The Best Design Discoveries | All in La Famiglia | Ready to Be Seated
The Best Design Discoveries
A concrete base meets a sculpted, transparent resin disc in the Golia stool by Draga & Aurel.
All in La Famiglia
Paola Lenti
FOUNDER Paola Lenti
FAMILY TREE Lenti worked in fashion art direction and graphic design before founding her own brand. Her sister, Anna, previously an engineer in the aerospace industry, joined the company as managing director and CEO in 2000.
SIGNATURE STYLE A passion for colors, textiles, and recycled materials. The result is modular sofas, chaises, rugs, and chairs in organic forms that can multitask from living rooms to patios. (The actress Salma Hayek, for one, is a fan of the Float and Frame chairs in dark purple.) The brand also employs proprietary, patented materials, like Rope, a high-tech yarn that is 100 percent recyclable and resilient; it has been used in outdoor pieces for the W Dubai-The Palm hotel, as well as on yachts and the MV Esmeralda cruise ship.
NEWS In the past year, Lenti has embarked on collaborations with the American architects David Rockwell and Rene Gonzalez; a third endeavor, with architect Bryan Young, is forthcoming. And earlier in 2021, she soft-opened her first flagship store in Los Angeles.
Baxter
FOUNDERS Luigi Bestetti and his nephew Paolo.
SIGNATURE STYLE Small-batch, Italian tanned leather that is pleated, folded, printed, and polished in a broad palette to express a modern sensibility. Working with a select group of designers, including Paola Navone, Piero Lissoni, Studio Pepe, Vincenzo De Cotiis, and Draga & Aurel, Baxter reinterprets and reapplies natural materials to of-the-moment furniture forms. Accompanying pieces include tables, bookcases, and carts in marble, concrete, wood, metals, and stone. NEWS The company continues to expand its global identity, which includes supplying luxurious furnishings for hospitality projects from Tel Aviv to Dubai; among its past endeavors are the Lissoni-designed Ritz-Carlton Residences in Miami, for which Baxter furnished a sleek unit, and the Wild Hotel in Mykonos, which features outdoor pieces in cane, copper, and leather by Navone. The brand will debut new furniture
collections in September.
PHILOSOPHY “The beauty of Baxter’s leather is born from the craftsman’s hands,” Paolo Bestetti says.
Ready to Be Seated
Designers Suzanne Rheinstein and Chanae Richards take on the season’s hottest outdoor sofas.
Oasi by Paola Lenti
SR: A great sofa for lolling and lounging.
CR: I appreciate the flexibility both with the configuration and armrest inclination.
169 w. X 90d. X 29h.
