The design industry is moving away from expected, overly iterated typologies—seating and lighting—and expanding its focus to the more overlooked elements of our interiors. More and more brands are wholly dedicating themselves to previously taken-for-granted categories: finishes such as hardware and accessories like cutlery.
This renewed spirit of fresh ideation, centered as much on stylistic exploration as functional reconfiguration, has extended to home textiles as well. With a bevy of wildly expressive and intensely pictorial carpets currently hitting the market, why should other treatments — such as upholstery and drapery — not also be reassessed? Never one to rest on its laurels, Danish textile brand Kvadrat has taken up the task, releasing the visually and structurally bold THREE collection during this month’s 3daysofdesign, Copenhagen’s increasingly influential citywide event.
Cast as much in grounded earth tones as buzzy tints, the extensive offering comprises 14 new designs. Vastly different in style and articulation, they are united by the underlying concept that curtains can, and should, carry the formal and aesthetic weight of sculpture and architectonic structure. Plain, unobtrusive, frankly faded color-blocking has been traded in for pattern and volumetric variation. Raw fibers like hemp, wool, and organic cotton have finally been given permission to be themselves—to do what comes naturally. The full scope of what age-old weaving techniques can achieve is also on display.
Available in Wool, Tan, Reed, Bark, and Dim Grey variants, Tetra has an airy, flowing, three-dimensional quality thanks to its leno weave and densely felted woolen-yarn makeup. A flame-retardant curtain fabric, Triple Tone harnesses the centuries-old jacquard method to create a shimmering effect.
Kvadrat Residential Creative Director Isa Glink was unabashed in revealing that this diverse range was developed with sartorial contouring and construction as references. There are, it turns out, some upsides to the fashion industry’s entry into furniture and furnishings. It is not only the pitfalls of superficial, image-centric cultural production or the fast trend cycles of this adjacent domain that are having an impact, but perhaps also its hyper-refined assembly and form-finding techniques.
Produced in Creamy White, Maple, Khaki, Fresh Water, and Misty Sage colorways, Kajak is crafted using an especially intricate tailoring stitch that imbues the textile with a sense of moving water. Streamline’s subtly variegated, layered surface motif becomes fully apparent under different kinds of natural and synthetic light.
On the bolder and more loquacious side of things, there are Loop Line and Magnet. While the former combines a typology of strikingly juxtaposed cut-pile wool yarn with a fresh linen ground, the latter is an open yet structurally sound warp knit. This graphic, almost architectonic product—available in Laser Lemon, Sensha Green, and Nightwave, among other cleverly selected hues—magnifies the industrial netting used across various sectors. Owing to the deft fashion cue that defines the overall collection, it can also be fitted with a zipper: an intervention that responds to the growing customer demand for easy adaptability.
To learn more about the brand, visit kvadrat.dk.
Photography by Jannick Pihl Rasmussen.
