Patricia Urquiola

(1961)
architect - designer

Born in Oviedo, a town of Northern Spain, Patricia Urquiola studied first in Madrid and then in Milan where in 1989 she graduated from the Milan Polytechnic with her thesis supervised by the internationally renowned designer and architect Achille Castiglioni. Even though from a sociocultural point of view she is very attached to the Spanish tradition, the studies she got involved with influenced her to such an extent that she became of the most important figures of modern Italian design.

From 1990 to 1992 she taught in the role of assistant professor at the Milan Polytechnic, and at the Ensci (Ecole nationale supérieure de création industrielle) in Paris, France. During that period she also started a partnership with the Italian design company Maddalena De Padova where she met another internationally renowned designer, Vico Magistretti, with whom she designed the chair Flower, the sofa Loom, and the horizontal chair Chaise Longue. Like Achille Castiglioni, Vico Mgistretti noticed her talent and advised her to aspire to achieve the highest professional standards at a worldwide level.

From 1993 to 1996 she worked in a design workshop that she had initiated with other designers where she was involved in architectural planning of buildings, interior design, and exhibition design. In 1998 she started partnership with the firm Moroso and created elegant upholstered pieces of furniture that people found irresistible.

Patricia Urquiola while working in harmony with the highest academic standards, also takes into consideration the impact that her products have on the vast public. She focuses on the design of exchangeable units without using modular elements, and successfully creates environments designed to encourage positive feelings and company.

From 1996 she is a coordinator of the design group of the company Lissoni Associati and articulates her professional activity around countless work partnerships with design and architecture companies of worldwide importance like her teachers Achille Castiglioni and Vico Magistretti had wished