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Patricia Urquiola‘s Vieques collection isn’t her first line of furniture for Spanish retailer Kettal. Her Maia collection, an outdoor series, won the AD Architectural Design Award in 2008. With Vieques, Urquiola continues to pursue her interest in combining new technology with traditional craftsmanship.

“I like finding the most suitable material for each project,” Urquiola says. “Working on technologically developed materials using craft techniques, or using an industrial process on a material from the past.” For Vieques she strove to “maintain the lateral aluminum double moulding, but with a seat and back similar to taut netting, a soft and pleasant grid, in three dimensions, which we have achieved after two years of research.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Urquiola spent two years researching and developing a totally new, revolutionary 3D fabric called Nico d’Ape, available in a rainbow of colors for the Vieques indoor/outdoor collection.