Skateboards, rocking horses and a giant octopus: Kvadrat invites designers to consider the potential of textiles

Kvadrat ReThink marks the Danish textile authority's sixth exploration of design and textile in collaboration with global creatives. Unveiled at 3 Days of Design 2024, ReThink is a creatuve exploration of, sustainable approaches, curated by effrey Bernett, Anniina Koivu, Johanna Agerman Ross, Jane Withers and Njusja de Gier and featuring the work of 12 designers, both emerging and established. 

Kvadrat ReThink at 3 Days of Design 2024

The designers were invited to explore the boundaries of materials through innovative design approaches, and given carte blanche on their preferred medium, from recycled textiles, renewable or natural materials, or circular approaches. The group explored Kvadrat's vast material portfolio, while also drawing from their own communities for further material and manufacturing inspirations. 

The designers involved include Patricia Urquiola, Fernando Laposse, Buro Belén, ECAL's Christophe Guberan and Camille Blin and more, with a roster of creatives ranging from Iceland to Venezuela. Through a variety of approaches, the designers delved into their own practice while also exploring the potential of circularity and collaborating with local realities to give voice to their communities. 

Throughout the 12 projects, the designers explored experimental approaches to using textiles both for practical domestic purposes, playful concepts and more. Guberan and Blin's Augmented Curtain, for example, 'develops the potential of a curtain as an insulating material in living spaces,' through the use of a 3D weaving technology resulting in a curtain that can reduce heat loss in winter and moderate temperature gain in summer. To do this, the pair used Kvadrat's Reflect, made from recycled PET, and created lightweight curtains featuring small tubes that trap air, forming an insulating barrier between window and room.

A decidedly different direction was chosen by Urquiola, who used her Sport textile for Kvadrat ( the world's first recycled polyester upholstery textile woven from discarded plastic collected from the ocean) to create a giant octopus sculpture. The playful object 'is intended to convey a serious message about waste reassignment and environmental sustainability.'

Also on the playful end of the spectrum is Laposse's The Good Shepherd, a rocking bench inspired by the practice of herding sheep on horseback in Mexico. Using Kvadrat's wool-based textiles (a symbolic choice, the designer explains, 'as the company’s wool production depends on sustaining grassland for grazing'), Laposse's horse-like piece features a saddle in Kvadrat’sVidar 4 sitting on a blanket made of Recheck. Meanwhile, he chose Sisal for the body - a material that is recurring in the designer's oeuvre, as it is derived from agave he cultivates as part of his ongoing land and community regeneration project in Mexico.

Venezuela-born María-Elena Pombo of Fragmentario involved a Venezuelan children's home to create a series ok skateboards made of Kvadrat Really’s  (the company's versatile boards made from end-of-life textiles). 'As they created the skateboards, the kids applied a range of new skills and learned about sustainability from both a global and local perspective,' reads a note accompanying the project. 'The skateboards will be used not only for recreation but also for transport in their area. As a means of transport that doesn’t depend on petroleum, the skateboard is symbolic of the move away from ‘extractivism’.

A Tibetan yak tent, made from strips of Kvadrat’s Molly 2 wool upholstery textile, is the project proposed by Atlas's design studio co-founder Jenny Chou. Originally made from yak yarn and now a disappearing tradition, for Chou 'the nomads’ tents exemplify the core principles of reuse and regeneration.' Working with the Tibetan community for the project became an exploration of how traditional practices and customs can help develop sustainable design ideas.

New York-based studio Leong Leong's Kīpuka references the Hawaiian concept of 'oasis' or 'clearing' of the same name. An inspiration to the design and architecture duo for its resistance to surrounding environmental transformations, the concept was translated into an 'adaptable system of objects that transforms living spaces into sanctuaries for rest, play and reflection.'

'The participants responded with passion and ingenuity, drawing on diverse cultural and cross-disciplinary backgrounds,' says says Njusja de Gier, Kvadrat’s senior vice president of marketing and digital. 'ReThink captures many different approaches to sustainability through artistry, experimental education, transparency, 3D technology, assembly, structure and pure craft in which the creative process evolves through hand, heart and mind.'

Kvadrat ReThink is on view during 3 Days of Design, 12-14 June 2024

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Klubiensvej 22

2150 Nordhavn

Copenhagen

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