Patricia Urquiola talks about her new bathroom collection “The Small Hours”
04.2024
Colour, material, geometry and light. Patricia Urquiola talks about “The Small Hours”
We talk to Patricia Urquiola about her latest collection for Salvatori
At this year’s Fuorisalone, Salvatori and Patricia Urquiola will present "The Small Hours", a new bathroom collection that explores the concepts of intimacy and functionality.
With her trademark capacity for design that combines form and function, internationally-renowned Patricia Urquiola introduces an aesthetic language of clean geometric lines and high-end materials to create a resounding link with time and space.
Her vision is brought to life through the craftmanship and natural stone expertise developed by Salvatori over seven decades in a collaboration that explores new territories when it comes to bathroom décor.
We talked to Patricia Urquiola to find out more about the inspiration behind the collection, which will be previewed in our showroom at via Solferino 11 during Milan Design Week 2024.
Can you tell us a little about the collection? What was the inspiration behind it?
The inspiration comes from the contrast between two seemingly distant elements, ie on the one hand steel and on the other, natural stone. Something artificial and something natural, something metamorphic like stone next something smooth like steel. We wanted to explore and study the multiple possibilities that stone’s surfaces offer, going beyond the usual aesthetic norms.
We looked to adopt a new approach, reducing the amount of stone compared with Salvatori’s usual collection. Our idea was to use steel as a tray or L-shaped shelf that embraces the washbasin, which for the most part is a solid cylinder, a pure geometric shape in tactile stones in different finishes, from “scruffed” to polished.
What’s behind the name “The Small Hours”?
The name was with right from the project’s initial phases. It refers to that special atmosphere of dawn, that intimate moment of reflection that offers a mental and physical type of refuge, just before the world wakes up.
What was the most challenging aspect of the collection?
Integrating the light was quite a challenge.
How important is the power of light, in your opinion?
In a bathroom, light is not just necessary to illuminate a person, but also the area around them to create an intimate atmosphere. The pieces are framed by light to confer a sense of ethereal lightness and create a game of contrast between the heaviness of stone and this luminous effect.
Natural stone and steel are two very different types of material. Why did you decide to combine them?
We thought about steels as a kind of glue for the stone, shaping forms and slender surfaces, going beyond Salvatori’s traditional single-material approach. The result is an unexpected fusion, a contrast between the naturalness of stone and the smoothness of steel. Salvatori’s variety of materials and colours allowed us to play with different textures and tactile and visual sensations.
If you are in Milan during Fuorisalone, visit our showroom at via Solferino 11 in the Brera district to see “The Small Hours” and a host of other inspiring design ideas. We’re open from 10 am till 9 pm, 16 to 21 April.
If you haven’t yet done so, register now and we’ll send you a QR code which will give you priority entrance.
Milan Design Week 2024 is just around the corner. Find out what Salvatori has planned to wow design lovers from around the world.
Discover “The Small Hours”, the new Salvatori bathroom collection by Patricia Urquiola, designed to transform the bathroom into your private sanctuary.
