the wonder that lies beyond the edge, beyond the boundary, beyond the limit.

Paola Lenti seeks interweavings, transitions that break the chains of the usual and the obvious, new languages stimulated by research and intuition, capable of leading to a surprising discovery.

Her fabrics, the masterly weaves, the colours with their fantastic gradations and nuances are the signposts of a creative venture that breaks with tired repetition and with what has been seen many times before.

This imaginative creative approach, this urge to go beyond lies at the heart of Paola Lenti and her creations. New and old, east and west thus become the opportunity for new transitions capable of nullifying what is pre-established.

The airy Chinese statuettes of the 7th and 8th centuries and the spare elegance of Franca Schreiber‘s Japanese boxes are part of the same weave, of the never ending story which, through the beauty and magic of the form, is found in Paola Lenti’s objects.

Bruno Munari‘s works that accentuate the essential quality of the gesture, the simplicity of the object, are a synthesis of the beautiful and the useful in their functionality, offering and offering themselves to a geography of the imagination, which is an uninterrupted exchange between different skills and disciplines, in order to reveal a visual whole composed of vital fragments.

The master’s lesson that sees progress in simplification combined with aesthetics is what guides Paola Lenti’s imagination, turning it into line, form and colour.

Maria Morganti fills sedimented colour with the passing of time as though wanting to fix its indefinability in the concretion of the strata.

The fragments of constantly changing colour become the arrow of time, the evocation of a past that it is impossible to hold. Colours which, unlike the coloured fabrics created by Paola Lenti, aim to hide, to conceal, through a combination of opposites, as if to emphasize that any return is impossible.

Graziano Pompili‘s works recompose the past by gluing together fragments of terracotta and through his hard work on marble, as though wanting to overcome the irreversibility of time through the work of art.

Paolo De Poli‘s objects accentuate the artist-craftsman’s skilful gesture that is able to go beyond the confines into territories where the idea meets the concrete material, eliminating distance through the harmony of the beautiful.

Prominent Italian companies that participated with Paola Leni for the event “Beyond Colour”

Cleaf, surfaces for design
Davide Groppi, indoor and outdoor lighting
Oikos, colours and materials for sustainable architecture
Piscine Laghetto, pool and wellness
Square Garden, new living concept, the pleasure of light

They all share with Paola Lenti the taste for beauty and functionality, the interest for research and the selective choice of materials, the propensity to innovation intended as opportunity of growth and improvement.

About Paola Lenti

Based in Milan, Italy, Paola Lenti is best known for her unique line of furniture and rugs crafted from wool felt.

The company was founded in 1994 by Paola Lenti with headquarters in Italy’s leading furniture district Meda, Milan. Specializing in rugs and seating furniture for indoor and outdoor environments the Company is today a reference point for textile innovation in the design world.

The brand is synonymous with extensive research and development into materials and processes adopted for their originality, beauty and practicality.

The entrepreneurial development of Paola Lenti, was stimulated by a desire for excellence, which through coherent and dynamic experimentation, has led to the creation of collections that have changed the concept of rugs and sofa, in terms of materials, forms, production techniques, end uses.

Paola Lenti’s rugs and seating furniture are unique for their appearance and functionalities, because unique are the production and creative processes from which they originate.

Characterized by simple geometrical shapes and bright colors, the pieces are comfortable, informal, and adapt to a broad range of interiors.

The choice of special industrial materials is in tune with the search for simple but unprecedented solutions for living styles.

Along with practicality, aesthetic and chromatic aspects – Colour is at the heart of all Paola lenti’s collections.

The wool, cotton, felt and synthetic fibres used are available in hundreds of hues.

Expert workmanship , precise details and finishes and careful packaging are the added value of these unique and avante-garde furnishings. These sought-after materials are consumer-friendly: suitable for both winter and summer, soft, sensual, available in the latest fashion colours and easy to maintain. They are also resistant to fire and water.

Each peace attributes its originality to the innovative choice of materials. The key is choosing the highest quality yarns: for the traditional fabrics, this means siourcing the best craftsmen ormanufacturers in the world; for the new high-tech yarns, experimentation is crucial and may result in production techniques found from outside the standard processes familiar to the design world.

As far as the colour range is concerned, yarns and fabrics are always dyed exclusively for the company and in the colours created by Paola Lenti.

Production techniques include age-old traditional methods, craftsmanship as well as innovative technological methods, especially conceived to guarantee that each single product has unique aesthetics and functional qualities such as endurance, resistance and non-deformability