Why Maison & Objet Designer of the Year Raphael Navot believes in creating feel-good spaces

The Paris-based designer opens up about working with David Lynch, his love for natural materials and the importance of craft traditions

Raphael Navot is an advocate of a “natural future”. The Paris-based designer defends the idea of natural materials as they form a patina over time, age well, and have longer lifespans. Surrounding himself with a team of craftspeople, they work together to respect the essence and push the limits of materials.

He explains: “When a material has a natural or handmade motif, I intuitively relate to it. The natural world is incredibly rich and has surpassed any imagined design possible. It’s a great source of knowledge for me. Another source is the artisans themselves as they are the closest to the material and the accumulated knowledge. The reason why I am so involved in the making of the pieces is to benefit from these encounters and to learn about the limits and advantages of each craft.”

Navot, who has been named the Designer of the Year at the upcoming Maison & Objet fair held from January 19 to 23 in Paris, is known for celebrating such time-tested craft techniques, and the use of natural materials to create soothing spaces that tease the senses.

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Above Entwined is a limited-edition series of eight sofas produced for New York art and design gallery Friedman Benda

Above The Knots bench was created in collaboration with Oscar Ono, which specialises in wood marquetry

A recent example is Le 39V, a rooftop restaurant in Paris. Navot incorporated a blue-and-grey colour palette, circular textile-padded walls and ceilings in cocooning spaces with sinks sculpted from granite, and its end-grain parquet flooring carved like butcher’s blocks.

Navot’s breakthrough design for the Hôtel National des Arts et Métiers in Paris was also a journey to the heart of the material. The hotel’s restaurant walls are covered in oxidised copper tubes, while the entrance hall features massive hand-carved, fluted limestone columns; the property is also furnished with a burnt wood bar counter and a basement staircase sculpted from solid grey marble. “Natural materials and traditional craft are always present and often bespoke for each project, and with certain attributes of organic forms,” says Navot of his creative language.

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Above Le 39V, a rooftop restaurant in Paris with interiors by Navot

Above The facade of Le 39V

Above A private dining room inside the rooftop restaurant Le 39V in Paris

Above Natural materials were used throughout the project including oxidised copper tubes, fluted limestone columns, a burnt wood bar counter and a basement staircase sculpted from solid grey marble

Born in Jerusalem in 1977, Navot graduated with a degree in conceptual design from Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands in 2003 before setting up his own design and interior architecture studio in Paris. His first major project was the creative direction and interior design of American filmmaker David Lynch’s Parisian members-only nightclub Silencio in 2011, where he covered the walls in gold and copper leaf.

The project garnered him international acclaim. Recalls Navot: “It was a rather exceptional collaboration as a major part of my task was to translate verbal ideas and moods into shapes, materiality and feasible items that can actually function. Lynch has managed to reside in this imaginative world with incredibly sharp intuition with regard to beauty in its most bare or raw form.”

Above Gold and copper leaf were applied to the walls inside Silencio

Above Silencio members-only club in Paris

France has long fascinated him for having perpetuated a wide variety of ancient skills at reputed workshops such as Veronese, Sèvres Manufacture or the de Coubertin foundry working in moulded glass, ceramics or metal. “Living in France is a conscious decision I made almost two decades ago, exactly because the history of the decorative arts is still very much alive and in need of updated design content,” he shares. “The different types of preserved know-how are mind-blowing and have been a real guide for my creative evolution. On each project, I get to learn a new type of craft that will often manifest itself in the next one.”

Creating spaces, furniture and objects in collaboration with cabinetmakers, blacksmiths and upholsterers whose spirit and skills are reflected in each creation, Navot’s organic approach and landscape-evoking shapes are modelled by expert hands and have won over a diverse clientele including Alessi, Cappellini, Roche Bobois, Domeau & Pérès and Loro Piana. Recent hospitality projects in France include a library and art gallery at Domaine des Etangs in Charente, and the Hôtel Belle Plage in Cannes; the latter is a masterpiece of marble, solid wood and sculpted plaster that succeeds in channelling the calm and relaxation of the French Riviera.

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Above Hotel Belle Plage in Cannes

Located near Notre Dame Cathedral, Navot’s next Parisian hotel, Dame des Arts, is scheduled to open this February. The interior inspiration is a celebration of the Latin Quarter’s historical artistic culture and highlights an ample use of wood, porcelain, bamboo and glass. “I’m focusing on hospitality, which is open to the public,” he points out. “It could be a hotel, a restaurant, or a gallery; as long as it is a place where people can come together and have a shared experience. I avoid working on retail and private residences, as I find myself more limited to the decorative element rather than telling a story. I learnt that when there is a true context to the location of the project, the concept flows naturally and I am enriched by the history [of the place].”

Searching for visual and physical comfort as much as mental comfort, Navot believes that an object that relaxes your body will also relax your mind. To him, interior design is about striking a balance between materials, colours, spatial composition and textures, and creating a space in which people feel good.

Above A waterfront view from the Hotel Belle Plage in Cannes

“I put the guest at the centre of my work,” he notes. “The one who will experience the scenography is the most valuable person in the project. I try to assert comfort and natural flow, and hopefully ease both body and mind in a welcoming surrounding. We may find comfort in a texture or a colour, and this may give us a clue of what we miss or what we wish to enhance in our lives. I try to keep it simple—if people have a good time in a place I designed, then I am satisfied.”

In his process of form-giving, Navot refrains from prioritising functionality over expression; instead, they are intertwined. His concept of modernity is to conceive a durable project that could have existed 50 years ago, and which will still be relevant 50 years from now.

Photo 1 of 3 The Palm stools for Loro Piana Interiors feature earthy hues that draw inspiration from the natural world

Photo 2 of 3 Navot’s Palm collection for Loro Piana Interiors is dressed in plush fabrics from the storied Italian house

Photo 3 of 3 Lampscape Coastal, a cast bronze lamp manufactured by Ateliers Saint Jacques and available at Les Ateliers Courbet

“I often opt to achieve an experience that is somewhat timeless,” he says. “Timelessness for me is a non-decorative quality that does not refer to trends or certain motives that are associated with a specific period. I often think that good interiors seem as if they have always been there.”

Above Designs envisioned by Navot for Domaine des Etangs’ library and art gallery in Charente

Above Domaine des Etangs

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Why Maison & Objet Designer of the Year Raphael Navot believes in creating feel-good spaces