Bethan Watson

Porta Romana began life in 1988 in a tiny London workshop. From the beginning, the ambition was to create beautiful and inspiring pieces that would be loved. Good fortune came in finding skilled British craftspeople to create the quirky and original designs. The Porta Romana style and design language has continuously evolved over the following quarter century to create a leading global brand, and a critical ingredient in the world’s most beautiful houses, yachts, hotels and movie sets. We still work with many of our original artisans, and continue to seek out the finest artistic talent, to help breathe fresh life into our collections. Our design studio is a creative power-house, and our painting studio a wonderful and innovative environment. We spend years training our artists to create subtle and sophisticated patinations. Gold is not just gold to us, we have developed dozens of different textures and colourings of this most enduring of metals. With each new collection comes the challenge of creating new finishes. From convincingly aged plaster, to perfecting the patina of a mussel shell, each new finish must work in harmony with the design. We impose the same demanding ambitions on our design partners. Our glass blowers are pushed to attempt stunning, original and technically challenging pieces. Our metal workers strive endlessly to come up with solutions to the many design problems we present them, and work to exacting standards; resuscitating old techniques and developing new ones. From sculptors to ceramicists, from lacquering to glazing, every expert hand and eye is focused on the crafting of something beautiful and enduring. That is our passion, and the hallmark of each unique Porta Romana piece. The Porta Romana brand has become synonymous with beautiful design made to the highest of standards. Only when these criteria are met, will the final piece be branded with our Makers Mark, as proof of its heritage.