Ali Milam from Porta Romana
Ali Milam is the Managing Director at Porta Romana, a Hampshire based company with an international reputation for making beautiful handcrafted decorative lighting and furniture for the interior design industry.
Founded in 1988 by Andrew and Sarah Hills, Porta Romana has continuously grown and evolved and produces lighting and furniture with a commitment to craftsmanship and collaboration with talented artisans from around the globe.
Porta Romana have supported the United in Design's internship program from it's inception in 2020
I interviewed Ali in February 2026 ahead of our 5-day cycle ride to raise funds for United in Design's outreach program.
In this episode we discover how Porta Romana got involved with United in Design's Internship program, the profound impact this partnership has had on both the interns and Porta Romana. The unexpected benefits and the importance of fostering connections within the design community, and why, if an idea sounds totally bonkers, it might just be worth getting involved with.
Links
Ali on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-milam-11725559/?originalSubdomain=uk
Porta Romana
https://www.portaromana.com
United in Design
https://www.unitedindesign.com
Clerkenwheels
https://www.clerkenwheels.com
Industry Publicity
https://www.industrypublicity.co.uk/
I want to thank the team from United In Design for supporting our ride, Sophie Ashby and Alex Dorley and behind the scenes, Eman Akbar, who's been working tirelessly to put things in place.
Julienne Webster from Industry Publicity, who's helping us with the marketing and PR of our initiative, and Tom Bourne from Select first, my co-rider for thinking up the idea, coming up with the name and keeping me motivated whilst I try to do my training.
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Thanks for listening. Bye for now.
