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.

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respectful design

New Montrose studio brings bespoke European design to Houston

Photo by Laurie Perez

Armazem.design is located in the historic Winlow Westheimer buildings.

Houston’s newest interior design showroom is a dazzling display of how historic preservation and swanky European design can slip into a harmonious dialogue that quietly dismisses the longstanding notion that contemporary furniture has no place within the oftentimes rigid constraints of a traditional home.

Tucked between The Upper Hand Salon and The Phoenix Pub in the historic Winlow Westheimer buildings, Armazem.design is a lifestyle design boutique carrying elevated European design and architectural solutions from century-old brands such as Arclinia, Lema, Barausse, Foscarini, Gaggeneau, and Sub-Zero Wolf.

The name Armazem pays homage to founder and principal Jon Fante’s Brazilian roots. Traditionally, armazems were community cornerstones — general stores where people not only shopped but also learned, connected, and built long-term relationships. Appropriate then, that Fante would choose to nestle himself between a salon and a pub, two businesses that are traditional archetypes for familiarity and community.

Armazem.design is set up like a bespoke home as opposed to a traditional contemporary design concept space. With everything from stately 1920s Victorians to cozy 1930s bungalows still in play in Montrose, setting up shop in a “Houston Browns” brick building from the 1930s — complete with original wide plank floors, exposed brick interior, and open rafter ceilings — allows clients to get a genuine feel for how the product lines work within the framework of these older homes.

Fante, who was born, raised, and educated as a civil engineer in Brazil, came to the States in 2006 to handle US operations for Florense. Fante retired from his position as CEO in 2017 to start Armazem.design in Chicago. The decision to expand to Houston is something that Fante says was a no-brainer, as Houston has been moving towards a more contemporary style overall.

“What we are trying to show here is that you don’t have to be in the extremes. You don’t have to be in the extremes of classic American design, which is beautiful, and what is also perceived here as European design, which is super contemporary, which is also beautiful,” Fante tells CultureMap. “There is a breadth of solutions in the inbetween.”

The buildout for Armazem.design takes clients on a journey through two kitchens, a living room, dining room, generously-appointed closet and dressing space, home office, and casual den space, all outfitted with wall units, complex storage solutions, and warm, comfortable furnishings. Formerly open spaces have been divided into distinct concepts using architectural partitions that can be designed for any space.

Every aspect of Armazem.design is custom made to order. The design may follow a more European school, but there are wooden elements and handmade objects that protect their environment from the contemporary curse of feeling cold, uninviting, or institutional. With lead times around three to four months, going bespoke here is as accessible as placing orders from mainstream retailers.

“While there is a focus on kitchens, there are a lot of different products that we bring,” says Fante. “We are a showroom that is focused on interior architectural applications for home. We have partners in doors, partitions, wall paneling, closets — there is a lot. We got this historical place in Montrose and we made it as a home. We want people to walk in and feel like they could live here. It’s very comprehensive.”

The owners of the building are currently working with the city to gain historical recognition, something that would mean a lot for the neighborhood, and to Fante.

“We were very lucky to find this space. We preserved every historical element in the showroom — you see these very rustic floors, these floors are almost 100 years old.” Fante discovered more of the historic “Houston Browns” brick during the renovation (the classic Houston brick has been out of production for decades), all hidden behind swathes of drywall. “We ripped that all out to expose the true character of the space,” Fante explains. “Of course we kept the brick.”

Fante shares that the decision to restore the building led to a phrase from an architect in their Chicago showroom that has remained their motto here in Montrose: “Let’s not bully the space, let’s respect it.” That’s a sentiment that the entire neighborhood can get behind.

Armazem.design is located at 1911 Westheimer Road and is open Monday through Friday from 9 am-5 pm.

Photo by Laurie Perez

Armazem.design is located in the historic Winlow Westheimer buildings.

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