flexibility chasen by patricia urquiola

flexibility – design in a fast changing society

ex carceri ‘le nuove’, turin june 29 – october12 http://www.torinoworlddesigncapital.it

‘flexibility – design in a fast-changing society’ is one of the many events taking place in turin this year in conjunction with the city being named the ‘design world capital 2008’. the show consists of nine projects by international designers installed at a former prison ex carceri ‘le nuove’.

‘chasen’ by patricia urquiola (in collaboration with flos and kartell)

‘in my opinion flexibility is a work method, a personal philosophy, an attitude, a bent. it means an association of

ideas and analogies that leads to something else, through a linear, logical and rational procedure or by an

instinctive and intuitive process, with time or space leaps. I observe, I assimilate, I transform’.

video © designboom

‘the starting point of ‘chasen’, the illuminating device designed for flos, was a small object: a whisk to stir tea that

comes from the japanese tradition. it is made through a multiphase handmade technique of cutting and folding

bamboo. a symbol of an action that transforms itself into another function, passing through formal analogies.

the material flexibility gives the possibility of modulating the shape and the diffusion of light’.

‘the project is presented in a decontextualised space, in which different cultural influences are mixed in a melting

pot that combines tradition and modernity. therefore ‘chasen’ wants to become the interpreter of an exchange

or mix between the current technological world and some multicultural echoes of behaviors that, in the collective

imaginary, are rediscovered on a global scale. recasting and turning round of values. a valuation of the object

outside its original settings‘. PU

patricia urquiola was born in 1961 in oviedo, spain. she studied architecture at the faculdad de arquitectura de madrid. after transferring to italy she graduated from the milan polytechnic in 1989. from 1990 to 1992 she assisted in the courses held by achille castiglioni and eugenio bettinelli, both at the milan polytechnic and at the ENSCI, paris. in 1991 she started working for the furniture company de padova in milan, heading the product development office, where she also designed her first furniture items (together with vico magistretti). in 2001 she opened her own studio in milan, focusing on product design, displays and architecture. she became best known through her many pieces for moroso. patricia has won many design awards and spoke at conferences and seminars in various international universities.

http://www.patriciaurquiola.com | designboom interview with patricia urquiola (2007)

— see the nine installations: