KARTELL
who wore a cape, expressed herself in a very
sober way, with a deep voice, had short hair
and a whole series of elements that created a
kind of liturgy around her. In the end, nobody
cared whether he was a man or a woman, and
she did what he wanted. She found intelligent
and very valid ways of saying: «The way to
create my work, in the time that I lived, was to
make them forget that I was a woman».
I belong to a generation that has had to face
these prejudices but to a lesser extent. It is a
pain to think that you have to forget what you
are; It had to be very complicated for all those
incredible women. In that education system of
post-Franco Spain we had to break many assumptions;
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it was not enough to have an education.
And a lot of work still needs to be done
in this direction.
How do you incorporate that gender perspective
into your pieces?
This is an issue that is fundamental to me and
my work. I have even dedicated a product to
this important topic. With the launch of the
Gender armchair for Cassina in 2016, I wanted
to create awareness through the design
itself, so that people could forget about “feminine”
or “masculine” colors and materials.
Each one could personalize the Gender chair
according to how they felt.
In the end, we not only design objects, but behavior.
You participated in a forum on women and
sustainable development at the 2020 Expo
Dubai. Did an event with women as the protagonist
in Dubai seem paradoxical to you?
How was the experience?
At the 2020 Expo Dubai, among other topics,
we discussed the central role that women have
played throughout history to the present day.
Their positive contributions demonstrate that
when women prosper, all of humanity prospers.
The objectives of the conference were to understand
the positive impact that women have
in the world and the challenges they still face,
to promote global women’s initiatives and
solutions and their effort in creating a better
world, to provide a space for meaningful
debates that support the vision and women’s
contributions to shaping society.
At the Expo we highlighted different works
in which we have worked in the development
of women and in local communities in India
or Nepal. For example, the project with GAN
to produce rugs in India, made by women, in
small modular dimensions and reasonable
weight, which can also be produced at home,
thereby providing the opportunity to raise children
and to work. Or the ‘Wasting time daybed’
project, a product made from recycled
plastic, designed for the Rossana Orlandi gallery,
whose sustainable approach was created
by supporting the female design community.
We have also presented ‘upcycling’ projects
such as the Sengu sofa designed for Cassina
or the Nuez Lounge BIO® armchair, developed
together with Andreu World, a design that represents
a further step in sustainability.
And speaking of sustainability, is this the
time for eco-design and the circular economy
in the habitat business segment, do you think
the market is ready?
A designer today must pay attention to the
durability not only of the objects, but also
of the projects. We have to use and interpret
the materials in a better way, keeping in our
mind a clear concept of circularity. Think not
only of the first use, but also of the second life
of objects, of their value that will be filtered
through time and generations.
That is why we have to learn more and more to
design from the opposite point of view: when
starting a project we have to think about the
end of the product’s life, how the product is
disassembled at the end of its life cycle, and
how can it be reused. You have to think about
the footprint left by the product.
We live in a period of important experimenta-
PATRICIA URQUIOLA