il piano di un tavolo: considerando che
in un 1 metro quadro di pavimento entrano
fino a 100 elementi, nella superfice media di
un’abitazione (100 mq) gli elementi possono
arrivare a 10.000. Risulta quindi centrata
l’idea di un prodotto di serialità diversificata,
dove i quantitativi giustificano la cura che
viene dedicata al dettaglio e allo stesso
tempo motivano lo sviluppo di un’attrezzatura
sofisticata anche per una produzione robotizzata.
Margaritelli riconosce alla progettista la capacità
di convincimento necessaria a un importante
passo avanti dell’azienda sul terreno della
tecnologia, un avanzamento che altrimenti
non ci sarebbe stato o avrebbe richiesto
forse molto più tempo per avverarsi: del resto
Patricia Urquiola è nota proprio per aver saputo
introdurre nelle logiche trasformistiche del
design in Italia uno “spirito allegro” fortemente
legato al suo forte carattere espansivo, al suo
finishing. It wasn’t the designer who
adapted to the technique and machines, but
rather the other way round. Instead of mass-
production machining, where the material
emerges from the manufacturing chain
standardised by a single robotised procedure,
the product’s manipulation is closer to that of a
one-off piece or small-run edition. Numerical-
control processes are applied all around the
edges of the wooden boards, and each
component is reworked several times – as can
happen for the legs of a chair or tabletop.
Considering that
1 square metre of flooring comprises up to
100 elements, the average surface of a house
(100 square metres) can include up to 10,000
elements. This highlighted the suitability of
employing a diversified mass-production
process, where the quantities justify the great
attention to detail, while also motivating the
Biscuit n.05 large,
Civita 1695, Rovere di Fontaines /
DESIGN: Patricia Urquiola
Biscuit n.05 large,
Civita 1695, Rovere di Fontaines /
conceptual sketch /
DESIGN: Patricia Urquiola
LUOGO: Fundació Kālida - Barcelona
PROGETTO: Miralles Tagliabue EMBT /
Biscuit,
DESIGN: Patricia Urquiola
PLACE: Fundació Kālida - Barcelona
PROJECT: Miralles Tagliabue EMBT /
Biscuit,
DESIGN: Patricia Urquiola
Biscuit n.05 large,
DESIGN: Patricia Urquiola
Biscuit n.05 large,
DESIGN: Patricia Urquiola
— Biscuit
Patricia Urquiola
The engineer Aureliano Camelia had already worked with many
designers over many years but had finally decided to have a different
experience, to renew the portfolio of his landscape company - al-
ready very rich in important international projects. It was not a nov-
elty that female designers, with a fresher inspiration, had joined the
old school of aristocratic landscape designers: but it was the first time
that Camelia was preparing to collaborate with one of them, among
the most esteemed ones in a world that did not spare those who had
not a true technical knowledge and a boundless love for trees, plants
and flowers in addition to creative ingenuity.
A garden, a park are delicate worlds and at the same time ruthless,
magical kingdoms where Nature and Artifice fight each other for
the prevalence of one over the other. And only when they join in
an alchemical wedding the simple amateur and/or the experienced
designer can enjoy the flowers and fruits that are created.
Moreover, Aureliano knew that his family name already contained
an omen as to the difficulty of growing and blossoming, symbolized
by that curious Japanese plant: if it does not live in a habitat designed
and looked after with care Camelia will remain a capricious, luxuri-
ant but sterile shrub, that will give the inexperienced gardener noth-
ing more than very dark and glossy green leaves. With these thoughts
in mind, the engineer rang the bell at the door of the Art Nouveau
building where Patricia Urquiola had a studio in Milan.
Camelia did not expect it, but it was her who opened the beautiful
wooden and wrought-iron door. She shook his hand vigorously,
let him enter the beautiful courtyard and from there into the cabinet.
The engineer had heard talking about a fairly large office, an open
space with many busy collaborators and where inevitably phone calls,
discussions and other sounds overlapped and resonated in a nice
cacophony.. Camelia’s amazement increased when he found herself
in a completely empty cabinet, perfectly tidy, with all the equipment
switched off, not a person at work and only Urquiola seeing him.
“Dear, non se debe estupire” “Patricia began, with her sympathy
02
03
and her unmistakable Spanish accent, which she had never lost in
many years in Milan:
“You shouldn’t be surprised. Today a very dear collaborator of ours is
getting married and everyone has gone to the party. I’m here at work,
some clients don’t wait,” she explained with a big smile and that
contagious laugh, she was famous for. “Don’t you mind if I guide
you? Let’s go to the library, what do you think, engineer?”
Camelia began to follow her and - while she did not stop talking,
practically about everything - he observed that the studio was really
beautiful, organized on several levels with a careful restructuring:
but somehow Patricia had managed to preserve it in its original at-
mosphere, with residues of the Liberty décor like some glasses on the
windows, wrought-iron handrails and railings and even some original
suspension lamps. For the rest, light colours dominated, in the furni-
ture, in the walls, in the ceilings and even in the floor, of varnished
wooden planks.
The sequence of rooms and spaces continued and seemed to never
end. Camelia was beginning to wonder where the library could be,
when Patricia finally opened a small door (a little door compared
to the height of the space, which curiously in that corridor was more
than four meters high) and made him enter a large circular room.
It was even higher than the last corridor they had crossed, with
strange pink curtains on the walls: strange because the room had
no windows, but the light entered through an open glass window in
the ceiling and fell zenitally into the centre of the room. Here stood
a table of variegated crystal, as if liquefied and then solidified, in a
simple geometry of circles and rectangles. It had to be a special cus-
tom-made piece: without filling the whole room, it took up a large
part of it. The chairs were small, in a style and a material that were
similar but with a minimum of ergonomics to sit on. The engineer
realized then that there were only two, but obviously this choice was
also part of the scenography of the hospitality.
“Please Engineer, take a seat.” Patricia turned to him, very relaxed.
Natural Genius
A DESIGN STORY - Patricia Urquiola
