Interview Particia Urquiola
Foto: Patricia Urquiola, Andreas Körner
This woman is incredible!
Who is Patricia Urquiola? Her website tells visitors nothing about her vocation, references, philosophy or projects, let alone providing pictures or even blogs. And so the design star will remain a blank page for the uninitiated and a personal enigma for design fans. Just where does this woman get her impressive energy and creative strength from?
Do we need a constant stream of new things?
Why would I design a new chair if I didn’t believe that it’s needed because society is evolving all the time? The human being is changing all the time – sometimes evolving, sometimes involuting, sometimes very open-minded towards change, sometimes very bourgeois – you can see that very clearly from the tools he uses. The balance between social evolution, everyday objects and habitat is constantly in motion, it shifts in one direction and then in another, and it calls for equilibrium: if I change or my habitat changes, I need a new tool, a new chair.
What about the ideal of timelessness and sustainability?
Me, I love things with a tradition. But I want to have a choice. I need contemporary tools because they evolve with me. And they give me a sense of mental comfort because of the way they’re made, the way the material is used and so on. I have a jacket I bought seven years ago, a military one, and I wear it every spring when it rains. I’ll still be wearing that jacket when I’m 80, because I don’t think I’ll ever evolve away from it. But other things like, say, my shoes, grow with me. The ones I’m wearing are from Marni, and perhaps it’s because they’re plastic that I love them so much. They’re not gimmicks – I need these things so that I can change myself and so that I can see the change in myself. It’s the same with our favourite restaurant, with the way we eat and cook... with our entire lives, in fact. It’s not just about furniture. It’s about evolution and differentiation. I don’t think it’s a bad thing!
In the interview Patricia Urquiola talks about:
- Fairs
- Design
- Developments (in every case)
- Possibilities
- Trends