By design at BeDesign

Boutique Montrose furniture store celebrates exclusive partnership with premium Italian brand

While the “quiet luxury” aesthetic has reigned supreme in Houston for the last two summer seasons, the inevitable transatlantic migration of European influence has officially come to the Bayou City. An unmistakable continuity exists among the city’s newest and most posh patios — color! If the cherry red, lemon yellow, and acidic greens on full display around town make people thirsty for an Aperol spritz, it’s not only by design, it’s BeDesign.

Eponymous Italian furniture brand Paola Lenti, known for its colorful, elegantly low-slung collections, can be spotted upon the decks of the most well-appointed yachts and vistas throughout Europe. Globe-trotting Houstonians, who always like a little European flair, have embraced the brand with equal fervor.

Celebrating a partnership

It’s no small wonder why the fashion-forward proprietors of BeDesign, Adrian Dueñas and Marcelo Saenz, have dedicated the entire third floor of their luxurious Montrose furniture boutique to showcase the store's exclusive partnership with the prestigious indoor/outdoor brand. Moreover, they threw a party at BeDesign on Wednesday, March 6 to showcase the brand and the comprehensive renovations to their building.

Celebrating 25 years of collaboration with Paola Lenti, designer Francesco Rota and CEO Anna Lenti traveled from Italy to join BeDesign for the unveiling of the new Linea for Outdoor line as well as the store's display of their wares Moderated by the always stylish Patty Dominguez, vice president of design and architecture for Cosentino, the intimate, invite-only crowd gathered for a charismatic conversation on all things Paola Lenti.

"Through the unveiling of our extraordinary third floor, BeDesign brings to life its passion project – a rooftop paradise that envelops guests in the unmatched mastery of color and design by Paola Lenti," Dueñas said in a statement. "From a shared vision years ago, we have forged an interior design nirvana that sets a new standard. The Paola Lenti experience here is our realized dream: vibrant, sculptural, and simply unrivaled in sophistication. This rooftop oasis stands as the crowning achievement of our endeavors."

Paola Lenti Anna Lenti Francesco Rota Anna Lenti and Francesco Rota.Photo by Johnny Than

The secrets of Paola Lenti's success

Before the festivities began, Rota and Lenti sat down with CultureMap to discuss the brand’s design concept, manufacturing processes, and the question: Why has Paola Lenti found so much success in Houston?

When Francesco Rota met Paola Lenti 27 years ago, they took a look at industrial-grade felts, refining those to compressed felt textiles, and created what Francesco refers to as “flying carpets,” colorful floor coverings that became an immediate success. From selling carpets, they moved to three-dimensional furniture. Durable, yet soft, these pared-down new textiles have taken them on quite an adventure. Francesco’s creative process for designing new pieces is beautiful in its simplicity, as he explained.

“I go to the shows and the trades. I look at what everyone else is doing, and then I don’t do that,” he said.

Clearly a winning approach. The Linea chaise lounge is still as iconic twenty-five years later as it ever was, making way for Wave, which is the company’s companion outdoor piece.

As any creative will concede, to get a concept to become — well, anything — one needs an eye for business. Enter Anna Lenti. Sister to Paola, Anna makes sure the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed back at Paola Lenti’s headquarters near Milan.

Realizing in 2003 that the outdoor furniture market remained limited to traditional materials, the brand saw an opportunity to innovate. Anna and Francesco wax poetic on those early days, recalling how the only options for outdoor furniture were teak wood or stark, hard plastics. As it did by using industrial felts for indoor furniture, the brand took a look at existing, durable materials that could be retuned for outdoors with the retail market in mind; the answer: polypropylene.

The material takes well to dyes, is colorfast, and completely recyclable, meaning the brand was into sustainability long before it became a buzzword. Durability being key, we asked if Paola Lenti's outdoor line can withstand a climate as diverse and extreme as Houston’s. Francesco’s answer did not disappoint:

“We were pioneers. We investigated materials because we wanted a product to perform. So metal had to be a certain kind of steel, 316, which is nautical steel,” he said. “The textile needs to be of a material that resists UV rays, to salt, to traction. The fabric comes, in reality, from the boat world. In the sense that, if you think about a yarn that makes textile, a sailing rope makes our fabrics.”

Curious how the outdoor market has evolved in 25 years, Anna explained that what clients are looking for now is different than what they wanted in the '90s. Turns out, it took awhile to convince customers to spend as much as $15,000-$18,000 for an outdoor sofa and between $5,000-$8,000 for each outdoor armchair, which is what the pieces retail for at BeDesign.

“In the beginning, people were not ready to spend and invest this amount of money for the outdoors, because they weren’t used to having beautiful furniture outdoors,” she says. “Year-by-year the market completely changed because people spend so much more time outdoors. Now people want to have more continuity between their indoor and outdoor furniture.”

Paola Lenti in Houston

Two of Houston’s favorite design darlings, Nina Magon and Lucinda Loya, chose Paola Lenti for two of the city’s most talked about new projects — Cocody Restaurant in River Oaks and The Thompson Hotel, respectively. Both designers attended the BeDesign fête, saying, essentially, Paola Lenti is the best choice for ultra-premium outdoor furniture that holds up to Houston’s heat and humidity.

“Paola Lenti started from a thread, as passionate artisans, paying attention to the quality of materials: always looking for a point of contact, a special harmony between colors, signs, and shapes,” Magon said. “I fell in love with the colors and vibrancy of the brand ten years ago when I was introduced.”

Cocody Patio Find Paola Lenti at Cocody's patio.Photo by Mickael Zibi

$BeDesign Paola Lenti event Adrian Duen\u0303as - Nina Magon - Anna Lenti - Patty Dominguez - Francesco Rota$

Photo by Johnny Than

Adrian Dueñas, Nina Magon, Anna Lenti, Patty Dominguez, and Francesco Rota.

This author’s aunt, who has been known to spend a season or two taking up residence in The Raffles Hotel in Singapore, once stated that she “cannot afford to buy cheap.” Alternatively, the adage goes “If you buy it right, you buy it once.” Can’t argue with that.

beautiful furniture outdoors outdoor market evolution outdoor furniture market shopping interviews

on the trail

Celebrate spring's arrival at these 2 Houston garden tours

Courtesy of Bayou Bend

The tour includes Bayou Bend's impressive gardens.

The Azalea Trail, one of Houston’s most enduring seasonal traditions, returns this weekend. Once an annual event, the now biennial tour is a do-not-miss affair offering the opportunity for Houstonians to experience some of the best gardens and architecture the city has to offer — all before the Bayou City gets too balmy. Additionally, the newly opened Ismaili Center will offer complimentary tours of their nine acres of gardens in conjunction with the Azalea Trail.

Now in its 88th year, the River Oaks Garden Club’s Azalea Trail has long served as something of Houston’s unofficial kickoff to spring — that moment when azaleas, camellias, dogwoods, and early bulbs begin peaking across the city and residents head outdoors again. The event blends horticulture, history, architecture, and philanthropy into a weekend experience that consistently draws both dedicated gardeners and design-minded visitors from around the city and the region.

“Throughout the 88-year history of the Azalea Trail, select homeowners have generously offered an intimate look at their beautifully-curated private home gardens. In 2026, Azalea Trail goers will be able to tour four private home gardens featuring unique, breathtaking designs,” Emily Bolin and Hilary Purcel, chairs of this year’s River Oaks Garden Club Azalea Trail, tell CultureMap.

“Each location, which also includes Bayou Bend, Rienzi and the River Oaks Garden Club’s Forum, will offer an abundance of inspiration, including enticing planting combinations, creative concepts, emerging trends, and stunning floral displays. We hope to see everyone this weekend as we kick off the spring season in Houston.”

This year’s Trail runs March 6-8 and includes access to seven gardens for $35, spanning four private residential landscapes in the Tanglewood and close-in Memorial areas plus the aforementioned established cultural sites including Bayou Bend, Rienzi and the River Oaks Garden Club’s own Forum of Civics garden.

The private gardens — always a highlight — offer rare behind-the-gates access to curated residential landscapes showcasing planting combinations, emerging design ideas and seasonal floral displays that often influence Houston gardening trends. Meanwhile, the institutional stops provide historical context:

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens: a 1926 River Oaks estate, now stewarded by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and surrounded by formal gardens and natural woodland landscapes, including azaleas, camellias, redbuds, and seasonal bulb displays planted by Garden Club members. Also, it is their 60th anniversary this year (opened to the public on March 5, 1966).

Rienzi: a former River Oaks residence turned MFAH house museum, where formal European-inspired gardens meet native Texas plantings.

Forum of Civics: the Garden Club’s historic River Oaks area headquarters, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Importantly, Trail proceeds directly fund local beautification, conservation, and horticultural education efforts, including historic garden preservation and environmental programming across Houston.

Tour the Ismaili Center

Just minutes away, the newly opened Ismaili Center, Houston — already earning international architectural attention — will offer complimentary public tours on March 7 and 8 from 8 am to 4 pm. The Center’s landscape makes it a compelling add-on to an Azalea Trail itinerary.

Designed by Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects — also responsible for recent projects at Rice University, Rothko Chapel, and Memorial Park — the more than nine acres of gardens reinterpret historic Islamic garden traditions through a contemporary Texas lens.

The design incorporates terraced lawns, shaded promenades, water features, and resilient plantings arranged as a symbolic ecological “transect of Texas,” moving from desert species to prairie and Gulf Coast plant communities. The landscape also doubles as environmental infrastructure, engineered to withstand major storm events while creating a calm, civic sanctuary overlooking Buffalo Bayou Park. Visitors that weekend can choose:

Full architectural/property tours
Focused garden introductions
Self-guided QR-enabled exploration

Together, the Azalea Trail and the Ismaili Center present a compelling narrative about Houston’s garden culture — where historic private landscapes and philanthropic garden traditions intersect with a globally-influenced new civic landscape designed for reflection, dialogue and public access.

The Azalea Trail will offer a free shuttle service between Rienzi and Bayou Bend. The locations of the four private homes on the tour will be sent via email with ticket purchase confirmations — street parking is available at all private home locations. The event will take place rain or shine, so keep an umbrella handy this weekend.

Courtesy of Bayou Bend

The tour includes Bayou Bend's impressive gardens.