A&W Designer of the Year 2012: Patricia Urquiola

For a decade and a half the unofficial start to Cologne Furniture Week has been the honouring of the “A&W Designer of the Year”

Awarded by the German magazine “A&W Architektur & Wohnen”, the prize was inaugurated in 1997 to honour a designer whose work has particular defined the home furnishing style of our time. Previous winners including Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio or Tom Dixon. To name just three from 15.

The A&W Designer of the Year 2012 is the Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola.

Perhaps best known for her work with Moroso, B&B Italia, Kartell or Molteni, Patricia Urquiola initially studied architecture in Madrid before moving to Italy where she completed her studies at the Politecnico di Milano. In 2001 she established her own studio in Milan and in addition to furniture design work has also completed numerous interior design projects and since 2002 has been a Guest Professor at the Domus Academy.

Ahead of the awards ceremony we spoke with Patricia Urquiola about her career and specifically, and in keeping with both the award and the exhibition “From Aalto to Zumthor Furniture by Architects” in the MAKK, discussed if architects make better furniture designers.

(smow)blog: You studied architecture, now work principally as a designer. Was it your intention to follow a career as an architect, or was that just a way to means?

Patricia Urquiola: From my early teens my intention was to become an architect; I was one of these adolescents who is already certain what they want to do. And so I studied architecture at the Politecnica Madrid and there I met Marco Zanuso, Achille Castiglioni and many other very interesting architects who were working in both architecture and design. And that made me focus more on design. And so in a way the Italians led this change of focus.

(smow)blog: And then you moved to Milan where you later you went on to work with another architect and designer, Piero Lissoni…

Patricia Urquiola: Yes, but with the background I have and amongst my contemporaries it was quite natural to work across the borders of architecture and design. Which of course is part of the reason Milan became important as a centre for architecture and design.

(smow)blog: At the moment there is an exhibition here in Cologne looking at the role of “furniture architects”. Do architects make better furniture than designers with a different background?

Patricia Urquiola: No, I don’t think so. I am, for example, a big fan of Konstantin Grcic and he is not an architect. The discipline of design can be approached in many ways, and for me the border between the two is on the one side the “habitat” and the other “tools for living”. That was my education, that’s me and that is my approach. But the disciplines leave a lot of space to approach it in many ways and we’ve got to be open to listen to new voices. And I think there is currently some very good research and some very good schools, I think, for example, Eindhoven is currently very interesting. But, as I say, there are a lot of possibilities for working in these disciplines and we have to remain open to read the situation.

(smow)blog: You’ve been living in Milan for some 25 years now. Have you noticed a change over the decades? Is it still a city where one feels creativity?

Patricia Urquiola: I moved to Milan in a very creative period. The likes of Castiglioni or Vico Magistretti were still active and the Memphis group were in their best period. But then obviously Milan changed a lot, became more bourgeois, and today we have all these crises. But like all design centres in Italy in Milan there is still a desire to produce quality work. I had the luck in Milan to meet people who believed in design and who gave people like me a certain credibility, and I’m very grateful for that. But then my life is not only about Milan, and the work that I do in Milan is only part of my work.

The sofa Volant for Moroso by Patricia Urquiola

Silver Lake by Moroso and in the background Comeback Chair for Kartell by Patricia Urquiola

Maia Egg swing for Kettal, the lamp Chasen for flos and Tropicalia for Moroso, all by Patricia Urquiola

Luddites!

Not a phrase normally associated with (smow)

To the best of our knowledge no (smow)employee has ever smashed an iPad or capped a WiFi service in protest at the creeping and increasingly obsessive proliferation of technology into our lives.

Despite that, the early summer weeks in the (smow)HQ were dominated by the preparation and production of the very first (smow)catalogue.

That’s print catalogue.

So on paper.

With ink.

Luddites?

Au contraire nos amis!

Not only is the production of such an analogue catalogue technologically more challenging than coding with that “any-fool-can-do” HTML; but, just as the mechanisation of the textile mills offered the oppressed masses their first, golden, taste of leisure time – so does a print catalogue help us to regain that.

Turn off the computer, enjoy a break, peruse a catalogue. And then turn the computer back on and order.

In addition to featuring a selection of products from the (smow) range the (smow) Designer Furniture Catalogue 2011 also includes biographical information on some of the most important designers and a range of specially commissioned photos of products from USM Haller, Vitra, Moormann, Richard Lampert et al

And is a mighty fine piece of work. Well done to all involved!

If you’d be interested in seeing the finished work, or know someone who would appreciate a copy, please contact service@smow.de (NOTE: It is only available in German)

And at facebook.com/smowcom we have posted a photo gallery documenting the production process.

(smow) Designer Furniture Catalogue 2011

Front Page by Front for Kartell

As part of Stockholm Design Week 2011 Kartell presented the magazine rack Front Page by Stockholm design studio Front.

Clever word play and all…..

Although formally launched at Milan 2010 Front Page is only now making it’s way into the shops and as such presented a wonderful excuse for a Front “home gig”.

Having already worked with producers such as Moroso, Established & Sons or moooi, Front Page is Front’s first product for and with Kartell.

At the product launch in the Stockholm Kartell Flagship store we caught up with Anna Lindgren from Front to discuss the cooperation with Kartell and Stockholm.

(smow)blog: How did the cooperation with Kartell arise?

Anna Lindgren: Kartell was one of the companies we really wanted to work with – and so we tried for a long time to get a meeting with them in order to show them our portfolio. And then they saw some of our work as part of an exhibition in a gallery in Milan. And so in the end they contacted us.

(smow)blog: And then did they say – “Please make a magazine rack, we like the pun” or how did things develop?

Anna Lindgren: No, no it was much more that we were allowed to come to them and were given the chance to present different ideas that we thought would suit Kartell. And then it came to a discussion from which Front Page evolved. But Kartell also like to develop long term relationships with designers and so they also wanted to see that we could work on a range of different products that could work for Kartell….

(smow)blog: … and so there is a series of Front prototypes lying in the Kartell HQ basement …

Anna Lindgren: (laughs) No not exactly, but we are working on new projects that we hope could be ready for Milan this year. But it is not certain…

(smow)blog: And so from Front’s perspective the cooperation was successful?

Anna Lindgren: Definitely !

(smow)blog: We are currently in the middle of Stockholm Design Week, is that something Front have to be part of or is it something that you do because you want to?

Anna Lindgren: Some years we haven’t done anything! And this year it was the case that we had shown the magazine rack at Milan and then it was great that it was finally coming into the stores and so it’s nice to celebrate that. But we think Stockholm furniture fair is a very interesting fair and the design week is getting better all the time and so it is very interesting to do something here. Especially because it’s more convenient for us!

(smow)blog: And a final question. Is Stockholm a creative city where as a designer you can work, or do you have to leave Stockholm to achieve things?

Anna Lindgren: Stockholm is a very nice city to live in and work in. It’s big but not too big and there are a lot of creative people here in the city. And so for us Stockholm is a very good base for our studio.

Front Page - The Kartell magazine rack that thinks it's a pun

Kartell Stockholm present Front Page by Front

Anna Castelli Ferrieri (1920-2006)

August 6th marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Italian architect, designer and Kartell co-founder Anna Castelli Ferrieri.

Despite initial flirtations with modernism, including a trip to Paris to visit Le Corbusier, the young Anna Castelli Ferrieri was drawn ever more to the Italian neo-rationalism  – especially that practiced by Franco Albini.

And although Kartell products may not be physically reminiscent of the work of Albini, the ethos behind the company and its approach to design are clearly rooted in Albini’s mix of traditional Italian design combined with modern approaches and affordable materials.

In addition to helping establish the golden era contemporary Italian design in the 1960s and 1970s as characterized by the likes of Joe Colombo or Ettore Sottsass,  Anna Castelli Ferrieri also contributed to the Italian design canon with her 1969 Componibili modular storage system; a system that remains a classic of contemporary Italian design.

From 1976 until her retirement in 1987 Anna Castelli Ferrieri served as artistic director by Kartell and oversaw the establishment of Kartell at the forefront of the development and utilization of modern plastics in product design.

Anna Castelli Ferrieri died on June 22nd 2006 aged 87.

Componibili by Anna Castelli Ferrieri for Kartell

Finally a good use for designer jeans.....

The other week we briefly swapped our designer chairs for designer jeans, our crazy student sideboards for crazy student hats and and our designer bookcases for designer handbags: It was Berlin Fashion Week.

The short busman’s holiday in the German capital was principally concerned with a new, and still relatively secret, project but we also wanted to take the opportunity to compare and contrast the designer furniture and designer clothes industries.

Sure they are both about brands, star designers and market share.

But what we miss in the designer clothing industry is the innovation.

WHAT scream an offended ostentation of materials engineers in our direction.
Sorry. You MISS the INNOVATION!!!!

OK, badly explained.

Sponn chair by Antonio Citterio and Toan Nguyen for Kartell. As seen during Berlin Fashion Week

Aside from new materials, we miss the innovation.

A pair of jeans are a pair jeans regardless of where the pockets are.

Which makes the launch of most “new ” jeans simply presentation over substance.

“These jeans are good because they were designed by her that used to be in that band that were formed in that reality show!!!”

“These jeans are better than those jeans because these are straighter cut. And stop at the ankle”

If you think we over-exaggerate just ask yourself why the editors of fashion magazines are celebrities in their own right and the editors of design magazines are well paid specialist journalists?

The devil may sit on a Vitra chair; but no one is going to make a film about it!

We’re not going to pretend that there aren’t designer furniture producers who also place presentation above substance – but the majority are principally concerned with improving and further developing existing furniture types. Building more value into the product

We just didn’t see anyone in Berlin trying to improve or further develop trousers.

Where we do feel more at home in the designer fashion world is amongst those sections and products where innovation has a little more room. Designer accessories rather than designer clothes. As it were.

A Prada Handbag

Such as handbags.

A new Prada handbag, for example, doesn’t have to impress us with the newness of its material or the colour of its fabric – just with its form, functionality and, perhaps most importantly, that it is somehow a further development from previous Prada handbags.

Much like a new Kartell chair.

It’s going to be plastic. But why should we buy it?

They’re trousers. Nice colour.

And just don’t get us started on “trend analysts”

And so we returned from the stifling bustle of Berlin more convinced than ever than in the world of clothes design the true creativity rests in ye goode olde wordsmithery and not in the tailoring.

And wondering if Kartell will ever produce designer handbags?

Although the majority of Ron Arad‘s work could squash most of Isamu Noguchi’s, he played fair and held back from producing a Well-Tempered chair, preferring instead to work on variations in plastic.

Despite some good Infinity Bottle Rack, Lovely Rita and Bookworm work for Kartell, Isamu Noguchi‘s constantly high standard Akari lamp variations held the Israeli at bay and the final 0:0 was a just result.

The Group C table and all Group C results can be found here.

Following his ankle injury Cesare “Joe” Colombo was replaced for this match by Antonio Citterio, one of the most experienced designers in the Italian squad.

Opening with a quick Mobil for Kartell Antonio Citterio quickly reinforced this with a Follow Me for Vitra. Despite the intensity of the opening Citterio couldn’t break Maarten Van Severn‘s legendary calm and the doyen of Belgian furniture design responded with an elegant LCP for Kartell and MVS Chaise for Vitra combination and so cancelled out Antonio Citterio’s excellent work.

All further attempts by both sides made little headway, and the match ended 0:0

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.

Although stylistically worlds apart both Ron Arad and Charles Rennie Mackintosh are united by their individual and uncompromising style and approach to design. As expected it was Charles Rennie Mackintosh who made the stronger start, taking a  1:0 lead with his Argyle Chair – a brave break form contemporary convention and a deserved lead. Ron Arad’s attempts at stemming Mackintosh’s dominance largely lacked the required precision and all landed wide of their intended target. Late in the second half however Ron Arad did manage to level proceedings with his ingenious and genre redefining Bookworm bookcase for Kartell.

An intriguing and just 1:1

The Group C table and all Group C results can be found here.

Day two of the 2010 (smow) designer furniture World Cup and the first all female match: Patricia Urquiola against Hella Jongerius.

As expected Urquiola started in her typical robust, voluminous fashion as demonstrated by her work with the likes of B&B Italia, Cassina or Molteni & C. Against the more wily, formally adventurous Jongerius, however, Urquiola advanced only slowly with her classic “lounge” approach.

Switching to a more synthetic  “Kartell” Approach seemed to offer Urquiola more options, however Jongerius countered with the fully unexpected Polder Sofa for Vitra and the contest was decided; 1:0 for Holland.

The Group B table and all Group B results can be found here.

Hella Jongerius Fans celebrate her late win.

The opening match of the 2010 (smow) designer furniture World Cup pitted not only two of the great design nations against each other, but two of the most influential post-war European designers: Verner Panton and Cesare “Joe” Colombo.

In a brave early move Verner Panton attempted to go solo with his Bachelor chair, Colombo managing to counter at the last minute with his Armchair Modell 4801 for Kartell. Following further good build-ups and clever uses of plastics, Joe Colombo eventually took the lead with his Universale chair 4867. Verner Panton responded immediately and, both adapting to the Italians plastic style and helped by shifting consumer perceptions, levelled the score with his Panton Chair for Vitra.

Despite several good attempts by both Verner Panton and Joe Colombo neither designer could make any further breakthrough and the match ended in a deserved 1:1

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.