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Photography by Dan Cutrona

Why These Naples Design Pros Love Furnishings that Curve

PDA Gallery's founders, Kelly and Mike Mahigel, highlight collectible pieces that counter sharp geometry with fluid form.

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Design Inspiration

In Naples’ dynamic design scene, the hunt for striking and unexpected pieces is never-ending. This month, Kelly and Mike Mahigel of PDA Gallery share their curated selection of curved furniture and décor, highlighting global finds that celebrate fluidity, soft edges and experimental forms. These objects transform spaces, balancing geometric structure with organic elegance and offering fresh inspiration for homes across Southwest Florida.

Arabesco Table by Carlo Mollino

When it was released in 1950, Carlo Mollino’s Arabesco pushed against the rational forms of midcentury modernism in favor of movement and asymmetry. Its undulating plywood base—veneered in natural oak and topped with glass—feels animated rather than engineered, drawing inspiration from the biomorphic sculptures of Jean Arp. With its kinetic form, the coffee table breaks the visual rules of its era and feels strikingly current. “It’s a 75-year-old table, but it looks like it could have been designed yesterday,” Mike says. Originally produced in a six-piece edition by Turin cabinetmakers Apelli & Varesio, Arabesco is now faithfully reissued by Zanotta as part of its Carlo Mollino collection. zanotta.com 

Slug Chair by R.A. Workshop

Rich Aybar’s material experiments meld fashion and contemporary furniture design. Part of the 2025 Rubberworks collection by the designer’s R.A. Workshop studio, the Slug Chair is intentionally non-architectural: no legs, no visible frame. Instead, the continuous curves and depressions—evoking molded seating in performance automotive and gaming chairs—are meant to absorb the sitter. Cast entirely in urethane rubber and finished in warm amber, the low, 2-foot-tall chair reads as visually soft but is physically massive, weighing 370 pounds. “The material play is incredible,” Mike says. “No one is doing anything close to this.” raworkshop.org

Arco Floor Lamp by Flos

Designed in 1962 by brothers and industrial designers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the streetlight-inspired Arco floor lamp presents the curve at its most rational. The brothers conceived the streetlight-inspired form to provide overhead lighting for a table, without the need for ceiling fixtures. Anchored by a solid Carrara marble base, the arched stainless-steel stem stretches about 7 feet, with a movable lamp head that can be angled and rotated to direct illumination. Part of the permanent collections of the Triennale museum in Milan and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Arco occupies a pivotal place in design history, redefining domestic lighting through engineering and wit. “It’s the iconic lamp,” Kelly says. flos.com

Amoeba Rug by Moooi Carpets

Sometimes art hangs not on the wall, but at our feet. “It’s a play on children’s marker drawings,” Mike says of the 8-by-12-foot Amoeba rug. Designed by Bertjan Pot for Moooi Carpets’ Magic Marker collection, the series translates Bertjan’s felt-tip pen sketches into saturated, printed textiles. The rug’s irregular outline and drifting color fields avoid symmetry or orientation, allowing the carpet to loosen the geometry of a room. Available in tufted polyamide or wool, the made-to-order piece brings postmodern spontaneity to any interior or exterior space. moooicarpets.com

 Patchwork Oval Hemisphere by Raphael Navot 

Paris-based designer Raphael Navot favors non-standardized processes and tactile materials that invite interpretation. Designed in 2011 for an exhibition at the Design Museum Holon, the Patchwork Oval Hemisphere is built from individually cut pieces of American walnut, assembled into a low, curved form. The surface appears continuous, but the seams are left visible, emphasizing its construction. Neither fully a furnishing nor sculpture, the crescent-shaped form resists a prescribed use, aligning with postmodernism’s refusal to prioritize function over expression. The ambiguity appeals to Kelly. “It could be a coffee table; it could be a dining table; it could be a bench. It’s just a beautiful piece,” she says. “It’s the essence of form over function.” raphaelnavot.com