Designer Raf Simons And Danish Textile Company Kvadrat Launch Lifestyle Accessories Concept And It’s Simply Stunning

While the collaboration between designer Raf Simons and Kvadrat has been ongoing for the past 9 years, the recently-launched Shaker System from the partnership between these two acclaimed design leaders is an exciting addition to their work together.

The inspiration for the home organization concept came from Simons’s time in the United States where he grew an appreciation for the Shaker style of furniture. He took this reference and based a collection off the Shaker Rail–the wall mounting used to hang objects as an organizational tool in the Shaker tradition.

While the collection may be influenced by this minimalist, simple, and utilitarian form of furniture, Simons’s clean and sharp design brings the style into the contemporary age. And if the Shaker style is the backbone of the collection, then the sculptures of artist John McCracken is the flesh of it. Simons made a strong nod to references found in the artist’s work—who is known for a bold use of color and surface finishes—which then informed the colorful and sculptural pieces of Simons’s own work.

The Kvadrat/Simons Shaker Collection has been created in 4 colors with the key design concept being the exemplification of a sense a of singularity and uniformity–the system is one system, on color, and one textile. Offered in shades of off-white, pink, green, and black with base textiles of leather, wool, or cashmere the various holders which hang from the rail are designed to address organization in different parts of the home. For example, for the living room there are woolen throws, cushions, accessory boxes, and a mirror tray while pieces for the entry include a key chain, tote bag, shopping bags, and even a ball cap.

“More than ever the home is the absolute centre of our lives and I wanted to create a system that would change it for the better. I am trained as an industrial designer, just putting out beautiful products was not enough. I wanted to conceive something relevant to how we live today,” Simons explained in a statement.

“Originally the idea was to think about a whole house, room by room, not literally, but more a way of thinking – how do we actually live. We didn’t approach it from an aesthetic point of view, it was about function and needs and we really put ourselves into the skins of the users.”

The Shaker system consists of 26 items available in 4 colorways and will be launched in two collections, the first of which was launched last week. To view the entire collection and find out where to acquire the collection, visit kvadratrafsimons.com.