In a world like the one of industrial design, long time dominated by men, we would like to tell the voices of women. Four female designers will accompany us during this March, and we will discover together the “everyday aesthetics” arisen by female creativity.  

The first voice belongs to Patricia Urquiola, one of the most courted women of international design.

My professional career began in Italy, influenced by towering figures such as Bruno Munari, the intellectual founding father of the Milan school. However, I consider myself very much a Spaniard, or rather an Asturian of Basque descent.

Spanish by birth but Milanese by adoption, Patricia has collaborated with the most famous maisons on the international scene; among these, Alessi, B & B Italy, Bisazza, BMW, Bosa, De Padova, De Vecchi, Driade, Emu, Salvatore Ferragamo, Flos, Foscarini, Gallotti & Radice, Gandia Blasco, Glas Italy, Kartell, Kettal, MDF Italy, Molteni, Moroso, Mutina, Panasonic, Paola Lenti.

Patricia’s work has earned numerous international awards during her career (International Design Yearbook, IMM Cologne, Good Design Awards of the University of Chicago, Red Dot Award, Elle Decoration International Awards), and some of her creations are on display in the permanent collections of the MoMA in New York and in other museums.

Among others, Patricia won the Wallpapaper Design Awards 2011 in the category Best Chair with Comback armchair by Kartell: it’s a revisitation of a classic inspired by Windsor style (do you remember the chairs gracing the verandas of colonial homes?), thanks to an original mix of plastic and wood.

Redondo, instead, designed for Moroso in 2010, is one of the bestsellers of the brand. Urquiola has created a revolutionary product, born from the combination of two volumes. Precious, soft and elegant, the Redondo sofa evokes the bodywork of the American cars of the 50s.

Redondo sofa Moroso

Born in Oviedo, Asturias, in 1961, Patricia lives and works in Milan, where she moved to finish her studies in architecture started at the Polytechnic of Madrid. She graduated in 1989 with Achille Castiglioni, among the most famous Italian designers of the postwar period.

Her training does not come to an end with graduation, but is enriched by the encounter with Maddalena De Padova and Vico Magistretti, with which she signs the products "Flower", "Loom Sofa" and "Chaise Longue", the collaboration with Piero Lissoni (1996- 2000), and especially the working and personal partnership with Patrizia Moroso (1998): the bussiness-woman home near the woods around Udine is in fact the result of friendship with the Spanish designer.

In 1991 she opened her own studio in Milan, working on furniture, interiors, outfittings and buildings: a real example of integrated architecture. Patricia has designed the interiors for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona, the W Resort & Spa in Vieques (Puerto Rico), the stores of haute couture shoes of Gianvito Rossi, the showroom of Flos and Moroso in London and also the concept for Pitti Immagine in Florence.

In this whirlwind of creativity that crosses the scales, Patricia draws her inspiration from everyday life: books, travel, art - the everyday life made of small things is imprinted in the emotional sphere. 

For example, the collection Caboche for Foscarini, an icon of lighting design, is the result of observing a pearl bracelet. Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto have thus created a precious lamp, light, and innovative, thanks to its polymethylmethacrylate spheres and to its unique structure. The spheres spread the light, becoming themselves light source: beauty, elegance, and majesty are the hallmarks of this must by Foscarini.

 

Patricia is also attracted by the past: not only in Comback, but also in Bohemian for Moroso. Bohemian is a reinterpretation of the past in a modern way: liquid shapes that seem to create soft and comforting lines, with the originality that distinguishes the work of Patricia.

Patricia Urquiola was also an ambassador for the WE-Women for EXPO 2015, along with other high-profile figures of literature, science, business, art, politics and communication. And about the importance of the female alliance she says:

Alliance between women is crucial at all levels. I think we are still lacking a bit of space in politics and economics. It’s a bit of a minority-majority situation because in other fields, such as information or education, we have reached levels of equality that are more than adequate.”

In 2015, Patricia Urquiola was nominated Art Director of Cassina, starting a happy collaboration that further enriched the company. Many projects have been realized in recent years: the renewal of the historic New York Midtown Showroom and a series of innovative products such as the 550 Beam and the 551 Super Beam seating systems, the Floe Insel sofa and the 570 Gender armchair that received the Elle Deco Design Award.

 

Discover the design signed by Patricia Urquiola on Mohd.

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