Palena Studio

TheHouse

Our Belief

We do not make furniture.
We give permanent form to ideas
that have no right to exist;
Until They Do.

Our Vision

Palena Studio was built on a single conviction: that the objects we live with should be capable of stopping time. Not through decoration, but through presence. Not through excess, but through the precise removal of everything that does not need to be there.

We work at the intersection of architectural thinking and material honesty, drawing from Art Deco’s formal rigour, the organic geometry of the natural world, and the ancient craft traditions of Istanbul, where two continents have exchanged making knowledge for millennia. The result is a design language that is unmistakably our own: large in intention, restrained in gesture, and impossible to ignore.

A Palena work is released as an edition, a defined configuration of form, material and finish. Each piece within it is cast individually and finished by hand, so no two are ever quite alike. When an edition closes, we do not reopen it.

How We Work

Each commission begins as a spatial conversation. Before any form is sketched, we ask what kind of stillness a room is missing, and design toward that absence. The piece that emerges is not placed into a space. It completes one.

Production is entirely by hand, and entirely without compromise. Bronze is cast using lost-wax techniques unchanged since antiquity. Glass is blown by Murano masters. Fabric and leather are sourced from European mills of exceptional provenance. Stone is selected by hand for veining, not just variety.

We do not rush. Every surface is finished, reviewed, and finished again. The time this requires is not a constraint, it is the work itself.

Our Materials

Cast Bronze

Lost-wax cast and hand-finished in raw, brushed, oxidised, or mirror-polished patinas.

Murano Glass

Hand-blown on the island of Murano. Each piece unique in form and light diffusion.

Natural Stone

Calacatta, travertine, onyx, and basalt, selected by hand for veining and tone.

Fine Leathers

Full-grain hides in natural aniline, semi-aniline, and pigmented finishes.

Premium Fabrics

Bouclé, mohair, velvet, and linen sourced from mills of exceptional European standing.

Solid Hardwoods

American walnut, white oak, and ebonised ash, kiln-dried and finished in natural oils.

The Founders

Ben Aftab

Founder & Lead Designer

With nearly two decades across architectural design, three-dimensional visualisation, and material craft, Ben’s work is defined by a single question: what kind of silence does a room need? His designs begin there, and build backward from that stillness. His eye draws from Art Deco’s formal confidence, organic naturalism, and the material traditions of Anatolia.

Carter Balki

Co-Founder

Carter brings the structural and operational intelligence that allows Palena’s most ambitious ideas to become physical realities. His background spans material sourcing, production oversight, and the logistical precision that bespoke work at this level demands. Where Ben asks what a piece should feel like, Carter ensures it can exist.

Every great space begins with a conversation

Whether you are furnishing a private residence, a hospitality project, or seeking a single extraordinary piece, we would like to hear about your vision.

Begin a Conversation