Interview with Peter Saville: "Sometimes you need a trigger"

Mr. Saville, you have been working as a consultant for Kvadrat since 2004; you designed the company's visual identity.

Why did you only design your first textile collection now?

Anders Byriel, the managing director of Kvadrat, had asked me earlier.

But the prospect always intimidated me a little.

Because over the years I've learned that it's easy to have an opinion.

An opinion about architecture, about furniture, about fashion.

But it's much more difficult to actually do something yourself.

And textile production is really particularly difficult.

But this time it was different.

This time I had an idea, a concept.

But without Kvadrat's know-how and experience, I would never have been able to implement this project.

I suggested the concept and the Kvadrat design team responded.

A dialogue developed between us.

What is the “Technicolor” concept about?

The original inspiration was an observation I made about ten years ago. I looked at a rural situation with an urban sensibility. I saw sheep that looked like someone had sprayed them with graffiti. It's not graffiti, of course. It's a kind of color code, one color stands for the owner of the sheep. Others indicate whether it has been vaccinated or lambed. But the observation touched me, it echoed for a long time. But it wasn't until recently, when I was taking photos for the collection and seeing all the textiles together, that I noticed how they took me back to my childhood. It's a very personal collection, a biopic. You are not necessarily aware of the things that shape you. Sometimes it takes a trigger to bring them to mind.

How did you implement the observation in textiles?

My question was: what would happen if the colors didn't wash out of the wool? What if these randomly distributed colors survived the entire production process? We worked through this concept on various textiles. My guideline was to really only use the few shades of color that the sheep are sprayed with, it should be authentic. With the upholstery fabric “Fleck”, for example, the result is very discreet. You have a white, beige or black fabric with these little colored fibers in it. Almost a bit boring, but that's a good thing. You don't change the cover of a sofa or armchair every year. With the “Flock” rug, it's much more obvious, it's the most literal translation of the idea. As with the sheep themselves, you can see the wool and the colors,that they mark.

Why do you enjoy working with Kvadrat?

I say this at every opportunity: I love Kvadrat!

If you think about what an ideal company should be, it would be like Kvadrat.

And why?

Kvadrat is successful, they are obviously profitable, but they don't aim to be hyper-profitable.

Anders Byriel could commercialize the company, but he doesn't want to.

Nobody is forcing him to make more money with Kvadrat.

At Kvadrat they only do what they really want to do.

You know, there is a big difference between doing projects and products because you want to make money or because you want to.

What did you learn about textiles that you didn't know before?

Kvadrat took my suggestion very positively because it was a concept, because it tells a story. This does not seem to happen that often in the textile industry, often there is not so much to say about textiles. And I've learned that textile culture is very slow.