My Canvas by Kvadrat at the NGV Melbourne Design Week 2018
Aligning with the “design effects” theme of the NGV’s Melbourne Design Week, Kvadrat’s My Canvas installation was exhibited at LCI Melbourne in March 2018.
My Canvas was originally developed in honour of Kvadrat’s fruitful 13-year collaboration with Italian designer Giulio Ridolfo and saw Kvadrat invite designers to create unique works using Ridolfo’s distinctive upholstery textile Canvas.
Kvadrat left the brief open to interpretation and unveiled the results at My Canvas at Somerset House during London Design Festival 2017 before embarking on a global tour that included LCI Melbourne for Melbourne Design Week 2018.
Designers in the My Canvas exhibition for Melbourne Design Week included:
Designer: Christien Meindertsma
Project name: Pigeon Service
Location of designer; The Netherlands
Designer: Atelier Max Lipsey
Project name: Woven Bench
Location of designer: The Netherlands
Designer: Maria Jeglinska
Project name: Background(s)
Location of designer: Poland
Designer: BCXSY
Project name: Catwalk Bench
Location of designer: The Netherlands
Designer: GamFratesi
Project name: MASK
Location of designer: Denmark
Designer: Butternutten AG
Project name: The Principles of Hiding
Location of designer: Germany
Designer: Teruhiro Yanagihara
Project name: Gravity
Location of designer: Japan
About My Canvas exhibition
My Canvas is the third edition of Kvadrat’s design projects that showcase collaborative contributions by emerging and established designers from around the world. The program is a celebration of creativity that aims to inspire the industry, push boundaries in materiality and techniques and encourage people to re-evaluate textile uses. In this iteration My Canvas pays homage to a Kvadrat staple: the vibrant and elegant upholstery textile Canvas, crafted by renowned Italian colourist Giulio Ridolfo.
Canvas stands out for its shimmering colour nuances, delicate contrasts and elegant structure. The new colour palette is inspired by the painterly landscapes of Skagen, Denmark, and comprises a variety of dark, light, cool and warm tones, reflecting the soft, pastel panoramas and dramatic, dark coastlines of the Nordic region.
Kvadrat invited participating designers to create their own contemporary interpretations of Canvas, and the My Canvas exhibition explores the individual creative viewpoint revealed in each piece. Be it the beauty and intricacy of the yarn, the colour palette, the structural properties or architectural expression of the textile, the contributions invite the viewer on a journey of tactile discovery.
Anders Byriel, CEO Kvadrat: “Giulio Ridolfo has been the mastermind behind some of our most successful textiles during the past 13 years: Steelcut, Steelcut Trio, Remix, Hot, Recheck, Zulu and Canvas. His feeling and approach to colour is unique: in-between colours and surprising colour combinations of yarn give every textile by his hand a three-dimensional and surprising depth. So when we had to choose a textile for this third edition of design projects, we were sure it had to be one by Giulio Ridolfo’s hand.”
Curators
Constance Rubini, Hans Meier-Aichen, Jeffrey Bernett, Yves Marbrier and Njusja de Gier curated My Canvas.
“In this sometimes chaotic moment, we look to people who can lead culture to make sense of competing points of view, and to show us a way – or ways – forward. The My Canvas project, as a whole, displays kaleidoscopic creativity, reflecting the diversity of the group based on cultural vision. It is a testament to what happens when you present talent with a provocative opportunity, a blank canvas.” Jeffrey Bernett, designer and curator.
My Canvas follows on from the success of Kvadrat design projects Hallingdal 65 in Milan (2012) and Every Colour is Divine in Divina (2014).