LAUNCHING KVADRAT/RAF SIMONS KIDS AND NEW GENERATION OF TEXTILES

Marking more than a decade of collaboration and innovation, Kvadrat/Raf Simons is venturing into new territory, launching a range of accessories designed specifically for children and a new generation of textiles. Kvadrat/Raf Simons Kids is a Shaker System collection for children designed by Raf Simons to intrigue and delight with accessories appealing to the childhood imagination that are both functional and fun. Headlining the textile launches is Saxion, a new generation bouclé and new icon for the Kvadrat/Raf Simons collection.

Both releases are a testament to the strength of the partnership between the acclaimed designer Raf Simons and Kvadrat, a leader in design innovation. Working together since 2014, they have redefined the parameters for high-end interiors, bringing a richer, more nuanced application of colour and texture. In 2022 they ventured into lifestyle accessories launching the game-changing Shaker System.

“Working with Kvadrat is extremely collaborative, almost like family,” says Simons. The role outside of his stellar fashion career, enables him to take a longer view, using design to enhance how we live at home. It is a personal project drawing on his memories and passions and underpinned by an encyclopaedic knowledge of fashion, art, music, design and architecture.

“I am creating something beautiful with the intention that it will last and be around for decades, this responsibility means a lot to me. I am trained as an industrial designer and I’m very interested in the idea of products at the service of people. When I am working on something new with Kvadrat, I am constantly asking, ‘would I myself’, and we have done things that came from that way of thinking.”

In developing new textiles or accessories, Simons says he gravitates to certain specific historic references as a lens to the future. “I’m interested in how inventive they were, or how revolutionary, in terms of form language or ways of thinking about how people are living. That’s what is on my mind – how can something be transformed and become relevant and loved in a new way. The Shaker system stems from this way of thinking.”

Kvadrat/Raf Simons kids collection will launch 9th October on kvadratrafsimons.com and selected stores: Barney’s New York Japan, Bon Maison in Taipei, The Broken Arm Paris, The Hyundai in Seoul and Overflow in Beijing.

KVADRAT/RAF SIMONS KIDS

The third collection of the Kvadrat/Raf Simons Shaker System, Kvadrat/Raf Simons Kids adds a playful dimension to the ethos of creating beauty from order, imagining a domestic environment seen through children’s eyes.

Comprised of distinctive individual pieces in signature textiles and colours, the Kids collection is bound together by Raf Simons’ desire to create high quality, thoughtfully designed products for children as a natural extension of the Shaker System.

For Simons the Shaker System represents an opportunity to enhance the everyday with exceptional design, making accessories that people can pick and choose, which are tied together by an overall concept. The Kids collection relates to the two previous collections, with a more whimsical focus that invites children into Kvadrat’s creative world. It also introduces new colours, textiles and scenarios to the Shaker System.

“The Kids collection has a practical side and one that appeals to imagination. Building on the original Shaker concept of imagining accessories room by room, we thought about children and their things across the whole home. Children have a different way of looking at things, for instance, a throw can be a blanket or a plaything. For me it was interesting to try to understand children’s thinking and what might intrigue them.”

Drawing on his memories of growing up in the 1970s, Simons developed an ingenious storage bag in Vidar 4 with myriad options for creative play and organisation. It can stand on the floor or be hung on a new Shaker bar in vermillion red, also useful for stowing Shaker pieces or other things.

There is the ultimate Raf Simons’ teddy bear, made by hand in Asator velvet in collaboration with the renowned German producer Margarete Steiff. An Asator velvet cushion and a soft woollen blanket with whipstitch edges, match or complement the teddy. A wool jacquard blanket has graphic expressions of a relaxed bear and bunny in juxtaposed colours chosen by Simons.

In clothing, there is a child-sized hooded towel in terry cotton with a signature Kvadrat/Raf Simons logo shaved into the jacquard pattern and a jaunty bucket hat in cotton with a discreet branded label.

“Some of the things like the hooded towel are made from the same textiles as the ones for the adults. I like the idea that the child can think, oh I also have what my mum or dad have,” says Simons.

Turning his attention to children, Simons tapped a wellspring of creativity derived from his own childhood memories.

“I find kids are creative in a more interesting way than adults. They could use their blankets to make a sort of tent, for example. That was something I did my whole childhood with my cousins. The Vidar storage bag is also a flashback to my youth. I was a 70s child and I had one of those organisers that hung flat on the wall. I loved it. We took that idea and made it into a bag, quite deep, a bit like a large Christmas stocking. I am very romantic when it comes to these domestic gestures that are related to either daily life or special moments like Christmas.”

SAXION AND RIA 2

Since day one of their collaboration Raf Simons and Kvadrat have strived to push the limits of upholstery fabrics, marrying Simons’ unique aesthetic vision with Kvadrat’s unparalleled technical expertise.

As Kvadrat/Raf Simons has evolved, they have become more daring, devoting years to developing new textiles incorporating Simons’ masterful feel for colour and desire to expand the horizons for upholstery. Saxion, a crisp and modern bouclé, and Ria 2, a pointillist-inspired wool viscose, are the result of this shared commitment.

Saxion uses a specially developed yarn combining worsted wool with a polyester binding thread to achieve Raf Simons’ intended effect. With its natural structure and soft finish, the new generation bouclé applies a fashion sensibility to the rigour and durability of an upholstery textile.

“I wanted a new icon for the collection, something softer and more organic with a timeless modernist impact,” says Simons. “I love the structure of bouclé, which is used a lot in fashion but complicated for upholstery. Saxion has this structure which is beautifully natural almost like moss. I see it as the younger sibling of Vidar, one of my favourite Kvadrat/Raf Simons fabrics. Where Vidar has a harder, rougher and cleaner visual impact, Saxion is gentler and warmer because of its structure and special yarn that is more tied to the organic or natural.”

The colouration is inspired by Japanese vintage textiles and an intentional softening of the palette without losing the impact of pigmentation. Headlined by ultramarine, rhodonite pink and sunflower yellow, Saxion introduces new signature colours and a suite of timeless neutrals to the overall Kvadrat/Raf Simons collection.

“It has taken some years to develop Saxion, I’m sure we have tested it more than any other fabric because it can’t just be beautiful, it has to last. To me it represents a manifestation of my responsibility as an industrial designer to create something beautiful and long-lasting.”

Raf Simons uses colour as a form of expression. Ria 2 is the latest manifestation, playing with the perception of colour and amplifying the impact of contrast and juxtaposition. The second iteration of Ria draws on the painterly dots of pointillism to make an abstract composition of weave and colour.

The base of the textile is made up of a thinner, single-toned yarn, through which are woven two colours of thicker yarn, creating a textured dotting of colour on the surface with a subtle shimmer from the viscose. The organic almost floral expression changes markedly when viewed at close range or from a distance.

The minimal three-way palette of deep or vibrant tones offers diverse visual effects. From dramatic cobalt blue grounded by jet black and aubergine, to the lively combination of sage green, jet black and primrose yellow. For a softer expression, wisteria pink is united with dusty hunter green and powder white, while goldenrod primrose yellow and powder white offer a mellow vibrancy.

“I always work with feeling on colours, I’m obsessed with colours, obsessed. Colouring comes up in all my conversations with Kvadrat, because I believe the upholstery business generally is not very daring about colour. From day one colouration was one of the tools to give the collaboration an identity. We make a group of colours, never just purely commercial. We always try to challenge it and offer people options.”

NOTES FOR THE EDITORS

ABOUT RAF SIMONS

Born in Belgium in 1968, Raf Simons studied industrial design in Genk. Inspired by the work of designers such as Martin Margiela, he moved to Antwerp, where the head of the Fashion Department at the city’s Royal Academy encouraged him to start his own label without further study. Launched in 1995, Raf Simons menswear – informed both by classic tailoring and youth culture – had a huge impact on the style of the decade.

In 2005 Simons became artistic director of the Jil Sander label, which under his tenure became known for its vital, sophisticated modernism. In 2012 he was named creative director of Dior Women, a position that he held until late in 2015. During his time as Chief Creative Officer of American fashion label Calvin Klein from 2016 to 2018, he has been awarded Designer of the Year 2017 for both his Menswear and Womenswear collections and for his Womenswear collection in 2018.

In April 2020 Simons joined the Prada brand as Co-Creative Director, working in partnership with Miuccia Prada.

A passionate collector of contemporary art and modern design, Simons’ aesthetic is often informed by his admiration for art and he regularly engages in interdisciplinary collaborations.