Kvadrat (company)
Encyclopedia
Kvadrat is a Danish
Textile design
company. Founded in 1968, it now holds a leading position in the European market of design textiles, supplying renowned architects, designers and furniture manufacturers throughout the world, for use in upholstery
and curtain
s.
The company works with a roster of the world’s top designers, architects and artists including Alfredo Häberli, Peter Saville, Akira Minagawa, Tord Boontje
, David Adjaye
and Olafur Eliasson
.
Kvadrat fabrics have been used in some of the world’s most intriguing architectural developments such as The Gherkin
in London, Museum of Modern Art
in New York, the Walt Disney Concert Hall
in Los Angeles, The Reichstag
Berlin, Guggenheim Bilbao
in Spain, the Copenhagen Opera House in Denmark, Yves St. Laurent
in Paris and the Oslo Opera House
in Norway.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
Textile design
Textile design
Textile design is the process of creating designs and structures for knitted, woven, non-woven or embellishments of fabrics.Textile designing involves producing patterns for cloth used in clothing, household textiles and decorative textiles such as carpets. The field encompasses the actual pattern...
company. Founded in 1968, it now holds a leading position in the European market of design textiles, supplying renowned architects, designers and furniture manufacturers throughout the world, for use in upholstery
Upholstery
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English word upholder, which referred to a tradesman who held up his goods. The term is equally applicable to domestic,...
and curtain
Curtain
A curtain is a piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light, or drafts, or water in the case of a shower curtain. Curtains hung over a doorway are known as portières...
s.
Showrooms
Kvadrat's major international showrooms are located in*- Copenhagen, in Warehouse 48Pakhus 48Pakhus 48 is a former warehouse of the Free Port of Copenhagen, Denmark, now housing showrooms for a number of design and furniture companies. Owned by Copenhagen City and Port, the building has an area of 3,000 square metres.-Companies:...
(designed by Ronan & Erwan BouroullecRonan & Erwan BouroullecRonan & Erwan Bouroullec are a design team formed by brothers from Brittany. In 2007the firm's "North Tiles" design for Kvadrat in Denmark won the D - Design Forum AID Award... - London (designed by Peter Saville and David AdjayeDavid AdjayeDavid Adjaye OBE is a British architect.-Early life:David Adjaye was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The son of a Ghanaian diplomat who has lived in Tanzania, Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon before moving to Britain at the age of nine, he led a privileged life and was privately educated...
) - Milan (designed by Alfredo Häberli)
- Stockholm (designed by the Bouroullec brothers).
Designers & clients
Kvadrat works closely with a range of independent designers, coming from very different design backgrounds and specialized and interested in very different design fields. Most work with other media such as furniture, jewellery, porcelain, graphic design and architecture.The company works with a roster of the world’s top designers, architects and artists including Alfredo Häberli, Peter Saville, Akira Minagawa, Tord Boontje
Tord Boontje
Tord Boontje is an industrial product designer. He graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 1991 and earned a Masters degree from the Royal College of Art in London in 1994. In 2006 he created a special holiday collection for Target Department stores...
, David Adjaye
David Adjaye
David Adjaye OBE is a British architect.-Early life:David Adjaye was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The son of a Ghanaian diplomat who has lived in Tanzania, Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon before moving to Britain at the age of nine, he led a privileged life and was privately educated...
and Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research...
.
Kvadrat fabrics have been used in some of the world’s most intriguing architectural developments such as The Gherkin
30 St Mary Axe
30 St Mary Axe, the Swiss Re Building , is a skyscraper in London's main financial district, the City of London, completed in December 2003 and opened at the end of May 2004...
in London, Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York, the Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...
in Los Angeles, The Reichstag
Reichstag (building)
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the...
Berlin, Guggenheim Bilbao
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. It is built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Atlantic Coast. The...
in Spain, the Copenhagen Opera House in Denmark, Yves St. Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent (brand)
Yves Saint Laurent or YSL is a luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. Today, its chief designer is Stefano Pilati. Yves Saint Laurent, founder of the brand, died in 2008.-History:...
in Paris and the Oslo Opera House
Oslo Opera House
The Oslo Opera House is the home of The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the national opera theatre in Norway. The building is situated in the Bjørvika neighborhood of central Oslo, at the head of the Oslofjord. It is operated by Statsbygg, the government agency which manages property for...
in Norway.
Art projects
Kvadrat has actively engaged in projects with artists, museums, galleries and designers. Such projects include:- Whitechapel Gallery - Liam GillickLiam GillickLiam Gillick is a British conceptual artist who lives in New York City. He is often associated with the artists included the 1996 exhibit Traffic, which first introduced the term Relational Art.-Life and career:...
- U-Turn Quadrennial for Contemporary Art - Kirstine Roepstorff
- Serpentine Gallery Pavilion - Olafur EliassonOlafur EliassonOlafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research...
& Kjetil ThorsenKjetil Trædal ThorsenKjetil Trædal Thorsen is a Norwegian architect. In 1987, he co-founded the Snøhetta i.s. company, and has been active in many aspects of the company’s projects.-History:... - Museum LudwigMuseum LudwigMuseum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from PopArt, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It also features many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein....
- Rosemarie TrockelRosemarie TrockelRosemarie Trockel is a German Artist, and an important figure in the international contemporary art movement.- Life :... - Kunsthaus BregenzKunsthaus BregenzThe Kunsthaus Bregenz presents temporary exhibitions of international contemporary art in Bregenz, capital of the Austrian Federal State of Vorarlberg...
- Thomas DemandThomas DemandThomas Demand, in full Thomas Cyrill Demand, is a German sculptor and photographer. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles, and teaches at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg.-Education:...
Awards
- Most Innovative Textile - Wallpaper Design Awards, 2009: Award for Clouds, designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
- Innovationspreis Architektur Textil Objekt 2009: Award for Village, designed by Alfredo Häberli
- AIT Award Architecture Textile 2009: Award for the upholstery Highfield and the curtain Village designed by Alfredo Häberli
- Forum AID Award 2007 for North Tiles, designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec