‘Crinoline’ armchair, designed in 2008 by Patricia Urquiola and made by B&B Italia. PHOTO: B & B ITALIA, USA
In little more than 15 years, the Spanish-born, Italian-based architect and designer Patricia Urquiola has gone from a supporting role in Milan’s industrial design scene to high-profile product launches for brands like Copenhagen’s Georg Jensen and Paris’s Louis Vuitton. She has designed everything from curvaceous, banana-fiber chairs to Ferrari exhibitions.
Next stop: Philadelphia. On Nov. 19, “Patricia Urquiola: Between Craft and Industry” will give American museum-goers an overview of the European designer. The survey of her solo career includes work dating from 2002, soon after she first set up her own studio in Milan, to 2016.
Ms. Urquiola manages to combine human-scale craftsmanship with the industrial demands of mass production—an achievement that sets her work apart, according to Donna Corbin, the decorative-arts curator at the museum and creator of the exhibition. “She has introduced the hand to the machine,” says Ms. Corbin, citing her 2008 Crinoline armchair, produced by Italy’s B&B Italia furniture label.