Paola Colombari is the daughter of the oldest Antique-dealer dynasty of northern Italy. Paola co-founded her first gallery in 1981 in Turin with her sister, Rossella. For approximately 10 years, the gallery concentrated on the research of 20th-century design, actively participating in the development of modern collecting, with particular attention to the study and promotion of the famous architect from Turin, Carlo Mollino.

In 1989, the Colombari sisters opened their first gallery in Milan and divided it into two branches: the Gallery of Contemporary Art and Avant-garde Design, curated by Paola Colombari, and the mid-Century Design Gallery, curated by Rossella Colombari.

At this juncture, Paola Colombari, an innovative and multi-disciplinary figure, decided to branch away from her long experience with mid-century design and veer toward the experimentation of new postmodernist trends with the foundation in 1991 of the brand Edizioni Galleria Colombari dedicated to the production of furniture designed by important Italian and international designers such as Karim Rashid, Antonio Cagianelli, David Palterer, Garouste & Bonetti, Yaacov Kaufman, Pawel Grunert, Riccardo Dalisi, Luca Sacchetti, and Joanna Lyle, and has also collaborated with historical designers such as Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, Andrea Branzi, Mario Bellini, Bob Wilson, and Ron Arad.

In 1994, the gallery began the production of the series Homage to Carlo Mollino, with the reproduction of seminal pieces of the architect's ouevre. In 1990, collaborations with important international galleries and museums were also launched (including the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Montréal, Canada-Kunster Kolonie Museum, Darmstadt, Germany-Museum of Gentand Oostende, Belgium-Kulturring Stadt Gallerie, Sundern-Museum of Contemporary Art, Castle of Warsaw, Poland). Colombari also organized exhibitions dedicated to the work of Carlo Mollino for the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, such as the Paris exhibition in 2000, and then in Amsterdam and Brussels in 2001.

Parallel to this, in 2003, Paola Colombari opened the gallery's Contemporary Art sector, dealing with both Italian and international artists, with a particular attention to the work of the artists, Maïmouna Patrizia Guerresi, Andrea De Carvalho, Bogdar Vladuta, and Matteo Peretti. In 2007, the gallery opened its doors to the Indian art world, working with emerging artists such as Rachana Nagarkar, as well as established artists such as Suboth Gupta.

As a strong supporter of the new economy of the Euro-Asian markets, in 2009, Colombari also established collaborations with Iranian artists and the Iraqi artists. The gallery participates in some of the most important international art fairs such as Pavilion Art & Design London, MiArt fair, Arte Fiera Bologna, Milan Image Art Fair (MIA) , Design Days Dubai, Milan Furniture Fair.