Patricia Urquiola was born in Oviedo, Spain in 1961 and now lives and works in Milan. She studied architecture at Madrid Polytechnic and the Politecnico di Milano University where she graduated in 1989 having completed her thesis with Achille Castiglioni.

She worked as an associate at the firm of architects de Renzio and Ramerino from 1993 to 1996 and was engaged in architectural design of showrooms, restaurants and franchising. She became head of the Lissoni Associati design group in 1996, working on projects for Antares-Flos, Cappellini, Cassina and others.

Urquiola opened her own studio in 2001, specializing in product design, architecture, installations and concept creation.