Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish
architect and designer who was born in Spain, but is considered to be an
Italian icon. After moving from Spain at the age of eighteen, and being
educated with the highest academic standards in Italy, she became heavily
influenced and motivated by the Italian culture. She is now one of the most
important figures of modern Italian design, payable to her architecture,
interiors and most importantly, and her furniture and product designs.
Patricia Urquiola was born in a town in
Northern Spain called Oviedo, in 1961. Her mother had a degree in philosophy
and encouraged independence, while her father was a basque engineer, who loved
playing the piano. She described her parents as “open minded”, both of whom she
got most of her most valuable traits from. Traits such as: her intellectual,
feminine concept thinking from her mom; and her mechanically creative and
hands-on techniques from her father.
Urquiola studied architecture at the
Faculdad de Arquitectura and graduated at the age of 28 at the Milan
Polytechnic with a thesis mentored by world-renowned designer and architect,
Achille Castiglioni. Achille was known for using a minimal amount of material
to achieve a maximum effect. I believe it was his influence upon Urquiola that fashioned
her to be so conscious of the economy and environment. Also, Achille was the
one who turned her focus away from architecture and encouraged her education towards
product design.
At the age of 30, after a decade
of education (which she doesn’t not recommend), she finally worked for a
furniture company, De Padova, Milan, as head of the product development office.
This is where she collaborated with internationally renowned designer, Vico
Magistretti, to design her first chair, Flower; sofa, Loom; and horizontal
chair, Chaise Longue. These chairs are now universal iconic furniture pieces.
In-between 1993-1996 she was
heavily involved with architectural planning of buildings, interior design,
showrooms and restaurant design, but she always had a niche for product
designing. In 1998, she started her first big partnership with firm Moroso to
create elegantly irresistible upholstered furniture; of which are debatably
most her finest works yet.
Since then, she has involved
herself in numerous professional movements with countless design and
architectural companies of international reputation. Nicknamed the “hurricane”
for her nonstop, vigorous work ethics, and following her own firm in Milan of
2001, her current works includes projects for B&B Italia, Kartell, Molteni,
Moroso and countless more.
I hope to be as successful as Patricia Urquoila one day, except I wouldn't want to have to do a decade of education just to get there! That's just way too much schooling for my liking.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny. Reading about Patricia, I notice several similarities between her and Marcel Wanders, whom I'm researching about. They both have strong influences from their cultural backgrounds: Patricia with her influence from Italian culture and Marcel with his Dutch culture. And in their works, they bring alot of their cultural influences to strengthen and develop their conceptual designs. Marcel has done alot of works that includes influences from his Dutch roots, such as the doily, but he adds a modern twist to mix the old with the new. Does Patricia do that too?
And speaking of B&B Italia, Marcel has created collections for them too! Yet another similarity. I wonder if Patricia and Marcel has ever worked together on a design project. Do you know?
- Tiffany May
Ya! They have collaborated in a couple of projects together! They've created outdoor furniture together and I think they are collaborating on a new cell phone together with another designer.
ReplyDeletePatricia really likes to use traditional italian / spanish arts and crafts and mixes it with a feminine, bohemian and sometimes a modern twist!
-Leanne Tran