Spanish-born, Milan-based architect Patricia Urquiola doesn’t lack for commissions these days, and, unlike the work of many other high-concept architects, her projects tend to get constructed, envelope-pushing though they sometimes are. And when she’s not imagining covetable creations for contemporary furniture houses — including B&B Italia, Driade and Cassina, where she was named art director in 2015 — Urquiola makes headlines by designing some of the world’s most aesthetically ambitious hotels, such as 2016’s Il Sereno on Lake Como in Lombardy, Italy.
Born in Oviedo, in northern Spain, Urquiola grew up in a family that valued creativity. Everyone in the house, she says, talked and cared about design. She fondly remembers her mother going to London in the 1960s and ’70s and coming back home with a Mary Quant this, a David Hicks that. When it came time to go to university, Urquiola decided that her place was architecture school, first at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and then at the Polytechnic University of Milan, where she completed her design thesis — a felt carpet with a panel that connected to a home’s electricity source and telephone line so that you could plug, say, a table lamp and your phone into it — under the direction of legendary Italian industrial designer Achille Castiglioni.
Today, Urquiola has become a go-to when it comes to avant-garde product, hospitality and retail design, working with such blue-chip international furniture, fashion and hotel companies as Alessi, Baccarat, Salvatore Ferragamo, Kvadrat, Mandarin Oriental, Panerai, Rosenthal, W Hotels and Louis Vuitton, among many others. Her residential projects, meanwhile, though few and far between, stretch from such far-flung locations as Punta del Este, Uruguay, and Melbourne, Australia, to closer-to-home Udine, in northeastern Italy, where she designed the two-story, largely open-plan glass-and-cedar home of Patrizia Moroso, creative director of the family-owned design company that bears her last name.
Over the course of a long-term and highly productive collaboration spanning some 20 years, Urquiola has created dozens and dozens of Moroso-branded products. A chair from her 2001 Fjord line of seating, tables and poufs for the company sits in the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and Moroso debuted (love me) Tender, her modular sofa system upholstered in jersey, during Milan’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April of 2014.
Find Patricia Urquiola furniture on 1stDibs.
XXX Small Low Table, by Johanna Grawunder for Glas Italia
By Glas Italia, Johanna Grawunder
Located in Brooklyn, NY
XXX low table is shown here in the transparent pink, orange and yellow coloured glass, and in the large size of the two tables. Low table realized in transparent pink, orange and yel...
Glass
BISEL Console Table, by Patricia Urquiola for Glas Italia IN STOCK
By Patricia Urquiola, Glas Italia
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Collection of high tables, low tables and console, made in multi-layered and multichromatic glass, created by laminating five slabs of 5mm extra light glass each with a different col...
Glass
BISEL Coffee Table, by Patricia Urquiola for Glas Italia IN STOCK
By Patricia Urquiola, Glas Italia
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Collection of high tables, low tables and console, made in multi-layered and multichromatic glass, created by laminating five slabs of 5mm extralight glass each with a different colored film. The obtained glass sheets are in different shapes, shiny ground polished and “faceted” by means of unique bevels accentuating through the transparency of the glass the stunning multicolored material. The different components are then welded together in total clarity, by means of a special gluing technique, so creating very precious “furniture jewels”. Available in green or ochre finish. Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo (Spain) in 1961. Lives and works in Milan. She attended the School of Architecture of Madrid Polytechnic and Milan Polytechnic, where she graduated in 1989 with Achille Castiglioni. From 1990 to 1992 she was assistant lecturer to both Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli in Milan and Paris. From 1990 to 1996 she was responsible for the new product development office of DePadova, working with Vico Magistretti. In 1996 she became head of Lissoni Associati’s design group. In 2001 she opens her own studio working on product design, architecture, installations. Amongst her last projects of architecture: Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona and W Retreat&Spa a Vieques (Porto Rico); a villa in Udine; scenography of the opera “L’incoronazione di Poppea” by Monteverdi; showroom and installations for Hermès, Gianvito Rossi, Flos, Moroso, H&M and the general concept of Pitti Immagine Firenze. She designs for the most important Italian and international firms as Agape, Alessi, Andreu World, Artelano, Axor, B&B Italia, Bart Design, Bisazza, BMW, Bosa, Budri, Chevalier Edition, Il Coccio...
Glass
Glas Italia ROBOTIN Console by Patricia Urquiola
By Glas Italia, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Collection of low tables, consoles and storage furniture, completely created from a special double-sided mirrored glass, with a decorative pattern made from round transparent marks, ...
Glass
Glas Italia REMIS Console by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Glas Italia
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Collection composed by a low table and a console with a wooden structure completely covered by a mosaic of cast glass tiles in various and random colours. The tiles are shaped and ...
Glass, Wood
Glas Italia ROBOTIN Low table by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Glas Italia
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Collection of low tables, consoles and storage furniture, completely created from a special double-sided mirrored glass, with a decorative pattern made from round transparent marks, ...
Glass
Glas Italia Bisel Coffee Table 60 cm (23.6 in) by Patricia Urquiola - Green
By Glas Italia, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Varedo, MB
The Bisel coffee table by Glas Italia, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is a refined piece that transforms multi-layered, multi-chromatic glass into a sculptural object of exceptional ...
Glass
Glas Italia Bisel Console table in Glass by Patricia Urquiola - Green
By Glas Italia, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Varedo, MB
The Bisel console by Glas Italia, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is an exquisite piece that transforms multi-layered, multi-colored glass into a sculptur...
Glass
Glas Italia Bisel Console table in Glass by Patricia Urquiola - Ochre
By Glas Italia, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Varedo, MB
The Bisel console by Glas Italia, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is an exquisite piece that transforms multi-layered, multi-colored glass into a sculptur...
Glass
Shimmer Console Table SHI07 by Patricia Urquiola for Glas Italia, Quick Ship
By Patricia Urquiola, Glas Italia
Located in Boston, MA
Made in Italy. IN STOCK: Shimmer SHI07 - A console table cm 100x45xh.84,5 (39.37"x17.72"xh.33.27") in extra light glass. Crafted from laminated and glued glass using advanced finis...
Glass, Mirror
Glas Italia Bisel Table 220 cm (86.6 in) in Glass by Patricia Urquiola - Ochre
By Glas Italia, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Varedo, MB
The Bisel table by Glas Italia, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is a striking piece that transforms multi-layered, multi-chromatic glass into a refined sculptural form. Crafted by la...
Glass
Glas Italia Bisel Coffee Table 60 cm (23.6 in) Glass by Patricia Urquiola Ochre
By Glas Italia, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Varedo, MB
The Bisel coffee table by Glas Italia, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is a refined piece that transforms multi-layered, multi-chromatic glass into a sculptural object of exceptional ...
Glass
