Being Palomba
Identity|April 2018

At the grand opening of Poltrona Frau Group ME’s stunning new Dubai showroom, Italian designer Roberto Palomba reveals the secret behind his success.

Joanne Molina
Being Palomba
Palomba’s name instantly evokes the ‘Made in Italy’ pride that has made him and his wife Ludovica coveted collaborators with the world’s top brands. His Milan-based firm, Palomba Serafini, boasts not only many awards – Compasso d’Oro, Red Dot Award, Design Plus Award, Product Innovation Award, German Design Award, Elle Decoration International Design Award – but also a collection of architectural projects that will stand the test of time.

Located on Jumeirah Road, the new Poltrona Frau Group ME showroom was curated by Giulio Cappellini. Its stunning two-storey form features precious materials such as stone and metal which reflect the shades of the local landscape, and it brings together Cappellini’s avant-garde products, Poltrona Frau’s excellent craftsmanship and Cassina’s contemporary and quality design.

Amidst the sleek, iconic furnishings, Palomba joined Cassina’s Art Director Patricia Urquiola.

Guests found themselves admiring and inquiring about Palomba’s Let It Be sofa, named after the classic Beatles tune. Like the showroom, it’s free of formal constraints and casually ignores the demands of convention to favour freedom of movement – a concept as ancient as it is contemporary.

The collaboration with Poltrona Frau highlights the designer’s commitment to Italian design history by embracing the time-honoured Italian concept of the Roman triclinium, which allowed for all of life’s moments to unfold as users reclined, dined, debated, discussed and daydreamed.

This story is from the April 2018 edition of Identity.

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This story is from the April 2018 edition of Identity.

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