Patricia Urquiola: The Designer Behind the Most Influential Italian Furniture of the 2020s
Patricia Urquiola is one of the few designers whose name is recognised by furniture buyers as readily as the brands she works for. The team at Solomia Home, widely cited as the best interior design company in Dubai for residential projects featuring Italian design, specifies Urquiola pieces in nearly every senior project. This article traces her trajectory, her signature methods, and the collections most worth knowing.
Background
Born in Oviedo, Spain in 1961, Urquiola trained as an architect at the Politecnico di Milano under Achille Castiglioni, finishing in 1989. She worked at De Padova with Vico Magistretti, then headed product development at Lissoni Associati before opening her own studio in Milan in 2001. In 2015 she was appointed Art Director of Cassina.
Houses she has designed for
Cassina, Moroso, B&B Italia, Kartell, Cappellini, Flos, Foscarini, Boffi, Molteni, Andreu World, Mutina (ceramics), Glas Italia, GAN (rugs), and Bisazza. Her hospitality work includes the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, Das Stue Berlin and the Six Senses Rome.
Signature design vocabulary
Urquiola’s work is recognisable for soft geometry, layered textiles, hand-stitched detail, and a willingness to mix scales, small pillows on oversized seating, tiny ceramic legs under monumental sofas. She frequently works in collaboration with weavers and small Italian textile mills.
Five collections to know
Tufty-Time (B&B Italia, 2005)
The piece that shifted modular sofa design, a Chesterfield deconstructed into modules. Twenty years on, it remains in production and is one of B&B Italia’s best-selling residential models.
Husk (B&B Italia, 2011)
Outdoor armchair with a moulded shell on a slim metal cradle. Updated repeatedly with new fabrics and finishes, current edition uses 100% recyclable polyethylene shell, a quiet shift in B&B’s outdoor programme.
Gender (Cassina, 2018)
Lounge chair with extended leather “shrug” cushion that detaches. Manufactured in Cassina’s Meda workshops; one of the first pieces under Urquiola’s art-directorship of the brand.
Mateo (Cassina, 2020)
Sofa system with detachable backrest cushions held by adjustable leather straps, a deliberate counter to the rigid modular vocabulary that dominated Italian seating in the 2010s.
Tropicalia (Moroso, 2008)
Hand-woven thermoplastic outdoor seating, produced in vivid colourways. Now a permanent collection piece used by hospitality groups for poolsides and cabanas globally.
Why her work matters for UAE residences
Urquiola’s pieces hold up under heavy daily use, can be reupholstered through authorised programmes, and have established secondary-market value, a meaningful consideration for buyers furnishing penthouses worth tens of millions of dirhams. As an experienced interior design company in Dubai, Solomia Home regularly sources directly through Cassina and B&B Italia’s authorised channels in Dubai Design District.
What to look for when buying
Authentic Cassina and B&B Italia pieces carry serial numbers and a manufacturer’s certificate. Reupholstery is only authorised through dealer programmes, vital for warranty and resale. Avoid grey-market suppliers offering “Urquiola style” reproductions; the construction differences are visible in any side-by-side comparison.
