What is it they say? There’s always space for another Urquiola? It’s lucky for us that there is, for the über-prolific Spanish designer always seems to have the imaginative space for a new piece, and it’s a good bet it will be a virtual aesthetic 180 from her last time out. In this case, one needn’t look that far back. Indeed, last week we saw Urquiola’s Vieques Steel Washbasin for Agape. A week later and it’s a whole new conceptual vision: according to the designer, the Nub Chair series for Andreu World is “an emotive object, an element of my memory located in the context of my infancy, when I used to play with the bobbins that my grandmother used when she was making lace.”

Nub Chair. Designed by Patricia Urquiola for Andreu World.

The Nub Chair Updates a Classic Motif

A “bobbin,” in case anyone’s wondering, is a cylindrical sewing machine part on which lace, yarn, or thread is wound. The incorporation of the motif is thus of the imaginative sort, as the “bobbins” on Urquiola’s Nub are not plain cylinders with circular caps, but rather rhythmically undulating shafts that posses a slightly surrealistic silhouette at the bottom, but gradually straighten into the relatively rigid supports that constitute the seat back. The terminus of each of these 13 wooden dowels is joined by a horizontally oriented semi-circle—the capstone to the chair that gives it an additional textural interest while creating some curvy comfort for resting backs. Nub is a versatile piece. Andreau World offers the chair with sleigh, pedestal, and four-legged bases and in a variety of upholstery styles and colors.

Via InteriorsFromSpain.

About the Manufacturer: Andreu World was founded by Francisco Andreu Martí in Spain back in 1955. Not one to be bounded by those Iberian shores, the company now runs manufacturing plants and commercial companies in Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States (including a showroom at Chicago’s very own Merchandise Mart). In spite of Andreu World’s international inclinations, the company’s products still possess a pronounced Mediterranean aesthetic. By routinely collaborating with designers like Patricia Urquiola, Javier Mariscal, and Jamie Bouzaglo, Andreu World consistently creates innovative seating, tables, and upholsteries that expertly walk the fine line between contemporary function and high Spanish flair.