Under my umbrella: Kvadrat at Design Post

Brand story by Alyn Griffiths
Ebeltoft, Denmark
07.01.20

This year, the Design Post showroom in Cologne – located right across the street from the fairgrounds – will be transformed with an installation by Stefan Diez for the Danish textile specialist Kvadrat.

Stefan Diez has designed an installation for Kvadrat’s stand at Design Post inspired by the forts he used to build from umbrella’s as a child

Attending a trade fair can sometimes feel like a bit of a drudge, with hundreds of booths to navigate and thousands of steps to walk in identical air-conditioned halls. In this sort of environment, it can be hard to absorb new ideas and separate one brand’s presentation from another’s.

Since it opened in 2006, the Design Post showroom in Cologne has provided an alternative to the imm cologne trade fair that takes place across the road each January. Operating as an independent entity, separated from the competitive, business-driven environment of the fair, it has become a valuable partner for manufacturers looking to establish their presence in Germany and the surrounding regions.

Diez’s installation will transform Kvadrat’s area within the showroom, creating a talking point that also showcases the brand's innovative fabrics

Not only during the fair, Design Post also hosts temporary installations curated by its partners to showcase new products or tell stories about their brand. This year, Stefan Diez has created an installation for Danish textiles specialist Kvadrat that was inspired by childhood memories of creating fortresses out of umbrellas. The installation will transform the company’s space at Design Post, where Kvadrat will present a new knitted textile by Alfredo Häberli alongside designs by Doshi Levien, Scholten & Baijings and Hella Jongerius, among others.

Buschfeld will use its track system and the LED candles designed by Ingo Maurer and Moritz Waldemeyer to create a mobile installation

Taking pride of place at the showroom’s entrance will be a large-scale mobile combining lighting brand Buschfeld’s modular track system with Ingo Maurer’s innovative, flickering LED candles. The tribute to Maurer, who passed away in 2019, will remind visitors of his Deutzer Brücke installation held during imm cologne in 1997. These kinds of special projects allow brands to try out new ideas in a showroom setting, and provide inspiration for visitors away from the noise and pomp of the fair.