Ria Cushion

From fashion to architecture and from architecture to fashion, the collaboration between Kvadrat and Raf Simons has perfectly bridged these two disciplines.

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.

Raf Simon’s textile collection for Kvadrat shares a base aesthetic with the designer’s work in fashion. Collections, which include the intensely pigmented gradations of the Tronic throws, the short pile ‘fur’ of Astro and the jewel-box sparkle of Pilot all relate to textures and patterns that he has explored in key works from his recent collection. Materials used include ethically sourced Cape mohair, which is celebrated for its intense silky texture and resilience, cashmere, merino wool and baby alpaca.