Designer of the Week: Patricia Urquiola
Patricia Urquiola is one of my favorite designers working today. I especially appreciate her use of textiles in her furniture designs. Her lounge chair, Antibodi (see today’s Chair of the Day) comes directly to mind.
Urquiola lives and works in Milan. She has worked with top Italian furniture manufacturers such as Molteni, B&B Italia, and most especially, Moroso. Recently, her association with Moroso expanded to include a collaboration with Moss in New York.
Moss owners Murray Moss and Franklin Getchell have set aside 3,800 square feet of space dedicated to pieces designed by Urquiola for Moroso and fabrics from Maharam. Urquiola designed the installation herself. It will change seasonally. To read more about this joint venture, take a look at the cover article from this month’s issue of Interior Design.
Glove Chair for Molteni
Design Boom was lucky enough to interview Urquiola last March. They began their piece with this brief biography:
Patricia Urquiola was born in 1961 in Oviedo, Spain. She studied architecture in Madrid, later transferring to Italy where she earned her degree from the Milan Polytechnic in 1989 (with a thesis mentored by Achille Castiglioni).
From 1990 to 1992 she assisted in the courses held by Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli, both at the Milan Polytechnic and at the ENSCI, Paris. In 1991 she started working for the furniture company de Padova in Milan, heading the product development office, where she also designed her first furniture items (together with Vico Magistretti).
T-Table for Kartell
Between 1993 and 1996 she opened an associated studio with two friends, working on architecture, interiors, showrooms and restaurants. From 1996 to 2000 she became manager of the Lissoni Associati Design Group and in 2001 she opened her own studio in Milan, focusing on product design, displays and architecture. She became best known through her many pieces for Moroso.
Bloomy for Moroso
Patricia has won many design awards and spoke at conferences and seminars in various international universities. her recent work includes projects for Depadova, Moroso, Agape, B&B, Alessi, Driade, Foscarini, Kartell, Flos, Molteni, Artelano, and others.
To read the rest of the interview visit Design Boom here.
Shanghai Tip for Moroso
Patricia Urquiola is an important designer to know, first because of the obvious fact that her work is so innovative, second because she’s one of the very few successful female designers working today. I hope one day there will be more. How do you feel about this? Do you like her work? Do you think her gender matters?
2 Responses to “Designer of the Week: Patricia Urquiola”
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Posted by Jennifer at Design Hole on July 28th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
You’re absolutely right, it was a spelling error. So, I changed it (it’s at the bottom of the article). Thanks for the “heads up”.
I suppose that ‘no innovative’ is just a spelling mistake and you mean ‘so innovative’, because that is the truth. Urquiola is my favorite designer, too, and you can find more about her through the years on my blog. I am sure that it is her feminine touch that makes her designs so successful.