Paola Navone Gives the Classic Lampshade a Quietly Playful Twist

Decoranytime

Paola Navone has never shied away from reinterpreting the familiar. In her latest collaboration with Contardi under OTTO Studio, she turns her attention to one of the most quintessential forms in lighting: the classic lampshade. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Navone embraces the silhouette we all recognize and reimagines it as HAT, an entire collection of table, floor, and pendant lamps that blend 1950s inspiration with contemporary materiality.

The shape of the shade is familiar and comforting, but when paired with the distinctive rope detail, the lamps feels fresh, almost delightfully contradictory. “Our desire was to create a versatile object that could fit harmoniously into any context without losing character,” shares Domenico Diego of OTTO Studio. “We wanted a design that was both ordinary and extraordinary, combining simplicity and sophistication with a playful touch.”

The distinctive feature across all three designs is the creative use of rope. For both the floor and table lamps, the rope forms the sculptural bases. On the pendant lamps, the rope takes on a subtler but equally important role. The rope suspending each shade ends in a neat knot at the base, a small but striking gesture that feels spontaneous yet deliberate. It adds a tactile punctuation mark to the clean-lined form, reinforcing the collection’s ability to surprise through restraint.

Available in white cotton or lightweight Tyvek, the shades offer a soft, diffused glow that enhances the collection’s quiet charm. Paired with rope in natural gray or a more playful red, the contrast between materials creates a quiet tension: lightness against weight, structure against softness. This textural dialogue gives the lamps a subtle presence – at once timeless and modern, understated yet full of character.