NOW YOU KNOW: AN ORAL HISTORY OF KVADRAT’S NEW YORK SHOWROOM BY JONATHAN OLIVARES

In mid-May 2022 Danish textile brand Kvadrat opened its first ever showroom in New York. To celebrate the fact Kvadrat spared no expense with a prime corner location on Park Avenue and 58th street. “Park Avenue is the most elegant of New York streets,” says industrial designer Jonathan Olivares, who transformed a dark and wood-paneled former 1970s car dealership into a light-filled, two-story showcase for Kvadrat’s large variety of high-performance design textiles, which includes the company’s famous Hallingdal 65 by Nanna Ditzel, as well as collaborations by other design vanguards like Raf Simons, Peter Saville, Vincent van Duysen. It was a 360-degree project for Olivares, who not only created the space but custom-designed all the furniture (with Moroso), including seating and tables. Filmmaker Caroline Gaimari met the 40-something former skater (and recently anointed senior vice president of design for Knoll) for a conceptual walk-through of the Kvadrat space. Find out why a catwalk is the perfect device for showcasing textiles, why real sky blue is hard to find, and why for Kvadrat everything leads back to the square.

Directed by Caroline Gaimari
Animations by Eléonore Durand
Direction of Photography by Alex Purifoy
Sound by Adeline Thery
Additional footage by Bob Hoste
Production assistance by Isabelle Olivares