Switzerland
Alfredo Häberli was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1964. He moved to Switzerland in 1977 and graduated 1991 with distinction in Industrial Design at the Höhere Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich. Today, he is an internationally established designer based in Zurich and is working for some of the leading companies of the international design industry such as Alias, BD Barcelona, BMW, Camper, FSB, Georg Jensen, Iittala, Kvadrat, Luceplan, Moroso, Schiffini and Vitra. He manages to unite tradition with innovation, joy and energy in his designs and his work is strongly influenced by his early childhood in Argentina as well as his curiousness and studies in everyday life. The results are works with a strong expression and emotionality. Alfredo Häberli's work and designs have been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Europe and he has received many awards for his work during the past 16 years. A personal monograph «Alfredo Häberli - Sketching My Own Landscape» was published by Frame Publishers in Amsterdam and in October 2006 he was guest of honour at the 20th Biennale of Design in Kortrijk, Belgium. In this context the book «Alfredo Häberli Design Live» with photos of some of Switzerlands most influential Artists, interpreting Alfredo Häberlis work, was released and published by Birkhäuser. With his own retrospective exhibition «SurroundThings» in 2008 at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, for which he was responsible for numerous exhibitions since 1988, a personal dream came true. In 2009 he was awarded by A&W magazine (Architektur & Wohnen) as the «Designer of the Year 2009» and honoured with a monograph exhibition on the occasion of the international furniture fair - imm cologne. Alfredo Häberli has been curating «Atelier Pfister – Neues Schweizer Design» by Pfister AG since 2009. Alfredo Häberli's most extensive project to date, the 25hours Hotel Zurich West, was inaugurated in November 2012. He was responsible for the overall interior decoration and designed more than 60 products for the hotel. In 2014 Alfredo Häberli received the prestigious Swiss Grand Prix of Design from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture.
Denmark
Arne Jacobsen was one of the most accomplished Danish designers and architects of the 20th century. His distinctly elegant style married the efficiency and clean lines of modernism with sensuous, organic forms found in nature. Biography Arne Jacobsen Arne Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen in 1902. Originally, he began an apprenticeship as a stonemason, but decided instead to study architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, which he successfully graduated from in 1927. One of Jacobsen’s first projects was a ‘House of the Future’, with a helicopter landing pad on the roof, which he designed together with Flemming Lassen. He also designed several larger projects, such as the Bellavista housing estate in Klampenborg. In 1942, Arne Jacobsen and Erik Moller won an architectural competition to design the City Hall of Aarhus, working together with the designer Hans J Wegner. Between 1956 and 1960, he worked on the SAS Royal Hotel (now the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel) in Copenhagen. The building was conceived as a total work of art, and the three architects designed every detail, from the Egg Chair and the Swan Chair, which owe their iconic status to their seductive, organic forms, down to the cutlery in the building. In 1956, he became a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The Munkegård school in Genofte, the Toms factory in Ballerup, the Danish National Bank and the Sports Hall in Landskrona, were all pioneering works of Scandinavian modernism designed by Jacobsen. Some of Jacobsen’s international projects, such as the school building for Christianeum in Hamburg and the Danish Embassy in London were only completed after his death in 1971. Designs by Arne Jacobsen Jacobsen designed furniture, textiles, cutlery and wallpapers among other things, but his most famous projects are his chairs. His 1952 Ant Chair, together with his later Series 7 Chair became some of the most commercially successful designs ever produced. Jacobsen's work is influenced by the iconic architecture and furniture of Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In his quest for perfection, he was not afraid to investigate new and even radical ideas. He always worked to produce objects industrially, while imbuing them with a certain handmade quality; an approach that became the hallmark of modern Danish design. Jacobsen’s Swan Chair Designed for the lobby and lounge of the SAS Royal Hotel, Jacobsen's Swan Chair of 1956 is deemed by many to be a true turning point in furniture design. Inspired by the bird’s elegant, soaring wings, the innovative design abandons straight lines in favour of sweeping curves and organic forms. The chair's sensuous sculptural qualities and bold colours epitomise the optimism of the 1960s. The Swan Chair was first produced by the Danish manufacturer Fritz Hansen, who continue to produce it to this day. Egg Chair Like the Swan Chair, the Egg Chair was also designed for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. The armchair's generous size means it was used to furnish the hotel's lobby. The Egg Chair's restrained form is made seductive by the organic shapes reminiscent of an oval eggshell. Because of its unique, comfortable design, it is one of the most popular chair designs of the 20th century, and continues to be manufactured today by Fritz Hansen. © by Architonic
About Kvadrat
The importance of textiles
Textiles make an impression and create atmosphere, they influence our perception of furniture and space. When we interact with furniture, upholstery completes the experience. Curtains transform rooms, they influence light and acoustics. Kvadrat is attuned to the appearance and function of textiles, to create a product that takes part in and influences modern design culture. It is our ambition to push the boundaries of textiles and of modern and contemporary design whether it be aesthetic, technological or artistic. We work closely with designers, architects and artists to achieve this.
About Kvadrat
Kvadrat was established in Denmark in 1968. The headquarters has always been located in Ebeltoft, Jutland. Kvadrat is owned and managed by the two families Rasmussen and Byriel. The second generation took over in July 2000. Kvadrat develops high quality modern textiles and textile-related products for both architects to specify in public spaces and for the private consumer for the home.
Collection
Our products reflect a commitment to colour and simplicity, along with the desire to develop textiles based on innovation and experimentation in design. Our textiles have become integral to some of the worlds most spectacular architecture and the most visionary furniture design being created today. This positioning is a huge opportunity, yet at the same time a great responsibility; a responsibility that requires us to take an active role in modern design culture and to take part in shaping and creating its future. Our fabrics are for you to innovate, to design, to create.
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