Patricia Urquiola b. 1961

"I just flow with the river and try to do things that are sincere, that anyone can understand." Though Spanish by birth, the architect and designer Patricia Urquiola has spent much of her adult life in Milan, honing her skills under the tutelage of great Italian industrial designers Achille Catiglioni, Vico Magistretti, and Bruno Munari. Under her own Milan-based Studio Urquiola, the designer has steadily churned out a range of celebrated products, from furniture to hardware, for an international roster of noted companies—B&B Italia, Kartell, Alessi, Morosco and Gandia Blasco—while overseeing interiors for architectural projects across the globe. In a style predictably described as feminine and sensual, Urquiola's signature pieces are marked by a soft-edged graphic beauty, manifest in a range of highly expressive, richly textured contemporary furnishings that expertly leverage textile art. Her award-winning Mangas and Mangas Spaces series of rugs and poufs for Gandia Blasco, introduced in 2012 and 2013—and the newly-introduced Bandas range—showcase a collection of playful modern furniture and rugs distinct for their chunky hand loomed quality, tailored, yet exuberant, exemplifying Urquiola's unique ability to merge clean forms with tactile warmth.