Alfredo Häberli Design Development

The idea for the Kvadrat Showroom in Milan in 2007 met a very clear requirement, i.e. to showcase as many fabrics from the collection as possible. I used the fabrics to screen, to create rooms, to define boundaries. The play of colours, the collage of textures, and the sensuality of the surfaces come together in one space to create a visual scenography.

The tall room is divided into two parts: the ground floor is the actual showroom where the curtains, fabrics and other products of the Kvadrat collection are displayed. A large table, especially designed and produced by Moroso, forms the heart of the working space. Surrounded by a lounge area with Take a Line for a Walk chairs in special colours and small tables on one side and a storage system for the samples and catalogues on the other. A stone floor with a square pattern was laid as a contrast to the softness and colourfulness of the fabrics. The few walls, the gallery and the staircase handrail were manufactured of oak.

Wooden stairs leads to the gallery. Four desks were positioned in front of the balustrade. The visual background is formed by two dozen storage cabinets with doors that also function as acoustic panels. The room for the director has walls of fabric that he can open or close as he wishes. Six cylindrical ceiling lights are a strong graphical element, in addition to their primary function. The showroom has large windows that allow visitors to look in from outside and is home to an entire range of details that play with differences in scale. But the theme on which this project is centered is fabric. The poetic working title was: «A Breeze of Fabrics».