Kvadrat

The leading textile manu­fac­turer in the world, Kvadrat consis­tently expands the possi­bil­i­ties of fabric while staying true to its roots in both Pop Art and Danish modernism. Founded in 1968 by Poul Byriel and Erling Rasmussen and named for the Danish word for ​‘square,’ Kvadrat achieved remark­able success with their very first fabric, Nanna Ditzel’s Halling­dal. This wool-viscose uphol­stery is bril­liant in hue and exceed­ingly durable, hence its appli­ca­tion on seating for the Danish National Rail­ways and airports around the world.

Kvadrat matched that success with a series of iconic textiles over the follow­ing decades: Aagaard Anderson’s typo­graph­i­cal Letters; the rich and elastic wool Tonus by the textile and jewelry artist Nina Koppel; and Finn Skødt’s main­stay Divina, used every­where from Microsoft’s head­quar­ters to a Jil Sander collection. 

In 1998, Poul’s son Anders became CEO and Mette Bendix, Rasmussen’s daugh­ter, began heading product devel­op­ment. The pair began boost­ing their tech­ni­cal inno­va­tion, fabri­cat­ing their influ­en­tial Soft Cells acoustic panels for Foster + Part­ners’ Gherkin in London. They also strength­ened connec­tions to the art world, initi­at­ing an series of collab­o­ra­tions with impor­tant commis­sions includ­ing custom textiles for Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and appli­ca­tions for MoMA, the Guggen­heim Museum Bilbao, and the Guangzhou Opera House. In 2017, they invit­ing 19 global design­ers to inter­pret their famed Canvas textile as they wish, result­ing in dance costumes, sculp­tures, and furni­ture for display at the London Design Festival.

And while its classic textiles are as fresh (and as popular) as ever, Kvadrat lately has looked to the future, part­ner­ing with Ronan + Erwan Bouroul­lec on 3D knitted and stretch fabric collec­tions, and Raf Simons for a block­buster line of uphol­stery and acces­sories. They’ve also launched a windows cover­ings line, acquired Swedish bedding firm Magniberg and German legends Sahco, and ended a long part­ner­ship with Maharam to launch an inde­pen­dent North American brand.