Paola Navone's Nomadic Table

Imperfect, deconstructed, convivial, multicultural, artisanal – and at the same time joyful, playful and ironic.
These are the eight nomadic tables conceived by Paola Navone, a multifaceted architect and designer who, this year, takes centre stage in the cultural exhibition of the Mercatino del Gusto – now in its 26th edition – once again devoted to exploring the culture of food and design.
Thanks to this now well-established initiative – organised in collaboration with the Mercatino del Gusto Association, the Presidency of the Regional Council of Puglia, and the Polo Biblio Museale (Library and Museum Centre) of Puglia – an annual partnership that continues to explore the theme of “food and design” so central to everyday life – the exhibition is being hosted for the fourth consecutive year in the institutional spaces of the Civic Museum of Palaeontology and Palethnology of Maglie. Its aim is to illustrate for visitors the strong connection between the evolution of ancient forms of social interaction, as documented within the museum, and the expression of those habits in our contemporary way of life.
Eight exhibition areas, each one distilling ideas of functionality and memory while amplifying conviviality and social interaction, allow Paola Navone – Otto Studio – to leave her creative mark across a variety of stylistic languages and user needs. The sequence of tables on display reveals her ability to adapt to personal aesthetic codes inspired by the many places she has explored and drawn inspiration from – thanks to her characteristically versatile and dynamic design approach.
And let’s not forget that Otto, the name of her studio, is a special number – a “magical” one. It’s the atomic number of oxygen, the element that makes life possible. There are eight planets in our solar system, and eight directions on the compass rose. And it’s no coincidence that its graphic form, when rotated 90 degrees, becomes the symbol of infinity – a number we like to think of as a metaphor for dialogue and connection between East and West, expressed through a shared culture of food and design.
Eight tables, then, tell the story of Paola Navone’s Nomadic Table through a series of distinct installations: from the Blue area to the Painting Atelier area, Pop area, Metal Baroque area, White Shape area, Fish area, Folk area, and finally concluding with the Picnic area.