Andreu World’s new Milan showroom welcomed visitors with warmth, sun streaming in through the windows. Unlike older Italian showrooms like Boffi or Cassina, the Andreu World showroom is not in an old, apartment-style building. It’s in a newer, glass-and-steel, office building in Corso Como-Porta Garibaldi, the city’s financial center. Yet with Andreu World’s soft upholstery, warm wooden furniture, and open room dividers that offer views across the space, it offers a comfortable space to reflect the identity of the Spanish brand.
Patricia Urquiola, who has designed with Andreu World for a decade, is behind the new showroom. A Spaniard based in Milan herself, Patricia prioritized natural light in designing the space. “The light in the space is really beautiful, and we have these screens throughout so the sun brightens the whole showroom,” Patricia says. I visit in the late afternoon, and even then the space is bright and welcoming, sun bouncing off of the warm wood and long shadows reaching across the space.
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- The Andreu World Milan showroom is a space for innovation and collaboration as well as exploring the catalog.
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- Patricia also designed the ’70s-inspired Oru chairs, which sit across from Piergiorgio Cazzaniga’s new Raglan Home sofa.
The showroom’s goal is to reflect the identity of Andreu World itself, with sustainability at its heart. To match its entirely C2C certified catalog, the space is outfitted using eco-friendly materials, from sustainably sourced wood to a recycled plastic display wall made by Smile Plastics. The design aims to maximize energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact, the building itself earning LEED and WELL certifications to guarantee a healthy and sustainable space.
Opened for the first time during Milan Design Week, the showroom is currently filled with new collections by Philippe Starck, Alfredo Häberli, Benjamin Hubert, Jasper Morrison, and Patricia herself.
Among the new designs, Patricia’s brand new Bao Collection makes a big impact. The Bao Lounge Chair is a single upholstered piece without arms that can stand alone or be grouped to become a larger, curved seat. Patricia says the collection aims to create less traditional arrangements in communal or private spaces, and offers a very comfortable place to sit with its big, bun-like cushions.
Patricia Urquiola’s Bao Collection for Andreu World
Visitors to the showroom gravitate to the Bao Collection in sofa formation, with the Bao Occasional Table at its center. The base of the chairs and tables match with an organic shape grooved to give the collection a unique texture and personality. Its modularity, designed for the circular economy with a minimal carbon footprint, mirrors the environmental focus of the showroom back on itself.
Two of Philippe Starck’s chairs, the Luba armchair (near) and Olena chair (far), sit across from each other at his Tamara table.
