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.
Foscarini Large Caboche Floor Lamp by Patricia Urquiola & Eliana Gerotto
By Eliana Gerotto, Patricia Urquiola, Foscarini
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A genuine design gem, sparkling and precious like a bracelet, the Caboche floor lamp has a metal base with a circular design that reflects the shape of the diffuser. To add a touch o...
Metal
Foscarini Medium Caboche Floor Lamp by Patricia Urquiola & Eliana Gerotto
By Eliana Gerotto, Patricia Urquiola, Foscarini
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A genuine design gem, sparkling and precious like a bracelet, the Caboche floor lamp has a metal base with a circular design that reflects the shape of the diffuser. To add a touch o...
Metal
$1,480Sale Price|20% Off
H 72.75 in W 12 in D 8 in
Valerio Bottin Vitt Terra Series White Murano and Steel Floor Lamp for Foscarini
By Valerio Bottin, Foscarini
Located in Miami, FL
Vitt Terra dimmable floor lamp with gray steel base and stem connecting a white Murano glass shade by Valerio Bottin for Foscarini.
Steel
$645 / item
H 19.69 in Dm 11.02 in
FLOS Tatou T1 Dimmable Halogen Table Lamp in White by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Its name is French for “armadillo,” the unassuming animal whose brilliant structure keeps it protected—and makes it unique. Designer Patricia Urquiola conceptualized this table lamp to play on the filtration of light, with remarkable results. The Tatou-T offers diffused light and has an exterior diffuser in PC (polycarbonate). Its internal diffuser is injection-printed opal PC. The support and base are painted steel. Inspiration behind the design: “The process began by looking for different ways to reconstruct membranes, conceived like Japanese armor...
Steel
FLOS Serena LED Table Lamp in Aluminum by Patricia Urquiola
By Flos, Patricia Urquiola
Located in Brooklyn, NY
At first glance, Serena appears to be in motion—it is a leaf blown by a gentle breeze, dancing through a current of wind. Inspired by the simple beauty of nature, this piece features...
Aluminum
FLOS Tatou S2 Pendant Light in White by Patricia Urquiola
By Patricia Urquiola, Flos
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Its name is French for “armadillo,” the unassuming animal whose brilliant structure keeps it protected—and makes it unique. Designer Patricia Urquiola conceptualized this table lamp to play on the filtration of light, with remarkable results. The Tatou-T offers diffused light and has an exterior diffuser in PC (polycarbonate). Its internal diffuser is injection-printed opal PC. The support and base are painted steel. Inspiration behind the design: “The process began by looking for different ways to reconstruct membranes, conceived like Japanese armor...
Steel
The Bride Floor Lamp Brown - Medium
By Mammalampa
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Design by Ieva Kaleja for "Mammalampa". The bride’s “dress” is created from paper presenting this traditional lamp material in an unusual solution. As light shines through the pape...
Paper
Bride Floor Lamp White - Large
By Mammalampa
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Design by Ieva Kaleja for "Mammalampa". The bride’s “dress” is created from paper presenting this traditional lamp material in an unusual solution. As light shines through the paper...
Metal
$3,036
H 67.33 in Dm 18.9 in
Modern Multicolored Vintage Glass Floor Lamp Orbital Terra Foscarini Italy
By Ferruccio Laviani
Located in Vienna, AT
Modern multicolored vintage floor lamp model Orbital Terra by Ferrucchio Laviani, which was designed 1992 for Foscarini, Italy. The multicolored lamp...
Metal
Link Medium Floor Lamp in Black by Pablo Designs
By Peter Stathis, Pablo Designs
Located in San Francisco, CA
Link modernizes the classic pantograph task lamp, incorporating the most advanced LED lighting technology to date. Designed with a dual-purpose shade/handle, Link seamlessly balances...
Aluminum
$847 / item
H 7.6 in W 12.2 in D 7 in
Petite 'Caboche Plus' Wall Light by Urquiola and Gerotto for Foscarini
By Patricia Urquiola, Eliana Gerotto, Foscarini
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Petite 'Caboche Plus' Wall Light by Urquiola and Gerotto for Foscarini Designed by Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotta and produced by Foscarini, the Italian lighting firm founded ...
Aluminum, Steel
Workstead Pendolo Floor Lamp Medium
Located in Floyd, VA
PENDOLO FLOOR LAMP pivots on extended fulcrum to simultaneously cast light in opposite directions. This sturdy floor piece is well poised to mix seaml...
Metal
$2,110
H 75.98 in W 16.14 in D 16.14 in
Vintage Italian Totem Terra Floor Lamp by Valerio Bottini for Foscarini, Late90s
Located in Hamburg, DE
Rare floor lamp from the Italian manufacturer Foscarini based on a design by Valerio Bottini from the late 90s. By playing with open and closed surfaces, this design appears particu...
Metal
Stand Art Medium Floor Lamp
Located in Paris, FR
Floor lamp stand Art Medium with solid walnut wood pole on metal base in bronze finish. With frosted white spherical shade diffuser in glass. With 1 bulb, ...
Metal
