Set of Ludo Lounge Chair and Ottoman by Patricia Urquiola for Cappellini, 2020

Born in Oviedo in 1961, Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola studied at the Polytechnic University of Milan and the Technical University of Madrid, graduating in 1989. From 1990 until 1996, she was Assistant Professor to Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli at the Polytechnic University of Milan and E.N.S.C.I. in Paris. Also during this period, she worked in product development at De Padova, where she and Vico Magistretti created the popular Flower and Loom Sofa designs, among others.

Next, Urquiola became head of Lissoni Associates design group, where her housewares and furniture clients included Alessi, Flos, Cappellini, Cassina, and Kartell. In 2001, she joined forces with Martino Berghinz to open her own studio in Milan, where she continues to live and work today.

Urquiola’s designs combine clean, modern aesthetics with traditional Spanish and Italian crafts (often textiles). She draws upon eclectic cultural elements to humanize her designs. Her architectural work includes hotels, retail locations, and homes. Her product design clients include Foscarini, Cappellini, and B&B. Famed projects include the Fjord chair for Moroso (2002), the woven Flo chairs for Driade (2004), and her Crochet rug for Paola Lenti (2005). Urquiola’s work continues to focus primarily on design and architectural projects as well as exhibition concepts.

Cappellini was originally founded as a family-owned handcrafted furniture atelier in Como in Lombardy, Italy in 1946. The Cappellini brand as it is known today, however, really had its start in 1979, when Giulio Cappellini took over his family’s business as creative director. He broadened its focus to emphasize manufacturing across both the contemporary furniture and product arenas designed by an international roster of hand selected international emerging and established talents, including the likes of Jasper Morrison, Shigeru Ban, Inga Sempé, Marc Newson, and the Bouroullec brothers. Since that time, Cappellini has produced some of the boldest, most iconic designs of the past century, including Shiro Kuramata’s Pyramid Chest (originally designed in 1968 for Ishamaru, produced by Cappellini beginning in 1987), Tom Dixon’s Bird Chaise Longue (1991), Marcel Wanders’ Knotted Chair (1996), and Dror Benshetrit’s Peacock Chair (2009), among others.

Continuing to emphasize experimental processes, an eclectic mix of materials and styles, and extensive design research, today, the Milan-based brand has stores around the globe, and boasts an array of home and office furnishings, as well as a contract division dedicated to the hospitality sector (hotels, bars, restaurants, and so on). In 2005, the Cappellini brand became part of the Poltrona FrauGroup, an international leader in high-end furnishings, which in turn was acquired by Haworth, Inc. in 2014.)

Cappellini’s objects have been exhibited broadly, and are also included in the permanent collections of respected institutions around the globe, including the  and the Musée Des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Galleria D'Arte Moderna in Rome, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. New York’s Museum of Modern Artalone has over thirty Cappellini pieces.