WORLD DESIGN SPOTLIGHT: Urquiola and GAN

Garden Layers is the name that the Valencian firm GAN, one of the three brands of the company Gandiablasco, with head office in Ontinyent and an extensive track record, has given to the outdoor collection created by designer Patricia Urquiola. GAN was founded at the end of 2008 to give the firm’s textile line its own identity and, to achieve this, it turns to the most talented designers with the most varied languages.

Garden Layers was the first outdoor adventure of the exclusive concept Espacios GAN, a collection comprising combinable rugs, throws, rolls and cushions for life in the fresh air. 

Convinced that handmade products are an authentic luxury, the firm is committed to the work of expert craftsmen and women as the best vehicle to express the creativity of its designers. Therefore, from the outset, GAN has focused on the reinterpretation of traditional techniques and their application to contemporary designs. 

Over the years and following this principle, the firm has established a production system that, whilst preserving tradition, enables it to grow, so that artisanal practices evolve and contemporary design is enriched.

The Garden Layers collection, designed by Urquiola, is inspired by the architecture and culture of the Mughal empire, where rugs are not simply decorative objects, but become a system of shapes and volumes that redefine the concept of habitability.

The designer and architect Patricia Urquiola is one of the Spanish creators with the most widespread international acclaim. Born in Oviedo in 1961, she has lived and worked in Milan for more than 25 years, where she graduated in 1989 with Achile Castiglioni, with whom she later worked as assistant. She also worked with Eugenio Bettinelli and with Vico Magistretti before opening her own studio dedicated to product design, architecture and installations, in 2001.

Her architectural projects include the Jewellery Museum of Vicenza, the Hotel Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona, the Hotel Das Stue in Berlin and the hotel Il Sereno in Como. Among others, she has received the Red Dot Award and the Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Awards.

As well as designing products for the most important Italian and international companies, Patricia Urquiola has pieces on show in museums and collections, such as the MoMA in New York, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Design Museum in Zurich, the Vitra Design Museum in Basel, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Stedelijk of Amsterdam and the Triennale Museum of Milan.

The artisanal production of GAN, which takes place in India, supports local economic development by preserving tradition. The firm’s pioneering Garden Layers collection is made from natural materials such as wool and jute. Both are obtained without cruelty to animals and are excellent insulators, which helps to reduce power consumption and reduce environmental noise. 

Urquiola’s work with GAN is based on an exquisite language to transfer the delicacy of oriental harmony to products that bring together design and craftsmanship. The firm applies all its efforts to the cultural value of design and to attenuating its environmental impact on future generations. In the manufacture of these products, it uses only materials that meet high levels of excellency and resilience against the passing of time, steering clear of passing fashions.