Ep. 200: A Peek Inside Patricia Urquiola’s Curious and Magical Mind [encore]

**Patricia Urquiola** (0:05)
The real design, if I have to define, is something that begins when the landscape, the space for all the logical thoughts and thinking ends and begin the space for the magic.

**Amy Devers** (0:19)
Hi everyone, I'm Amy Devers, and this is Clever. It's our 200th episode, and we are celebrating with a very special guest. Today, I'm talking to the phenomenal Patricia Urquiola. Patricia is a true powerhouse of design and is widely considered to be one of the most lauded, in demand, and influential designers of our time. Her prolific and profound contributions span architecture, interiors, product, furniture, textiles, fashion, art direction, and strategy consulting. She's made an indelible mark on the design of the built world through her now iconic works that offer a unique point of view with an approachable warmth and vibrant presence.
She works with important international design companies, including Alessi, B&B Italia, Capellini, Ferragamo, Hayworth, Cartel, Quadrat, Louis Vuitton, Moroso, and Rosenthal. Recent architecture projects include Il Serino Hotel in Como, the roommate Giulia Hotel in Milan, the SD96 yacht for San Lorenzo, Dachdu Hotel in Berlin, showrooms and installations for BMW, Casina, Missoni, and more. And since 2015, she's been the creative director of Casina. There are just too many accolades to list here. She's won several prestigious international prizes and awards. Her work is exhibited in museums the world over, and she has many times been named Designer of the Year or even Designer of the Decade by prominent international design publications. Her studio, Studio Urquiola, founded in 2001 with her partner Alberto Zontoni, is now a team of around 70 With 18 nationalities represented and 15 foreign languages spoken, it's a very international community, with designers and architects collaborating in the most interrelated possible way. Studio Urquiola is frequently asked not just to design objects and architecture, but also to think about the future of mobility, workplace, and production cycles. She also leads the company she works with to change, evolve, and innovate by reimagining entire processes, creating links between heritage craftsmanship and innovative technologies, and upcycling waste material.
Her design point of view merges humanistic, technological, and social approaches, and she describes her design thinking as being at the intersection of challenges and breaking prejudices and finding unexpected connections between the familiar and the unexplored. She's led an extraordinary life, and it plays out like a who's who of creative masterminds. She's worked with or been mentored by some very significant figures in design history, including Achille Castiglione, Vico Magistretti, and Madelena de Pavada.
And with boundless energy and insatiable curiosity, you'll hear her talk about her fascination with varied interests such as modern philosophy, AI, and Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party. For this one, you may want to follow along on the transcript. We've taken great care to hyperlink all of the significant design figures, movements, art, books, brands, and philosophers she mentions so that you can go down all of the rabbit holes you want. You can find that at cleverpodcast.com.
Patricia's journey is nothing short of remarkable, and she brings us right along with her on a trip that feels like part intellectual obstacle course and part magic carpet ride.
Here's Patricia.

**Patricia Urquiola** (4:14)
I am Patricia Urquiola, I'm an architect and designer.
I'm 100% Spanish, but I think 100% Milanese, too, because it's the city where I live and work. We have a studio for architecture and design.

**Amy Devers** (4:35)
I'd love to back up to your origin story and kind of understand how you got to be who you are now. Can you tell me the story of your childhood? You're from Oviedo, Spain, yes?

**Patricia Urquiola** (4:49)
Allora, Sisi, I come from the north of Spain, you know? But you know, Spain, as I live in Italy, they always think that they have a kind of Mediterranean origin, no? But I am from the north of Spain, and the north of Spain is the Atlantic side, and it's facing to the ocean. It's a kind of different, powerful idea of growth. For example, I'm the second daughter of three children, then I am the always in between.
And the always in between is always-

**Amy Devers** (5:23)
Middle child.

**Patricia Urquiola** (5:24)
Yes, you know, I do not see, you know, I was in between. You never know. They forget you many times.
See, you've got a portion of freedom, always more than your brother. So I have a big sister, but they were always focusing just to understand what to do or not to do. And I had a younger brother than was the male, right? You know, he was so nice, so gentle. Then I was in the middle, no, it was very, very, that's always interesting. My father was an engineer, and my mother did something I think nice. She created a family very young. And when we born, the three of us, just she come back to study and she study English philology and philosophy in the 70s. Then she was going to the university or doing a lot of homeworks in her desk, in her room.