Kvadrat's Asian Collaborations In Milan

20 April, 2016

Tags: Akira Minagawa, Jo Nagasaka, Kvadrat, Kvadrat 2016 collection, Kvadrat Milan Design Week, Neri&Hu

All photographs by Patricia Parinejad

New launches aside, European textile company Kvadrat‘s 2016 Milan Design Week showcase included two art installations by Japanese designers Akira Minagawa and Jo Nagasaka, as well as a fairground stand designed by Neri&Hu.

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Forest Comes Home by Akira Minagawa for Kvadrat

Its showroom exhibit was conceived by Japanese fashion and textile designer Akira Minagawa. Titled Forest Comes Home, the installation was an extension of Minagawa’s new textile collection for the brand, elaborating on the designer’s intent to create textiles that would bring nature’s calming quality into the home.

Forest Comes Home by Akira Minagawa for Kvadrat

The new collection, which consists of three new upholstery textiles Stick Tree, Crystal Field and Forest Nap, as well as curtain textile, Frost Garden, was inspired by natural landscapes.

“I hope that the scenery and thoughts expressed by colours and motifs will bring warmth to the spaces we live in. I wish they will fill the passing of time with many beautiful memories, even when facing the wind in the daily life,” Akira Minagawa explains.

Forest Comes Home by Akira Minagawa for Kvadrat

The textiles were also applied to Naoto Fukasawa’s Hiroshima armchair and Roundish sofa for Maruni Wood Industry.

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boingboing by Jo Nagasaka for Kvadrat

The second installation was designed by Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka, President of Schemata Architects. Titled boingboing, the installation was created with delicate curtain textiles and optical fibres. Rather than being showcased in a flat and suspended format, the textiles and fibres were presented in four three-dimensional, freestanding forms.

boingboing by Jo Nagasaka for Kvadrat

The forms ‘bounce back’ when touched, showcasing the buoyancy and flexibility of the fibres, while enabling tactile interaction.

For its fairground stand, Kvadrat commissioned Chinese duo Neri&Hu, who created a standout space by playing with boxy volumes, a slightly lowered ceiling and neutral palette with sparing colour accents. The deliberately subdued and cosy space was an ideal setting to browse through Kvadrat’s vibrant, versatile and extensive collections.