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Interview with Patricia Urquiola |   |
Who or what inspires you?
Everything! Persons, situations, strange cultures – in a nutshell, daily life as we experience it! In the process, my memories and personal experience play a very important role. I observe quite a lot and keep my eyes open, whether I’m in my grandmother’s attic hunting for old furniture or whether I’m in a restaurant in Singapore. I’m inspired mostly by quite ordinary looking objects or conventional handiwork techniques I remember from my childhood or which I’ve come across in the course of my life. With all these impressions in my head, ideas can develop even when looking at a chair or sofa as to how archetypical shapes can be decorated with new materials, or how items perhaps forgotten can be re-discovered or newly identified once equipped with contemporary design.
How does this express itself in the Axor Urquiola bathroom?
It’s important to me to feel well with my designs. And I believe I’ve succeeded in this endeavor with Axor Urquiola and the bathroom designed in this context. People should enter a room and feel at home straight away. This is not only because I played around with familiar archetypical shapes in designing the washbasins, or that my fixtures are still identifiable as such. There are also the small and large, but also very personal objects – a travel souvenir from the last vacation or this antique mirror from a great-aunt – that turn a room into a home. In the process, the Axor Urquiola bathroom ambience provides a feeling of security from the very beginning.
How do you describe your design yourself?
My design isn’t spectacular. People should look at my furniture, washbasins or fixtures and think: “That’s how I’m going to enrich my life! These are really good, practical objects that connect shape and functions so well that I can identify with and enjoy them every single day.” Besides, I believe it’s important to have a good haptic experience in touching my products. If my blueprints convey these messages, then I talk of good design. And then I may actually be satisfied for a minute.
Everything! Persons, situations, strange cultures – in a nutshell, daily life as we experience it! In the process, my memories and personal experience play a very important role. I observe quite a lot and keep my eyes open, whether I’m in my grandmother’s attic hunting for old furniture or whether I’m in a restaurant in Singapore. I’m inspired mostly by quite ordinary looking objects or conventional handiwork techniques I remember from my childhood or which I’ve come across in the course of my life. With all these impressions in my head, ideas can develop even when looking at a chair or sofa as to how archetypical shapes can be decorated with new materials, or how items perhaps forgotten can be re-discovered or newly identified once equipped with contemporary design.
How does this express itself in the Axor Urquiola bathroom?
It’s important to me to feel well with my designs. And I believe I’ve succeeded in this endeavor with Axor Urquiola and the bathroom designed in this context. People should enter a room and feel at home straight away. This is not only because I played around with familiar archetypical shapes in designing the washbasins, or that my fixtures are still identifiable as such. There are also the small and large, but also very personal objects – a travel souvenir from the last vacation or this antique mirror from a great-aunt – that turn a room into a home. In the process, the Axor Urquiola bathroom ambience provides a feeling of security from the very beginning.
How do you describe your design yourself?
My design isn’t spectacular. People should look at my furniture, washbasins or fixtures and think: “That’s how I’m going to enrich my life! These are really good, practical objects that connect shape and functions so well that I can identify with and enjoy them every single day.” Besides, I believe it’s important to have a good haptic experience in touching my products. If my blueprints convey these messages, then I talk of good design. And then I may actually be satisfied for a minute.
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