EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH PATRICIA URQUIOLA
panish by birth but Italian by choice, Patricia Urquiola was born
in Oviedo, Spain and studied architecture in Madrid before graduating
from the Milan Politecnico in 1989. She is one of the most coveted
interior designers in the world, with her work revolving around rigour
and emotion, innovation and mental comfort. CovetED had the
opportunity to sit down with the designer during the latest edition
of Salone del Mobile.
After finishing her studies in Milan, Urquiola had the privilege of
being mentored by the great masters of Italian industrial design,
Achille Castiglioni and Vico Magistretti, from whom she learned
crucial life lessons. Even though they were two very different people,
both were essential in the way they were living and doing, according
to the designer. It was from Magistretti that the designer learned that
“you always divide your work with others, with the company, with
the artisans and the industrials”, whilst Castiglioni taught her that
the fundamental element of a project is its concept. “That’s in your
hand and you have to drive it until the end”, said Urquiola.
Patricia Urquiola’s work has been exhibited in major art and design
museums, but the designer says that, even though it is a great
honour to be displayed in a museum, her real museums are the
client’s houses. “We are related to normal life, we are related to the
idea of production”, she says. But she also has the consciousness that
designers must become more sustainable.
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