Designer Patricia Urquiola mixes innovation with emotion

Patricia Urquiola is a designerspectacularly coming of age. The Spanish designer, whose creations have won her several awards and gained a place in the permanent collection of New York's MoMA, defines her work in deceptively simple terms. "What I create," she says, "is tools for living". Now at the helm of a studio of more than 35 creatives, she is skilfully affirming her place as a leader of modern design.

Urquiola is a master of holistic objects that are equal parts innovation and emotion. They are not merely tools for life, they are, as she points out, tools for living. They fulfil an expanded sense of life, they meet users' fundamental needs yet also engage their aesthetic and emotional sensibilities. She certainly has an impressive portfolio, having designed for the world's biggest companies, including Alessi, B&B Italia, Bisazza, BMW, Il Coccio, Salvatore Ferragamo, Flos, Glas Italia, Kartell, Maurice Lacroix, Paola Lenti, Rosenthal and Champagne Ruinart. She also designed Panerai's new six-storey boutique in Canton Road, Hong Kong, which opened last month.

Last year was a busy one for Urquiola and included a kitchen for Boffi, a new range of tiles for Mutina, where she is now creative director; a series of seats for B&B Italia; and exciting new ventures with Budri and Glas Italia. She rounded off 2014 by adding designer of the year by Wallpaper* magazine to her long list of accolades.

The 53-year-old designer was born in Oviedo, Spain and began her design life by training as an architect at Madrid's Technical University. However, it is in Italy that she truly thrived as a creative. Urquiola studied her craft under some of the grand masters of intelligent Italian industrial design in Milan: Achille Castiglioni oversaw Urquiola's graduate thesis and she regularly brushed shoulders with Vico Magistretti.

In the '90s, Urquiola honed her design skills through a series of prestigious partnerships, working with Maddalena de Padova, Piero Lissoni and Patrizia Moroso. She went on to hold top positions at Padova and Lissoni Associates.

During these collaborations, Urquiola established a fundamental purpose that motivates and unites her body of work: to "search out the challenge to create something that is always edgy but contemporaneous", an enthusiastic embrace of innovation.

Underpinning all her designs, Urquiola claims, is a motivation "to improve our everyday lives; not only in terms of ergonomics, environmental impact and other practical elements, but mostly on the intangible - virtual values perceptions, mental comfort and inner pleasure".

This holistic design mantra imbues Urquiola's creations with a depth of character that sets her apart from contemporaries.

A Patricia Urquiola creation is one that captivates the eyes before going on to capture the heart. She is concerned not just with the physical needs of people but the very things that our souls yearn for - comfort, intrigue, refinement. The designer is renowned for the way she implements this promise by extrapolating and distorting traditional shapes of chairs and sofas to create furniture that pushes conventions of design. Her colours are often bold yet intelligent and welcoming.