We make inroads into the fertile mind of Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola.

Text by Jolene Limuco
Images courtesy of Space Furniture

On first contact, Patricia Urquiola emanates a brisk, no-nonsense countenance that somehow intimidates even the most intrepid of personalities. Throwing one off-guard with her straight-talking, rather industrial manner, the Spanish architect and product designer exudes a mien that can only be summed up as a beguiling mix of fiery passion and stoic elegance. In fact, she seems to embody both the feistiness of the Spanish and the poised composure of the Italians.

That duality of personas is not a serendipitous clash of attitudes. While Urquiola is staunchly proud of her Spanish heritage, she is also entrenched in the mindset of Italian design. The latter is thanks to the formative years spent understudying some of the most celebrated Italian industrial designers of our age – some of which include Achille Castiglioni, Eugenio Bettinelli and Vico Magistretti.

“Castiglioni and Magistretti made a big impact on me at the time when I first started out,” the trained architect reveals, “they are important because they made me focus on design. The Zen philosophy of little things was made available to me through Italians. My education at Milan Polytechnic was oriented towards taking care of details; the Italians are perfectionists – they have a very artisan approach to things. It was fantastic because this made me think again about how to be ironical and to ask questions like what is conventional, what we have to reduce in our culture and what is really important.”

This school of thought has compelled Urquiola to embrace an aesthetic that is fluid and organic. Blatantly eschewing any defined style – especially any formalist style – the 47-year-old insists that she “works in as many directions as possible”. This approach, she says, leaves her quite free to explore fresh ideas.

“I do a lot of analogies with the things in my life and I extend it to the work that I do,” she explains on why her projects can seem disparate from one another. Take for instance the Caboche Pendant Lamp she designed to refract light into many dimensions, Urquiola candidly reveals that it stemmed from a piece of bracelet she owns, “something that has nothing to do with furniture”.

Her latest outdoor furniture collection for B&B Italia is uncannily inspired by large fruit baskets that can be found in a typical Asian market. The Canasta range also displays an arts and crafts element that Urquiola loves to impart in her designs. Because this elusive designer abhors subscribing to any given style, the outdoor furniture collection – that includes sumptuous linear sofas, high backed armchairs and ceramic-patterned low tables – combines a traditional concept with a decidedly contemporary look.

After a few minutes in conversation with the designer, the atmosphere eases and Urquiola begins to warm up. She talks animatedly about how she loves working in a team and how she works best when she has a myriad of projects going on concurrently.

She says, “For me, I like the idea of a community. I like the exchange of ideas and the energy when I’m in a little community of creatives.” As for tending to various projects at once, the self-professed perfectionist is driven by multitasking, “It makes me very calm to have a lot of different things going on at once. If I were to have only one product, or if I were to dedicate my life to one project, I would become a neurotic.”

This trait of hers can be recognised in the various projects she is undertaking currently for a string of well-known companies – from working on a collection of delicately transparent ceramics for Rosanthal to grander projects like designing a private villa in Italy and furnishing two hotels to be launched next year. In fact, she reveals that she has been talking to electronics giant Panasonic about coming up with a possible massage chair that exudes Urquiola’s signature design spirit.

The Spanish designer firmly believes that practicality and concept should be apparent in order for a product to be considered good design. Thanks to her background in architecture, she admits that she always prefers simple things; things that she calls essential and poetic, saying, “I always believe that good design is not only pragmatic but also possesses an idea as well.” This belief has been incorporated into her prototypes for Panasonic where the technical aspect of a massage chair is incorporated into an essential piece of modern furniture.

That juxtaposition of forms and ideas sums up Urquiola’s attitude best. But if pushed to do away with one of the two aspects, she maintains that the most important thing when it comes to design is that the product is comfortable and useful, “When I design something, I see myself as an end user; I like to design products that work in a community, so that more people can use it. As the creator of the product, I have the responsibility to create something that benefits the most number of people.”