Phlox Cushion

For the sixth chapter in the Kvadrat/Raf Simons collaboration, the Antwerp based designer presented new textiles in an installation called No Man's Land during the Milan Design Week set around a lush bed of flowers within an industrial building named Garage 21. The structure housed 3 prefab buildings by Jean Prouve, including one presented as a workshop in which textiles were presented as if they were work in progress- exhibiting the materials and process behind each design.

Raf Simon's new textiles appeared in a fantastical realm, playfully exploring inside and outside spaces. The diamond grid pattern on NOVUS 1 and NOVUS 2 is reimagined as garden fencing in distinctly non-suburban colors. The thick cording of PHLOX is echoed in the wooden slats of shipping palettes. ATOM has been shredded to create a speckled surface, recalling grassy lawns, flower garden and even patches of dust.

The world renowned Belgian fashion designer and the current creative director of Dior Women, Raf Simons first discovered Kvadrat while searching for intensely colored woolen fabrics to use in his collections while at Jil Sander. That search led to an unprecedented decision to use upholstery textiles for his Fall/Winter 2011 collection. The success of that collection became an inevitable path to Kvadrat’s appointment of Raf Simons to the creative director position, which ultimately resulted in an unannounced public debut of Kvadrat/Raf Simons collection in January 2014. Selections of the collection including Vidar, Pilot, Pillar, Argo, Astor and Balder were used in Raf Simons’ highly acclaimed menswear collection in collaboration with artist Sterling Ruby.

A leading European high-end textile manufacturer, Kvadrat was established in Denmark in 1968 and is deeply rooted in Scandinavian world famous design tradition. Pushing the boundaries of aesthetic, technological and functional properties of textiles, and working with some of the leading designers, architects and artists, Kvadrat’s textiles have a constant and unmistakable presence in contemporary interiors throughout the world.