Kvadrat introduces new products

Kvadrat is exploring fresh perspectives into light, colour and movement  this fall by launching pioneering textiles from celebrated designers:  upholsteries and a curtain textile by Patricia Urquiola, a curtain by  Margrethe Odgaard, and a special version of our acclaimed Remix  fabric for screens by Giulio Ridolfo.

The novelties unite meticulous colour blends, sophisticated yarn dynamics and respect for the environment. They are crafted from natural and human-made fibres with a strong environmental profile, such as recycled polyester, which offer exceptional aesthetic versatility and longevity. Polyesters, for instance, offers a high-level of long-term aesthetic and functional performance.

To stay ahead of emerging market needs, the new designs meet the growing desire for curtains and screen textiles that share upholstery like characteristics. Along with sophisticated textiles with dual properties with increased UV protection and lightfastness, making it equally suitable for indoors and outdoors.

All the designs represent the latest iterations of the long-standing Kvadrat collaborators. While the textiles break new ground with curious new expressions, they also build on the creative momentum from earlier projects.

New textiles from Patricia Urquiola

The textiles from Patricia Urquiola play with colours, light and tactility, and bring a fresh interpretation to twill-woven constructions. Characterised by a subtle sense of movement and deep colour vibrancy, they change in appearance to compelling effect throughout the day.

Relate and Reflect are faux-uni upholsteries, and Lumo is a curtain. While each is distinctively individual, the textiles all offer homely personalities and versatile colourways. All the new textiles combine strong functional performance with reduced environmental impact. Reflect and Lumo are both made from recycled polyester. Lumo is crafted from yarns created during a low-water-consumption dyeing process.

Relate and Reflect offer natural expressions and an exceedingly soft touch. The upholsteries unite two different unicoloured yarns exploring the concept of twill weaves. Monochromatic at first glance, under closer inspection, they reveal intricate details and eye-catching colour dynamics.

Patricia Urquiola:” I wanted to play with colours and rethink the concept of mélange. Together with Kvadrat, we chose to pair hues that are very close in the colour scale to give much more volume to the texture, which results in a powerful monochromatic effect.”

A natural progression from Relate and Reflect, Lumo is reminiscent of a soft woollen upholstery textile and expresses a strong connection with nature: the name means light in Esperanto. Suitable for exterior and interior use, the curtain can be described as a ‘hyper-mélange’ and is characterised by extraordinary colour-depth, softness and duality. Intriguingly, one side has a tranquil look; the other is more energetic.

Watch in conversation with Patricia Urquiola.

Tints by Margrethe Odgaard

Tints is a soft, matt curtain, suitable for indoors and outdoors, which features a ground-breaking mélange look. Unlike classic mélanges, it expresses colours through structure – not fibre blends – to deliver a striking play of subtle yet intense tints and shades.

Margrethe Odgaard: “Inspired by nature, Tints’ colour-scale seeks a balance between vibrant and gentle energies. The colours look very different from afar than what you see when you look at it from up-close.”

The specially engineered flame-retardant polyester yarn used to create Tints is the same one used for Lumo. The curtain offers an enchanced UV protection, making it durable and exceptional for outdoor use as well as indoor. It lets light filter in, while offering excellent lightfastness on both sides. Homely in personality, Tints is suitable for private and contract environments.

New Remix textile for screens by Giulio Ridolfo

Remix Screen, a lighter version of the acclaimed textile Remix 3, is specially developed for wall panels, desk screens and similar applications. Like Remix, it is designed by Giulio Ridolfo. Though the mélange woollen composition of the textiles is identical, Remix Screen has a slightly more open construction and is greater in width. Remix Screen comes in 16 elegant colourways matching the palette of Remix 3. Inspired by an extensive study of traditional Indigo dyeing undertaken by Giulio Ridolfo on his travels, these comprise subtle neutrals and natural notes, as well as bolder blue and orange hues.

Designers:

Patricia Urquiola

Patricia Urquiola studied architecture and design at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Technical University of Madrid) and completed her studies at the Politecnico di Milano where she graduated under the mentorship of Achille Castiglioni. In Spain, she was awarded the Golden Medal for Merits in Art and received the Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic.
In 2001 Patricia Urquiola founded her own studio where she specialised in industrial product design, architecture, art direction and strategy consulting. Creative Director of Cassina since 2015, she works with a roster of leading design companies. Patricia Urquiola also gives lectures at leading universities and has work shown in prominent museums and design galleries across the world.

Margrethe Odgaard

Margrethe Odgaard’s work is driven by a constant search for fresh ways of exploring colour and pattern in material. In addition to running her own design studio in Copenhagen, she is part of the duo INCLUDED MIDDLE together with furniture designer Chris L. Halstrøm.

A graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design, Margrethe Odgaard also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design in the USA. Before setting up her studio, she worked for several years as a textile designer at French fashion company EPICE. This followed a spell as a printing assistant at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia.

Giulio Ridolfo

Italian colour master Giulio Ridolfo works as a colour advisor to many of the world’s leading interior, clothing and footwear companies. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources such as photography, art, and fashion, Ridolfo gathers images, colours, patterns and textures and combines these different elements and expressions until he creates something new.

Giulio Ridolfo graduated from the Domus Academy in Milan with a Master of Fashion. He has collaborated with Kvadrat since 2004. During this time, he has composed the design and colour setting of several textiles and advised on an installation exploring the interior and exterior of a BMW for Salone de Mobile.

Kvadrat

Kvadrat was established in Denmark in 1968 and has deep roots in Scandinavia’s world-famous design tradition. A leader in design innovation, Kvadrat produces highperformance, design textiles, rugs, acoustic and window covering solutions for both commercial and residential interiors.

Our products reflect our commitment to colour, quality, simplicity and innovation. We consistently push the aesthetic, technological and functional properties of textiles. In doing so, we collaborate with leading designers, architects and artists including: Miriam Bäckström, Raf Simons, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Thomas Demand, Olafur Eliasson, Alfredo Häberli, Akira Minagawa, Peter Saville, Roman Signer, Doshi Levien and Patricia Urquiola.

For further information please contact,
[email protected]
kvadrat.dk