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.
Patricia Urquiola 'Bowy' Sofa, Foam and Fabric by Cassina
By Cassina, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Modular sofa designed by Patricia Urquiola in 2018. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. An inventive modular sofa, with soft, inviting curves that bespeak comfort to the max and ext...
Metal
$12,690 / item
Customizable Moroso Gogan Sofa by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Moroso
Located in New York, NY
Pillows not included. The Gogan collection takes its name from nature and in particular from Japanese stones rendered smooth by time and water, which provided the inspiration for thi...
Upholstery
Moroso Gentry 3-seater Sofa in Big Braid stone gray by Patricia Urquiola
By Moroso, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A project whose origins lie in the search for meticulous and well-balanced comfort, restrained yet with a nod to exaggeration. Gentry is about tradition, distinction and belonging bu...
Steel
Moroso Pacific 2-seater Sofa in Sand by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Moroso
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Pacific is the continuation of a design process begun in 2010 with the iconic Redondo collection by Patricia Urquiola. “It’s the evolution of a collection that over recent years has ...
Steel
Patricia Urquiola 'Bowy' Modular Sofa with Low Table, Foam and Fabric by Cassina
By Cassina, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Modular sofa designed by Patricia Urquiola in 2018. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. An inventive modular sofa, with soft, inviting curves that bespeak comfort to the max and ext...
Metal
Patricia Urquiola Dudet Sofa and Two Armchairs Set by Cassina
By Cassina, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Patricia Urquiola Dudet Set of Sofa and Two Armchair Manufactured by Cassina Dimensions Sofa: W 78 x D 67 x H 72/42 cm Armchairs: W 78...
Upholstery
Patricia Urquiola 'Bowy' Sofa, Foam and Fabric by Cassina
By Cassina, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Modular sofa designed by Patricia Urquiola in 2018. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. An inventive modular sofa, with soft, inviting curves that bespeak comfort to the max and extre...
Metal
Patricia Urquiola Beam Sofa System, Foam Upholstery, Mid-Century Style
By Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Patricia Urquiola Beam Sofa System For Cassina An innovative upholstered seating system, supported by a beam that allows sectional elements to be combined into custom arrangements, ...
Foam
Oblong Plus Modular Sofa by Jasper Morrison for Cappellini
By Cappellini, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Almost twenty years after its presentation, the Oblong System by Jasper Morrison has been revised in its architectural system to guarantee an even more flexible and ergonomic structu...
Steel
Patricia Urquiola Bowl Sofa for Cassina, Mid-Century Modern Design
By Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Patricia Urquiola Bowl Sofa For Cassina The soft, welcoming lines of this sofa spell comfort and flexibility. Circular, semi-circular and rectangular shapes alternate to create a dy...
Formica
Moroso Gentry 2-seater Sofa in Big Braid cappuccino by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Moroso
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A project whose origins lie in the search for meticulous and well-balanced comfort, restrained yet with a nod to exaggeration. Gentry is about tradition, distinction and belonging bu...
Steel
$4,851 / item
Moroso Pacific Armchair by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Moroso
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Pacific is the continuation of a design process begun in 2010 with the iconic Redondo collection by Patricia Urquiola. “It’s the evolution of a collection that over recent years has ...
Steel
Patricia Urquiola ''Trampoline' Outdoor Sofa, Steel, Rope and Fabric by Cassina
By Cassina, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Outdoor sofa designed by Patricia Urquiola in 2020. Manufactured by Cassina in Italy. Patricia Urquiola interprets the happiness of life outdoors with a collection full of playful...
Steel
Patricia Urquiola Bowl Sofa for Cassina, Mid-Century Modern Design
By Patricia Urquiola
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Patricia Urquiola Bowl Sofa For Cassina The soft, welcoming lines of this sofa spell comfort and flexibility. Circular, semi-circular and rectangular shapes alternate to create a dy...
Formica
$12,525 / item
Customizable Moroso Gruuve Sofa by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Moroso
Located in New York, NY
Gruuve, the new system designed by Patricia Urquiola, is an evolution of the independent seats from the Lowseat system conceived for Moroso in 2000. The design of this new version be...
Upholstery
$5,500 / item
Kartell Foliage Sofa by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Kartell
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Foliage collection is a family of soft chairs. The key players are a two-seater sofa and an armchair, that seem to have grown "naturally": the frame provides support for a comfortabl...
Fabric
Moroso Pacific Armchair in White sand by Patricia Urquiola
By Moroso, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Pacific is the continuation of a design process begun in 2010 with the iconic Redondo collection by Patricia Urquiola. “It’s the evolution of a collection that over recent years has ...
Steel
$13,458 / item
Customizable CoEdition Altay Sofa by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola
Located in New York, NY
Solid beech frame, natural or black gloss finish Seat and cushions in fabrics Lama de Mario Sirtori (75 % Wool , 15 % Alpaga, 20% Polyamide) Dimensions : L 190 x P 76 x H 90 cm – as...
Upholstery