Sport by Patricia Urquiola
Sport is an upholstery textile by Patricia Urquiola which unites a vibrant, high-tech contemporary expression with a compelling sustainability story. It is the world’s first recycled polyester upholstery textile made from 100% ocean-bound plastic waste.
Unlike conventional polyester textiles, which are traditionally flat, Sport has a sophisticated binding that adds tactile multidimensionality to its structure. Tiny graphic floral forms play across its surface, infusing the upholstery with a characterful, intricate expression. Sport also offers exceptional colour richness. It derives its signature colour depth from the three different coloured yarns used in its construction. The design comes in a versatile selection of colourways incorporating a scale of rich, warm and cold accents and neutral notes. These hues give the textile a bold look and enhance the qualities of the ocean-bound polyester.
Patricia Urquiola: “The colours for Sport are divided into ‘salt and pepper’ monochrome nuances, which illuminate the textile’s high-tech graphic character, and solid shades which fade its texture away.”
Importantly, Sport is made exclusively from recycled polyester, from 100% ocean-bound plastic waste. The post-consumer plastic used to manufacture the material is collected no further than 10 km away from coastlines and on remote islands in Thailand, where better waste management infrastructure is needed.
This profile means Sport offers sustainability benefits over other ocean plastic polyester textiles. These often incorporate plastic recovered much further from the coastlines and in the sea – up to 50 km away – meaning the plastic has already started to disintegrate in the sea. What is left is very porous. Hence, other ocean plastic textiles typically must integrate either virgin polyester or polyester recycled from other post-consumer plastic sources. Due to the nature of working with recycled content, colour deviations will occur between consignments, especially where light colours and undyed yarns are used.
Sport exemplifies Kvadrat’s commitment to conscious design principles and is created in close collaboration with #tide. A Swiss-based company committed to conscious entrepreneurship and is building a global supply chain for premium second-life raw material made from ocean-bound plastic waste.
Patricia Urquiola Patricia Urquiola studied architecture and design at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and completed her studies at the Politecnico di Milano (Technical University of Milan) where she graduated under the mentorship of Achille Castiglioni. She worked with Vico Magistretti at De Padova and later as head of design at Lissoni and Partners. In 2001 she founded her own studio in Milan, specialising in industrial product design, architecture, art direction and strategy consulting. As well as serving as creative director of Cassina since 2015, Patricia Urquiola collaborates with world-leading brands including Haworth, Louis Vuitton, B&B Italia, Moroso, Flos, Kvadrat, BMW, Starbucks, and Ferrari. 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 high-performance, 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 more infromation, visit: https://www.kvadrat.dk/en