“You all the time have an opportunity to alter the foundations” is a sentiment that appears to underpin Patricia Urquiola’s oeuvre, and it’s the undertone of our chat at Mobilia’s Melbourne showroom throughout her fleeting go to to Australia in March 2024. Endlessly curious, Urquiola claims: “I don’t see solutions, however moderately I see questions.” The designer is a pleasant conversationalist who certainly posits many questions – rhetorically or instantly – throughout our interview.
Her presentation at Mobilia’s Design Circus occasion the following day (delivered to a captivated viewers gathered on the NGV’s Nice Corridor) was equally exploratory. Quick-thinking, fast-talking, charismatic and open-minded, Urquiola managed to weave six concepts and 4 questions into one sentence, leaving listeners pleasantly bewildered and enlightened without delay. You possibly can virtually hear the viewers’s collective gray matter stretch as Urquiola spoke at lightning pace about nature, folks, supplies and innovation. Her final level, I feel, was that we’re all linked, and our collective mission is to evolve right into a more healthy society. It’s a mission she’s been on her entire profession, utilizing materials and product design as automobiles, all of the whereas supporting conventional craftspeople and shiny younger minds.
These messages match the Design Circus invoice, which for the previous 10 years has introduced worldwide designers to Australia by way of an altruistic mannequin (proceeds go to a nominated charity annually). Established in Madrid in 2010 and operating in Perth from 2014, the 2024 Mobilia Design Circus occasion was the primary in Melbourne, with $35,000 in proceeds donated to Toybox Australia.
Urquiola was born in Oviedo, Spain, in 1961, and based her Milan-based studio collectively together with her companion, Alberto Zontone, in 2001. Her trailblazing structure and design profession is outlined by her pursuit of originality, dedication to human-centric options, and fervour for craft and materials. The studio traverses industrial product design, structure, artwork path and technique consulting, all guided by a typical purpose to construct empathetic connections with end-users. Urquiola’s work is research-driven and future-focused, mixing know-how with environmental and social consciousness.
Fascinated by surfaces, Urquiola says that with all her purchasers, she is main discussions about disassembly, recycling and reuse. Throughout her Design Circus handle, she referenced her venture with Glas Italia, which concerned the layering of waste materials to create a brand new form of glass with an opaque, imperfect but sensual floor. She additionally spoke a few new biomaterial that she is delevoping with Cimento, which will be composed from virtually any uncooked materials. She believes that “merchandise are in the midst of the method”; with out materials analysis and waste-management methods, the product design course of could be incomplete.
She advised me that “on this second, I’m solely working with people who find themselves doing analysis into extra sustainable manufacturing – who’re trying to find a brand new and completely different magnificence that’s born or regenerated one other manner.” One instance is her Moncloud Couch for Cassina (obtainable at Mobilia), which makes use of recycled PET fibre padding (I can attest to its consolation; Urquiola and I sat on the Moncloud for our interview). Urquiola has held the place of artistic director at Cassina since 2015 and explains that the manufacturing course of is “going slower in some methods by moving into the method of the supplies … This 12 months, we’re not doing something extra – not a brand new sofa, however as an alternative, the identical one in a brand new typology. Annually or two we evolve, renovating different typologies however with a brand new sustainable course of or materials.”
For CC-Tapis – a socially-minded Italian rug model that celebrates conventional Nepalese weaving traditions – Urquiola tells me a few new product composed from 50 p.c new wool and 50 p.c leftover or regenerated materials. She’s excited by the brand new methods this method can contain craftspeople and develop completely different understandings of wool. You’ll be able to learn this course of instantly within the last rug designs, which clearly reveal the brand new versus recycled supplies.
When requested how manufacturers can enhance their sustainable practices, Urquiola says: “To present recommendation is all the time so troublesome. However when you do one thing with care, then folks take extra care with the product … It’s time to shift from aesthetic decisions to empathetic decisions. The latter lasts longer.”
Urquiola’s affect within the design trade extends to Moroso, Kettal, Louis Vuitton, Kvadrat, Mutina and extra. She has additionally created architectural works just like the il Sereno Resort in Como and the Room Mate Giulia Resort in Milan, in addition to revolutionary product designs for BMW showrooms and installations for Missoni.
Urquiola is grateful for her intensive travels to each city and pure locations. Throughout her Design Circus discuss, Urquiola advised the viewers: “You’re seeking to me, however I’m seeking to you.” She has loads of optimistic issues to say about Australia after visits to Sydney, Melbourne and Uluru. “I attempt to be delicate to all the things … In Australia, you might have so many stunning timber – these are extra vital than city planning, design, and so on. Nature has an unimaginable presence. On the finish of the day, our life is about easy methods to create a system that connects nature, together with the crops, water, animals and all human society.”
She goes on to say: “Right here, I see loads of girls caring for communication, artwork and museums – after I see that, I feel that one thing is working.” She says that an open thoughts, perception within the course of and transmission of those concepts are important to the evolution of artistic people and cultures.
“I feel there are many potentialities right here,” she says concerning the Australian design market. “In Europe, I want we had been in a position to change, however due to our lengthy historical past, it’s troublesome. Right here in Australia, you might have views from many alternative cultures, and you’ve got an ideal distance. This creates potential. You’re a younger society … We should make younger folks take part. It’s not solely my era that may change issues – it’s the connection between my era and the following.”