Patricia Urquiola

Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo (Spain) and now 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 at the Milan Polytechnic and ENSCI in 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 and concept creation.

Amongst her last projects of architecture: two luxury hotels, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Barcelona and W Retreat&Spa in Vieques (Puerto Rico), a private residence in Udine, the scenography for the opera L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, showrooms, boutiques and interiors for Hermès, Gianvito Rossi, Valentino, Max Mara, H&M and the general concept for Pitti Immagine Florence. In 2010 she has shown a marble installation at Art 41 Basel and a personal exhibition in Feria Hábitat Valencia.

She designs for Agape, Alessi, Andreu World, Artelano, Axor, B&B Italia, Bart Design, Bisazza, BMW, Bosa, Budri, Chevalier Edition, Il Coccio, De Padova, De Vecchi, Driade, Emu, Fasem, Salvatore Ferragamo, Flos, Foscarini, Gallotti & Radice, Gandia Blasco, Glass Italia, Kartell, Kettal, Kvadrat, Mixing Media, Maurice Lacroix, Liv’it, Peter Mabeo, MDF Italia, Molteni, Moroso, Mutina, Olivari, Panasonic, Paola Lenti, Rosenthal, Champagne Ruinart, San Lorenzo, Tronconi, Viccarbe. Consulting for Honda and LG.

She has won several international prices and awards: the most recent one, the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes 2010 from the Spanish Government.