Each new collection by Patricia Urquiola for GAN represents a step forward in innovation and in the affirmation that good materials and crafts are timeless. During Salone del Mobile 2019 in Milan, the architecture and design platform Archiproducts interviewed the popular designer about NUANCES, the felt collection that Patricia Urquiola has designed for GAN.
Urquiola explains that NUANCES is one of the development projects she is currently working on together with GAN, aiming at becoming more sustainable in processes and materials, something she feels passionate about. With NUANCES, it was a matter of turning the felt away from its win-tery appearance, using discarded wool pieces and creating a set of nuances that would inspire something new, fresher.
The most important element is, as Urquiola describes, the creative process: from choosing the material (various types of recycled wool) to looking for something far from perfection. “It’s very nice that all stitches and seams, sometimes triple, other times quadruple, are made by hand. There is wonderful craftwork in these pieces” says the designer.
They first tried with straight and simple lines, and later experimented with undulation; a form that, as she mentions, has always accompanied her. “I’m obsessed with nuances and color shades,” adds the designer.
In this last project, GAN’s Director, Mapi Millet has also had an important role, finding a workshop in India where were able to work with felt in that “fresh, natural and sustainable” form that Patricia Urquiola had in mind.
Finally, the designer talks about the importance of manufacturing and protecting traditional craft techniques; a key element for GAN and at the same time a domain that “most of the Western world has lost,” he says.
NUANCES is composed of three rugs with different patterns (Curve, Line and Round) and a pouf, which can be combined among themselves allowing a wide set of very architectural geometries. It is declined in three color options that share a common stone gray and take us to three natural pal-ettes: roses and burgundy (Burgundy), green and blue (Naiad) and earth and lava (Volcano). As always, the collection is entirely handmade.
