Kvadrat opens two new showrooms in New York City

Kvadrat promises to take visitors on a sensuous journey of colour, texture and curiosity in its New York flagship location housing two new showrooms. The venues, on the corner of 475 Park Avenue and 58th Street unite a three-dimensional embodiment of the high-end textile brand for architects and designers. The opening marks the third defining step on Kvadrat’s journey to bring their celebrated selection of textiles and textile-related products to America.

The 750 m2 (8000 sqft) space combines two connected showrooms, each with their own entrance, that together showcase Kvadrat’s complete offering. The main space, focused on Kvadrat’s contract offering, is designed by Jonathan Olivares, while an adjacent library-inspired area by Vincent Van Duysen Architects offers visitors the opportunity to explore Kvadrat’s residential collections.

California-based industrial designer Jonathan Olivares is a long-term collaborator with Kvadrat and has translated the company’s culture, values, and mission into every aspect of the open, two-storey showroom. He has imagined it as a workshop and gallery, where the company’s novelties and cultural engagements, and the space itself, can be experienced on multiple levels.

The interior recalls a ship or vessel, while a square catwalk made from recyclable solid aluminium plate on the second floor outlines the space. It is bolted together and finished in sky-blue paint – a positive hue, which works well with any colour, and will neatly complement the spectrum of colourful designs and colours set to populate the space.

The catwalk illuminates Kvadrat’s core values - expertise in colour and engineering and commitment to conscious design principles - while creating a compelling context for interaction with the company’s upholsteries, curtains, and rugs. By elevating visitors and colleagues, the catwalk provides thought-provoking perspectives on art projects and exhibitions in the gallery area. The square form of the catwalk ties in with the intuitive choreography of the showroom, which references that Kvadrat is the Danish word for square.

Jonathan Olivares: ‘Kvadrat’s name derives from the squares on gridded point paper, which were used to record textile patterns before computers. This history was important for me when designing the company’s first NewYork Showroom.’

Embodying this approach, the showroom’s overall layout is based on a 6-foot x 6-foot grid. The core, a textile sample room, corridors, stairs, meeting rooms, offices, and restrooms are all set in logical succession and located conveniently close to one another.

Jonathan Olivares also developed the furniture for the showroom - including the flexible, work-orientated Square Chair, created in collaboration with Moroso - which takes its formal language from the square. He has conceived the metal and wooden tables at the showroom as architectural objects that ground the space with ample work surfaces. The metalwork on display exemplifies the attention to detail that Kvadrat champions. Meanwhile, the smallest object realised for the showroom, a wooden side table, recalls the square’s linguistic and physical qualities and the grid associated with textile design.

The furniture at the space showcases Kvadrat textiles and, simultaneously, creates a dynamic interplay with the designs that hang from the catwalk. In particular, the Square Chairs are used to display a range of colourways for each upholstery - a matter of curiosity for many visitors. For the opening, the Square Chairs will be upholstered inTwill Weave and Broken Twill Weave. The latter is a new design byJonathan Olivares based on his concept forTwill Weave, which points to another dimension of his acclaimed collaboration with Kvadrat.

Broken Twill Weave features a precise herringbone structure and a versatile selection of colourways inspired by an experimental house in Mexico that Jonathan Olivares has conceptualised. Many of the colours for Broken Twill Weave are inspired by the pinecones, agave plants, maple trees, minerals, flowers, and other elements of the landscape surrounding the experimental house, where Jonathan Olivares plans to explore textile design with fellow designers and creative talents. Other tones precisely reflect the different hues of the locally crafted dyed blocks used to construct the building.

‘The opening of our showroom in New York marks our third space in the US and it is a very proud moment to see Kvadrat on Park Avenue. Creative collaboration across disciplines is one of Kvadrat’s core tenets and something I am particularly passionate about, so the opportunity to partner with some of our long-time collaborators is exciting. Jonathan has really embodied the Kvadrat spirit in the showroom, it is a space for our clients to meet, have conversations, work on projects, we will host workshops and exhibitions, it is a dynamic space. Vincent Van Duysen has created the perfect atmosphere for our residential brands, this is our first showroom in the US to showcase our complete offering in two environments.’ Anders Byriel, CEO Kvadrat.

Residential Showroom

A residential showroom that follows the library concept, developed by Vincent Van Duysen Architects for Kvadrat’s residential spaces in London, Paris and Milan, is connected to the contract showroom designed by Jonathan Olivares. The interior of the residential showroom, which conveys warmth, intimacy, and wellbeing - while representing the heritage and expertise of Kvadrat’s acclaimed residential brands – also draws on a local source of inspiration: New York lofts. It offers a unitary space, marked by different heights, which integrates metal columns as free-standing elements that recall, albeit on a different scale, archetypal Manhattan loft spaces. Visitors to the residential showroom can meet at tables or on Cassina Utrecht armchairs. Molteni&C shelving and the Infra-Structure lighting series Vincent Van Duysen designed for Flos further shape the experience of the space – together with the expansive offering of the company’s residential collections and brands: Sahco, Kvadrat/Raf Simons, Kvadrat curtains and rugs.

About Jonathan Olivares

Jonathan Olivares was born in Boston in 1981 and graduated from Pratt Institute. In 2006 he established his industrial design practice, which is based in Los Angeles. His designs engage a legacy of form and technology, and ask to be used rather than observed. Recent projects include a retail shop for Camper (Rockefeller Center, 2019), the installations Brujas Training Facility (Performance Space NewYork, 2018) and Room for a Daybed (Kortrijk Biennale Interieur, 2016); and the Aluminum Bench (Zahner, 2015). His work has been published internationally, granted design awards and is included in the permanent design collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los AngelesCounty Art Museum, and the Vitra Design Museum.

About Vincent Van Duysen Architects

Vincent Van Duysen was born in Lokeren, Belgium, in 1962. After earning a degree from the Sint-Lucas School of Architecture, Ghent, he worked with Aldo Cibic in Milan, followed by a collaboration with Jean DeMeulder in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1989, Vincent Van Duysen Architects was established. Today, the firm has grown into a team of 30 collaborators with work ranging from product design for numerous international brands, to commercial and large-scale architectural projects, with a focus on high-end residences both in Belgium or spread across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the USA.

About Kvadrat/Raf Simons

The Kvadrat/Raf Simons collection brings the acclaimed designer’s exceptional sense of style to the home. Distinguished by the innovative blending of colour and materials for which Raf Simons is known in the fashion world, the collection of textiles and accessories for the home is by turns sophisticated and playful, and produced to the exacting standards associated with Kvadrat. The collaboration between Kvadrat and Raf Simons is built on a mutual appreciation for fine craftsmanship reflecting Kvadrat’s commitment to quality, and Raf Simons’ refined elegance. Conceived as a suite of diverse yet complementary tones, weaves and textures, the textiles and accessories are suitable for use in a wide variety of interiors, and work beautifully together in a multitude of inventive combinations.

About Sahco

For almost 200 years, Sahco has defined exquisite taste and superior quality in the world of interiors. Combining classic design and innovation, the elegant upholstery textiles and draperies of the Sahco collection have captured the hearts of a discern audience. Their rich textures and refined details can be found in many beautiful homes worldwide. Kvadrat acquired Sahco in 2018.