Patricia Urquiola and Budri turn bad to good with Earthquake 5.9.
On May 29 2012, the Northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna woke up to an earthquake of the magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter Scale. The epicentre was situated close to Mirandola, and HQ of Budri, and Italian company that for fifty years, has specialised in inlay floors made of marble and other natural stones.
The Milan-based Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola, who has been collaborating with Budri for three years, immediately telephoned to see how they were. Damage was considerable and a lot of material in the storerooms had been rendered practically useless. «We are going to carry out a project with all these damaged slabs of stone. We will give a new lease of life to all the pieces that were destroyed within seconds.» With these words, the Earthquake 5.9. collection was born.
Urquiola’s studio has previously been involved in giving the valuable offcuts generated by Budri a second life. This is how in 2010 the first project Marblelace came into being a collection that superimposes layers of marble like lacework.
Having already started with the company, how could Urquiola not be implicated in a collection like Earthquake? Conceived for dining and coffee tables, shelves and objects such as vases and trays, these designs combine different pieces of marble using stone marquetry methods, producing original and spectacularly coloured pieces. Stand outs include the occasional table Origami, named for its obvious stylistic connotation.
On the other hand, the shelves and accessories are much more geometric and irregular. The collection is completed with other pieces that evoke hand-knitted wool. On top, for the 2013’s Milan Furniture Fair, Urquiola made a kaliedoscopical panel – as seen at the beginning of this post.
