Patricia Urquiola: a breath of poetry in contemporary design

Patricia Urquiola is a familiar name to lovers of contemporary design. This 61-year-old Spanish architect and designer has an exemplary career and a CV full of collaborations with the greatest contemporary furniture publishers: Alessi, Antares-Flos, Artelano, Boffi, Cappellini, Cassina, Kartell, B&B, etc. As proof of his fame, his creations are part of the permanent collections of MoMA. In 2013, I had the opportunity to visit in Lyon the beautiful exhibition dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Italian company Moroso, entitled: sguardo laterale. Moroso, a search between decorative arts and design. I discovered the intense collaboration between the Iberian designer and the Italian publisher. This post looks back at Patricia Urquiola’s outstanding creations, and in particular her fertile collaboration with Moroso.

Patricia Urquiola was born in 1961 in Oviedo, Spain. She studied architecture at the Faculty of Madrid, then moved to Milan where she turned to design. She studied at the Polytechnic of Milan. Unusually, she had the privilege of defending her thesis under the supervision ofAchille Castiglioni, considered one of the greatest Italian designers of the 20th century. In an interview for the publisher Flos, Patricia Urquiola explains: ” Castiglioni taught me the importance of design at a time when I still believed that architecture was a higher art – and the pleasure of imagining objects. The irony, the fun, the fact that you don’t take yourself too seriously even if you take what you do very seriously.”

In the early 1990s, Patricia Uquiola began her career as a development manager for the Italian publisher De Padova. This extraordinary opportunity brought her into contact with another great Italian design personality: Vico Magistretti. With him, she published her^first object, the Flower chair.

Spotted for her talent, Patricia Urquiola was appointed director of the design department of Piero Lissoni’s famous Lissoni Associati agency in 1996, which enabled her to work on projects with the leading Italian furniture manufacturers. At the same time, she continued her career as a freelance designer and signed products for B&B, Bosa, De Vecchi, Fasem, Kartell, Liv’it, MDF, Molteni & C., Moroso and Tronconi.

In 2001, Patricia Urquiola asserted her independence and created her own design studio. Her reputation grew, she continued to work for major houses and in 2003 she was named best designer of the year by Elle Déco magazine; in 2005, she was awarded this title by the famous decorating press magazine Wallpaper.

How to define Patricia Urquiola’s style? A mixture of gentleness and exuberance, a concern for ornamentation, a great sense of poetry that makes her choose organic forms, all combined with refinement and sensuality. This is true of her superb chaise longue and the armchairs in the Antibodi series for Moroso. It can also be said that she combines the best of artisanal techniques, such as weaving, with industrial production.

Patricia Urquiola has worked extensively with organic style, revisiting elements of nature that she incorporates into her furniture pieces with always a poetic note. In 2013, for example, she created the Foliage collection for Kartell, a range including a 2-seater sofa and an armchair with a natural and poetic spirit. These are very comfortable seats, decorated with stitching in leaf motifs. At the base of the seats, a lacquered metal structure reminiscent of a branch.

Like some great design talents, Patricia Urquiola knows how to navigate all styles. And this is perhaps one of her greatest strengths: open to the world, she has the ability to move from one universe to another, mixing influences. So what do the fantastic woven garden armchair Crinoline (at B&B Italia) and the famous Comback chair for Kartell have in common? Not much, except for their creator’s insolent talent for designing unique pieces!

At ease with composing with very different styles, Patricia Urquiola is also capable of designing objects other than furniture. She has collaborated with Foscarini and Flos to design classy lighting fixtures, and for Kartell, she designed the Jellies Family tableware collection.

Patricia Urquiola has a great creative sense and is a reliable name in contemporary design. The pieces she has designed have become “must-haves” for anyone wishing to bring modern, cheerful and often warm design into their homes. Since September 2015, she has been the artistic director of the Italian publisher Cassina.

François Boutard