Designer Patricia Urquiola mixes innovation with emotion
Patricia Urquiola is a designerspectacularly coming of age. The Spanish designer, whose creations have won her several awards and gained a place in the permanent collection of New York's MoMA, defines her work in deceptively simple terms. "What I create," she says, "is tools for living". Now at the helm of a studio of more than 35 creatives, she is skilfully affirming her place as a leader of modern design.
Urquiola is a master of holistic objects that are equal parts innovation and emotion. They are not merely tools for life, they are, as she points out, tools for living. They fulfil an expanded sense of life, they meet users' fundamental needs yet also engage their aesthetic and emotional sensibilities. She certainly has an impressive portfolio, having designed for the world's biggest companies, including Alessi, B&B Italia, Bisazza, BMW, Il Coccio, Salvatore Ferragamo, Flos, Glas Italia, Kartell, Maurice Lacroix, Paola Lenti, Rosenthal and Champagne Ruinart. She also designed Panerai's new six-storey boutique in Canton Road, Hong Kong, which opened last month.
Last year was a busy one for Urquiola and included a kitchen for Boffi, a new range of tiles for Mutina, where she is now creative director; a series of seats for B&B Italia; and exciting new ventures with Budri and Glas Italia. She rounded off 2014 by adding designer of the year by magazine to her long list of accolades.
The 53-year-old designer was born in Oviedo, Spain and began her design life by training as an architect at Madrid's Technical University. However, it is in Italy that she truly thrived as a creative. Urquiola studied her craft under some of the grand masters of intelligent Italian industrial design in Milan: Achille Castiglioni oversaw Urquiola's graduate thesis and she regularly brushed shoulders with Vico Magistretti.
In the '90s, Urquiola honed her design skills through a series of prestigious partnerships, working with Maddalena de Padova, Piero Lissoni and Patrizia Moroso. She went on to hold top positions at Padova and Lissoni Associates.
During these collaborations, Urquiola established a fundamental purpose that motivates and unites her body of work: to "search out the challenge to create something that is always edgy but contemporaneous", an enthusiastic embrace of innovation.
Underpinning all her designs, Urquiola claims, is a motivation "to improve our everyday lives; not only in terms of ergonomics, environmental impact and other practical elements, but mostly on the intangible - virtual values perceptions, mental comfort and inner pleasure".
This holistic design mantra imbues Urquiola's creations with a depth of character that sets her apart from contemporaries.
A Patricia Urquiola creation is one that captivates the eyes before going on to capture the heart. She is concerned not just with the physical needs of people but the very things that our souls yearn for - comfort, intrigue, refinement. The designer is renowned for the way she implements this promise by extrapolating and distorting traditional shapes of chairs and sofas to create furniture that pushes conventions of design. Her colours are often bold yet intelligent and welcoming.
Urquiola's "Fjord" seating for Moroso, for example, is sculptural and dramatic. The lines are structural and succinct yet there is a playful invitation in its imbalance and the use of leather and felt. The perfect implementation of her trademark combination is why the "Fjord" armchair is included in New York's MoMA's permanent collection.
Urquiola's signature style emerged as a revitalising mix of the minimalist architecturalism fostered by her education, infused with an emotional and aesthetic sensibility highly attuned to the novel. As her style matured and garnered recognition from the global design sphere, Urquiola set up her own studio in 2001. Although she has established her studio in Milan, the Spanish designer has not forgotten her roots and adroitly deploys them in her works. As she puts it: "I juxtapose my two identities: I am Spanish and I am Milanese." The innovation and sleekness of Italian design inculcated by Milan are often permeated with her Spanish heritage.
Urquiola's Spanish sensibilities were spectacularly displayed in the interiors she designed for the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, which opened in 2009.
The creation basks in its Catalan setting, welcoming the sun's rays that bathe the Mediterranean city. Yet, it also references the Asian roots of the brand with compelling geometric floral patterns. The space is welcoming and utilitarian, with a bold white colour scheme and abundant natural light that opens the space. Yet, intimacy and intrigue are present, with a floating walkway, lowered ceilings and compelling geometric floral patterns. The space is inviting and exciting.
The combined sensibilities are present in one of her latest triumphs: the "Salinas" modular kitchen for Boffi. The simple shapes and earthy palates gloriously celebrate the radiance of a Spanish beach of her childhood.
Urquiola is a woman majestically entering design maturity. After a busy 2014, this year will include interiors for the Molteni flagship store in Tokyo and the Missoni store in Paris. She is also working on the designs of the revolutionary 27-floor Oasia Hotel in Singapore.
At MAISON&OBJET in Paris this month, "Luna", Urquiola's home furnishing piece for French brand Coedition, is sure to turn heads. The drum-like cabinet is perched dramatically atop a sharp geometric leg and boasts open shelving above a sliding door at the bottom.
As with her other works, the creation plays with an architectural practicality together with unconventional shapes and forms. It is a teasing manipulation of presentation and concealment. The cabinet is a testament to the unusual combination of utility and sensuality that is the hallmark of Urquiola's designs.
With projects growing in gravitas, she notes that with success, "the only thing that has changed about my design process is that now I have more tools to do research".
She is right in the conviction that she simply needs to carry on doing what she does well - designing.
Passionate yet pragmatic, poetic yet practical - Urquiola is set to secure herself as one of the truly great design minds of the 21st century.
1961 Born in Oviedo, Spain
1989 Graduates from Milan Politecnico under Achille Castiglioni
1990 Collaborates with Maddalena de Padova
1998 Begins partnership with Patrizia Moroso
2002 Designs “Fjord” chair, later included as part of MoMA New York’s Permanent Collection
2011 Receives the Order of Isabella the Catholic by King Juan Carlos I
2013 Designs Santoni’s new boutique in Milan
2014 Wins Red Dot Design Award for “Hosu” sofa for Coalesse
Patricia Urquiola's unconventional designs not only capture the eyes but also the heart