The architect and designer Patricia Urquiola Hidalgo (Oviedo, 64 years old) has been distinguished on Wednesday with the National Design Award 2025 in the design modality in design, granted by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The jury has highlighted Urquiola as “indisputable figure of Spanish design at an international scale” and recognizes “an exceptional career that has transformed contemporary design,” the ministry reported in a statement. The award is endowed with 50,000 euros.
The jury emphasizes “his valuable contribution to Spanish design and its dissemination in the world thanks to intense teaching, academic, museum and exhibition work.” Urquiola formed at the Higher Technical School of Architecture in Madrid and in the Polytechnic of Milan “under the tutelage of teachers such as Achille Castiglioni and Vico Magistretti.” Since the foundation of his study in Milan, in 2001, he has collaborated “with the most prestigious firms in the world and has created iconic pieces that are exhibited in museums such as MoMA in New York and the Museum of Decorative Arts of Paris.” The note emphasizes that his work is “characterized by the fusion of technological innovation, an exquisite artisanal sensitivity and the commitment to sustainability.”
In addition, the jury has granted a special mention in design 2025 in the modality of design in design to Diego Arse Nieva, art director of El País for “his contribution to editorial and graphic design in Spain and the impact of his work on the digital transformation of the written press”. The note also highlights “his teaching and informative work and how he has contributed to training new generations of graphic and editorial design professionals in Spain”.
Areo, with almost thirty years of experience, is “an essential figure in the accompanying between the visual transformation of newspapers and magazines and the great social transformations of the digital era in Spain and Latin America.“ As deputy director and art director of El País and responsible for the design of its supplements and magazines, Areso has led important redesign processes that have marked a tendency in the sector, thanks to a determined commitment to the integration between the content of content and form, and your defense that design is also information. ”
The note adds that Areso’s trajectory includes relevant positions in Condé Nast Mexico and Latin America, where it redesigned heads as Vogue, Glamour, GQ, AD y Vanity Fairas well as the art direction in S Moda (fashion magazine beauty and trends from El País), PlayStation, Xtreme-Superjuegos y MAN.
Likewise, the National Design Award 2025 in the Modality of Young Design professionals has been for Miguel Leiro Fernández-Cuesta, as “exponent of an extraordinary generation of young Spanish designers”. Industrial designer formed at the Pratt Institute in New York, Leiro has worked in reference studies. “Its greatest contribution to Spanish design is the foundation and direction of the Office of Design Cultural Association and the Mayrit Biennial, a platform that, since 2020, has opened creative spaces to young talents and risky proposals.” The award provision is 30,000 euros.
On the other hand, the company Viccarbe Habitat has received the National Design Award 2025 in the design and company modality for being an “international reference in the design and manufacture of contemporary furniture and indisputable exponent of the best Spanish design of Mediterranean inspiration”. The company, founded in Valencia in 2000 by Víctor Carrasco and Daniel Benedito, covers the design of product, packaging and also the graphic design.
The jury has been chaired by the General Secretary of Innovation, Teresa Risk Alcaide, and has had Leticia Sastre Sánchez, Héctor Serrano Barbeta, Manuel Blanco Lage, Cristina Busquets Morales, Ariel Guersenzvaig and Ignacio García Fenoll, as secretary of the jury. These awards are awarded to “professionals and companies that have contributed significantly to the increase in the prestige of Spanish design and entities that, incorporating it into their business strategy, have shown that design is a powerful lever of innovation and competitiveness.”