De Padova, the historic Italian design producer, opened a 550 sq mtr 2 level, mono-brand store designed by Patricia Urquiola in Istanbul, Turkey.

The showroom organized by DePadova in collaboration with leading Turkish distributor Acar Concepts & Design is located inside the ACRLoft multistore in the Asian part of the city, in an area that stands out for its high-profile residential development.

Using the elegant settings of the Milan showroom on Corso Venezia as a model, which narrate the De Padova lifestyle and represent the ongoing evolution of the brand in terms of quality and design, the new store in Istanbul offers a synthesis of high quality and excellence of the collection made in Italy, a new display proposal on the international scene, capable of combining complementary living spaces in a single location.

Modern, spacious, of great theatrical impact, enjoying total visual openness to the outside thanks to the glazed facades, the space makes this new De Padova outlet a prestigious reference point for all design lovers.

Text by Maddalena Padovan

One of the characteristics of Patricia Urquiola is that she always puts life, joy and energy into her projects and their narratives.

When she tells us about the new, majestic De Padova showroom opened in Istanbul, for which she did the interior architecture and the display systems, her face lights up, because this tale of a commission mingles with a personal experience that began over twenty years ago, at the start of her brilliant career.

“De Padova, with its historic store on Corso Venezia in Milan,” Patricia Urquiola says, “has always been a special place for me. In the 1980s, when furniture stores still looked like warehouses, it was the only place that conveyed a sense of the products on display, connecting them to a narrative of quality.

As a student I would stop to admire the shop windows, studying their essential, elegant spirit.

Then, in the years of my work with the company (from 1991 to 1996 in the Product Development Division), I had the good fortune to learn from Maddalena De Padova the principles behind this aesthetic spirit, made of silences and interruptions, based on the idea of making objects relate to each other, as she had learned, in turn, from her mentor Charles Eames.

She was capable of creating dialogues between things: she always chose white as the base, to which she added ethnic pieces and very ‘craft’ oriented elements; then the famous goose-bill yellow, favored by Vico Magistretti, the simplicity of the Nordic world, or the world of the Shakers. Her world was made of discretion and tact; its essential nature was a concept of life, more than of aesthetics.”

So there could be no better interpreter than Patricia Urquiola to create a contemporary expression of the world of De Padova in a lively country ‘hungry’ for design culture, like Turkey today.

Far from resembling the white cube approach of a museum, the design focuses on a selection of materials of great impact.

The floors on the ground level are made with a fine collection of ceramic tiles, in the 120 x 120 cm format, designed for a prestigious Italian brand by Patricia Urquiola herself; those of the upper level are in fir wood, coated with white enamel paint.

The choice of facings for the ground level also creates an environment of high design content, featuring plywood panels with a pine finish.

All the glazings are in extra clear glass, combined with MDF panels painted white with milled bas-relief patterns.

The pillars and suspended ceilings have been left in the existing exposed concrete finish.

The loft level is faced with a double skin of white sheet metal, and otherwise features the same materials used on the ground ?oor.

For the lighting, Studio Urquiola has chosen fixtures by leading Italian brands in this sector.

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To bring the charm and elegance of the historic Milanese store to Istanbul, the Spanish architect has invented a simple, luminous container to bring out the quality of the products on display in a permanent way.

The display formula is based on painstaking attention to detail, from the objects to the styling, the choice of fabrics for the upholstered furnishings to the architectural structure, avoids any rigid, pre-set solutions, making the space eclectic and versatile. Walking through the showroom, designers and clients can find inspiration, fully sharing in the new philosophy of living created by De Padova

The materials chosen for the finishings are pale, of course: beige ceramic tiles for the floors at ground level, white-stained pine for the floors upstairs, white mesh for the partitions that dose off the more reserved, buffered area on the upper level.

The upper level includes an contract division area, with settings that range from operative and managerial solutions to meeting rooms, lounges and public areas

The dialogue created by the materials chosen is completed with the cement of the ceilings, left visible, and the plywood panels that cover the internal walls.

The same wood is used for panels on wheels, arranged in x-shaped forms, as wings on the lower level, making it possible to set off more detailed display situations in the large two-story open space.

In a layout of great fluidity, the interior offers a 360-degree view of the De Padova style through the contamination between typologies of the products in the catalogue: from the modular systems for the living and dining areas to the iconic pieces of the collection, from contract products to furnishing complements, mixed in complete settings where architects and clients can intervene thanks to a service of personalized design.

About Patricia Urquiola

Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo (Spain) and now lives and works in Milan.

She attended the School of Architecture of Madrid Polytechnic and Milan Polytechnic where she graduated in 1989 with Achille Castiglioni.

From 1990 to 1992 she was assistant lecturer to both Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli at the Milan Polytechnic and ENSCI in Paris.

From 1990 to 1996 she was responsible for the new product development office of DePadova, working with Vico Magistretti.

In 1996 she became head of Lissoni Associati’s design group. In 2001 she opens her own studio working on product design, architecture, installations and concept creation.

Amongst her last projects of architecture: two luxury hotels, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Barcelona and W Retreat&Spa in Vieques (Puerto Rico), a private residence in Udine, the scenography for the opera L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, showrooms, boutiques and interiors for Hermès, Gianvito Rossi, Valentino, Max Mara, H&M and the general concept for Pitti Immagine Florence.

In 2010 she has shown a marble installation at Art 41 Basel and a personal exhibition in Feria Hábitat Valencia.

She designs for Agape, Alessi, Andreu World, Artelano, Axor, B&B Italia, Bart Design, Bisazza, BMW, Bosa, Budri, Chevalier Edition, Il Coccio, De Padova, De Vecchi, Driade, Emu, Fasem, Salvatore Ferragamo, Flos, Foscarini, Gallotti & Radice, Gandia Blasco, Glass Italia, Kartell, Kettal, Kvadrat, Mixing Media, Maurice Lacroix, Liv’it, Peter Mabeo, MDF Italia, Molteni, Moroso, Mutina, Olivari, Panasonic, Paola Lenti, Rosenthal, Champagne Ruinart, San Lorenzo, Tronconi, Viccarbe. Consulting for Honda and LG.

She has won several international prices and awards: the most recent one, the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes 2010 from the Spanish Government.

patrici urquiola at depadova milan