Profile in Style | Paola Petrobelli

By Sandra Ballentine October 4, 2012

Emma Hardy

“It’s so easy to go overboard when you’re working with glass,” says the London designer. “It’s a beautiful material that lends itself to organic shapes and lots of color. I try to restrain myself so the shape can be more interesting, and more disciplined.” But Petrobelli’s aesthetic restraint isn’t immediately evident in the stylish Notting Hill apartment she shares with her family. Unlike her spare, architectural glass work, the two-story Victorian flat is a mash-up of periods and styles; it brims with flea-market finds, family heirlooms and pieces inherited from friends’ attics. “My life is very mixed — I come from an old Venetian family, and I live in London,” she says. “I don’t like things that look new, but I don’t care for things that are crumbling down, either.” In other words, nothing too precious or premeditated. “Basically, I don’t want my house to look like I thought about it too much.” More…