Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.\u201cWe\u2019re not allowed to call it an office,\u201d Raphael Navot smiles as he looks around the Paris headquarters of his eponymous design studio: a courtyard apartment in the right-bank quartier of Montorgueil. The 48-year-old Israeli designer moved in last year having previously worked from home, giving life to the skylit space via warm, tactile materials that segue from a dark, mottled granite floor to honey-coloured shelves of triple-layered oak, oxidised to a smoky shade.\u00a0It\u2019s a supremely stylish hotbed of creativity. There are maquettes and material samples on every surface, traces of\u00a0an impressive output ranging from collaborations with brands such as Cappellini, Loro Piana and Roche Bobois, to designs for the interiors of Paris\u2019s H\u00f4tel National des Arts et M\u00e9tiers. Navot was awarded Maison&Objet Designer of the Year in 2023, and yet his full-time team consists only of himself and his assistant, Fanny Flamion. \u201cWe\u2019re like two octopuses doing everything,\u201d he says of their working partnership. \u201cAnd the studio is very new, but it\u2019s also very home-like: there\u2019s a kitchen, there\u2019s a bedroom and there\u2019s a bathroom. It\u2019s not about an aesthetic so much as about use and mood.\u201d\u00a0David Lynch found my work too elegantNavot set up his practice in 2003, but first made waves in 2011 with Club Silencio \u2013 the underground Paris hotspot he created with the late American film director, visual artist and musician David Lynch, which is named after the club in his film Mulholland Drive. They were brought together for the project by club owner Arnaud Frisch. Navot took his lead for the interior design from\u00a0the cult director\u2019s scenography and concept. \u201cI used to go back and forth to his home in Hollywood, which was an amazing house by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr,\u201d he recalls. \u201cFor me it was an interesting process, but it wasn\u2019t always smooth, and at the beginning he really didn\u2019t like my work because he found it too elegant. He\u00a0would really say that as an insult!\u201d\u00a0Despite their differences, he and Lynch\u00a0found their shared vision in a sexy, sleek\u00a0and surreal aesthetic with retro-futurist furniture that was, says Navot, \u201cpurposefully uncomfortable\u201d. He adds: \u201cI wanted people to sit at the edge of the\u00a0seat, to engage.\u201d The project set a\u00a0precedent for Navot\u2019s burgeoning practice, with its use of natural materials and craftsmanship. \u201cWe used crafts like\u00a0gilding and very complicated brasswork, which aren\u2019t very common for an\u00a0underground club.\u201d\u00a0Navot\u2019s earliest influences were shaped by his upbringing in Jerusalem. \u201cMy dad was creative but not in the profession \u2013 he built our furniture, like my bed and my cupboards,\u201d he recalls. But it was the Shrine of the Book at The Israel Museum \u2013 \u201ca place where they keep the holy scrolls and is designed in\u00a0this very beautiful white organic shape\u201d \u2013 and the Henry Moore sculptures within the museum garden that really inspired his path. \u201cI\u00a0thought I was going to study architecture, but I got turned off by the responsibility,\u201d he\u00a0says. \u201cSo I chose design.\u201d\u00a0He headed to the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands to study in 1999. \u201cI come from Israel, a very contrasted and complex country with a lot of very strong opinions and battles,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t really know where you are or where you want to go, you need neutral ground to grow. The Netherlands was perfect for me.\u201d On graduation, the French approach to craftsmanship lured Navot to Paris \u2013 and it is these practices that have come to define his work. He refers to himself as a \u201cnon-industrial designer\u201d, a term he uses to underline his focus on the handmade over the mass-produced. He cites the H\u00f4tel National des Arts et M\u00e9tiers as a typical example, a project completed in\u00a02017 where he worked with 30 artisans including \u201ctwo elderly gentlemen, already drawing their pensions, who have a little factory that does woodwork. They needed a year to make 70 tables because it was a lot for them,\u201d he smiles. A new Paris hotel with the same artisan focus is currently in the works.It took time to stop apologising for being interested in beautyNavot is also working on the Six Senses Quexigal Palace, a resort in the 16th-century country house of Spanish King Felipe II in the\u00a0medieval city of \u00c1vila, which is expected to open at the end of 2026. Working with Madrid-based architects Arvo Arquitectura on a heritage renovation has been rewarding for Navot. \u201cWe have very similar values,\u201d he\u00a0says of the project. \u201cIt\u2019s ecological and sustainable in a way that it celebrates local materials. It\u2019s barefoot luxury.\u201d This is mirrored in his own designs, which include lights and sculptures incorporating original wine and olive oil vessels from the estate. Yee Pin Tan, head of design at Six Senses, has enjoyed being surprised by Navot\u2019s original approach. \u201cRaphael\u2019s designs are tactile, fluid and undeniably sexy but never predictable,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s always an unexpected twist that makes his work truly unforgettable.\u201d\u00a0For Marc Benda, co-owner of Friedman Benda Gallery in New York and Los Angeles, it is \u201cthe simplicity with which Raphael can convey very complex thought processes\u201d that draws him to Navot\u2019s work. They have worked together for the past seven years, showing standout pieces of collectable design: amongst them the sinuous, swooping oak Whale Armchair (2024); the bronze Clast (Stream) sculpture-coffee table (2022); and\u00a0the curvacious velvet and bronze Entwined sofa (2022). \u201cHis seating is simply outstanding,\u201d Benda says. When he joined the gallery, Navot was unsure of his place within Benda\u2019s roster of cutting-edge designers when he joined the gallery. \u201cI thought, \u2018I\u2019m the pretty stupid one\u00a0of the class,\u2019\u201d he remembers. \u201cI couldn\u2019t really relate to what was happening in contemporary design and art, and considered myself a bit backwards. It took time to stop apologising for being interested in beauty.\u201d\u00a0Today all Navot\u2019s projects bear his signature \u2013 one that harks back to his early\u00a0experiences of Henry Moore sculptures, which can be seen in the organic-shaped sofas and stools for Loro Piana Int\u00e9rieur (an extension of which is\u00a0being launched this summer) and the recent New Moon 260 sofa with Ateliers Jouffre, upholstered in a slubby, slate-coloured wool fabric by Pierre Frey. He\u2019s recently added new landscape-inspired designs to his collaboration with French rug maker Diurne and a tableware collection with Belgian homeware brand Serax \u2013 a project with his \u201ccollective of\u00a0friends\u201d, restaurateur Julien Cohen and\u00a0creative director Stephanie Cohen, which they call Uncharted.\u00a0The latter, he says, is a \u201cmore democratic\u201d counterpoint to the five-star hotels and high-end design furniture he is\u00a0known for. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter if it\u2019s\u00a0clay or if it\u2019s bohemian glass, it\u2019s always an interesting challenge for me,\u201d he says. In\u00a0his studio, he often works with clay to\u00a0get his\u00a0creative juices flowing.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll\u00a0do really normal things like cups,\u00a0which are\u00a0such a\u00a0relief because most of my\u00a0work is so sensational. It really calms\u00a0me down.\u201dIt\u2019s important to Navot that his designs are felt as well as seen. \u201cWhether you\u2019re coming to a hotel or a bar, to a spa or to your bed, [the experience] should be remarkable without being overwhelming,\u201d he says. \u201cIt needs to be something that you haven\u2019t seen, yet feels familiar.\u201d Whether it\u2019s one of his spaces or a piece of his furniture, \u201cyour body has to say, \u2018Yeah, I get that.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.\u201cWe\u2019re not allowed to call it an office,\u201d Raphael Navot smiles as he looks around the Paris headquarters of his eponymous design studio: a courtyard apartment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-305074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305076,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305074\/revisions\/305076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}