The Creativity of Patricia Urquiola for the new Officine Panerai Boutiques


The Creativity of Patricia Urquiola for the new Officine Panerai Boutiques

The Florentine brand commissions the new concept for the boutiques of Florence, Hong Kong, Miami, New York and Paris from the internationally famous designer.

JULY 2014 – It is above all the passion for great Italian design that is the foundation of the new partnership between the luxury sports watch brand Officine Panerai and the internationally famous designer Patricia Urquiola, who has taken up the challenge of creating the new concept for the boutiques of the Florentine brand. Initially the new concept will involve five projects of strategic importance for Officine Panerai, which will be unveiled in the course of the next few months, starting in the summer of 2014: the new flagship stores of Florence, Hong Kong, Miami and the new boutiques in Paris and New York.

Patricia Urquiola, born in Spain, has a very strong connection with Italy, where she studied and worked with several of the masters who have been part the history of Made in Italy design – among them Achille Castiglioni and Vico Magistretti. Italy is the main location of her own activities, where she creates her eclectic projects for the most authoritative brands of worldwide design. The partnership with Officine Panerai started in 2011, when she looked after the design and art direction of the exhibition “O’Clock – time design, design time”, an exhibition of the relationship between time and design, curated by the Triennale Design Museum of Milan in collaboration with the luxury brand, which was staged first in Milan and then in Beijing.

“Commissioning the development and creation of the new retail concept from Patricia Urquiola was a thrilling challenge,” says Angelo Bonati, CEO of Officine Panerai. “We already knew Patricia well from the O’Clock exhibition and even then the foundations of a deeper and more strategic cooperation were being laid. I speak of a challenge because many different influences were on the menu: on the one hand a luxury brand with a military background, which always communicates in a crisp, exclusive manner, referring to a world of values and aesthetic codes that are classic in their simplicity; on the other hand, an eclectic Spanish designer with an unrestrained creativity which is apparent in her love of colour, form and the ability to surprise. We have found a common ground in what is dear to us both: love of design, rigorous execution, consistency with the history of the brand, the search for excellence.”

The significance of the partnership between Patricia Urquiola and Officine Panerai is demonstrated by the strategic importance of the five projects which have initially been commissioned. The first is the historic boutique in Florence, where Panerai was founded in 1860, situated within the Archbishop’s Palace directly facing the Baptistery. This will have four windows instead of one and will be completely restored while fully respecting the original characteristics of the boutique which is one of the Esercizi Storici (listed buildings) of the Tuscan capital. The second project is Hong Kong, where in a few months the largest Panerai boutique in the world will be opened, in the heart of the luxury shopping district of Canton Road. Hong Kong is the world capital of the high quality watch business and for Officine Panerai it has for years been a market of enormous importance. The third project will be in the new Miami Design District, a neighbourhood which has established itself as one of the world centres for the interplay of luxury brands, design and contemporary art. Still in the United States, and specifically in New York, Officine Panerai is working with Patricia Urquiola on opening a new boutique in the most prestigious part of Madison Avenue, which will replace the current one situated a few blocks away. The last of Patricia Urquiola’s projects – but the first to be opened, in summer 2014 – is Panerai’s second boutique in Paris, in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

“I feel linked with Panerai” says Patricia Urquiola. “Because I share the same values. The attention for design and technology, but not in obvious way, not showing it off. Making it look simple. The substance is there, for who wants to discover it. There is credibility, consistency and quality”.

The details of the new concept will be revealed at the opening of the boutiques. Each design is being developed by integrating the specific characteristics of the location with the history and identity of Officine Panerai. They will therefore include references to the world of the sea, with which the Florentine company has always be connected by virtue of its historic role of supplying instruments to the Italian Navy, as a result of which the first Panerai watches were born in the 1930s and 1940s.

OFFICINE PANERAI
Founded in Florence in 1860 as a workshop, shop and school of watch-making, for many decades Officine Panerai supplied the Italian Navy in general, and its specialist diving corps in particular, with precision instruments. The designs developed by Panerai in that time, including the Luminor and Radiomir, were covered by the Military Secrets Act for many years and were launched on the international market only after the brand was acquired by the Richemont Group in 1997. Today Officine Panerai develops and crafts its movements and watches at its Neuchâtel manufacture. The latter are a seamless melding of Italian design flair and history with Swiss horological expertise. Panerai watches are sold across the world through an exclusive network of distributors and Panerai boutiques. www.panerai.com

PATRICIA URQUIOLA
Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo (Spain) in 1961. Lives and works in Milan. She attended the University of Architecture at Madrid Polytechnic and Milan Polytechnic, where she graduated in 1989 with Achille Castiglioni. Assistant lecturer to Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli in Milan and Paris, responsible for the new product development office of DePadova, working with Vico Magistretti, head of Lissoni Associati’s design group.

In 2001 she opened her own studio working on product design, architecture, and installations. Amongst her last projects of architecture: Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Barcelona, das Stue Hotel in Berlin and the Spa of Four Seasons Hotel in Milan; showroom and installations for Gianvito Rossi, Flos, Missoni, Moroso, Officine Panerai, H&M, Santoni and the general concept of Pitti Immagine Firenze. She designs for the most important Italian and international companies.

Some of her products are exhibited in various Museums and collections and she has won several international prizes and awards. Amongst others the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes (Gold Medal of fine arts) awarded by the Spanish Government; Order of Isabella the Catholic, awarded by His Majesty The King of Spain Juan Carlos I; “Designer of the decade” for two German magazines, Home and Häuser, “Designer of the Year” for Wallpaper, AD Spain, Elle Decor International and Architektur und Wohnen Magazine.

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