Jonathan olivares: 19 shades of the season

Industrial designer Jonathan Olivares in baggy trousers and a sloppy beard looks more like a college professor than an esthete colorist. He has written three books, teaches at Harvard and is now working with the Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat.

Related: Trends 2018/2019: color, design and textiles

Jonathan Olivares graduated from the Pratt Institute, interning with Konstantin Grcic. Among his achievements are the exhibition hall and the educational space Vitra Workplace (2015); Source of Material exhibition (2014), Olivares aluminum chair for Knoll (2012). The Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of Art store his work in their collections.

Why does Olivares choose the current color? “Jonathan is the one who interprets the world and has an idea of ​​where the process is going. He is one of the designers who define their generation, ”say Kvadrat. Olivares combines research and design, with the result that practical, multi-faceted objects appear with a fully expressed identity.

For the 36-year-old American intellectual, a collaboration with Kvadrat means that he is on a par with Raf Simons, Olafur Eliasson or Paul Smith, and authors that Kvadrat trusts his special collections.

Twill Weave - a series of multi-colored fabrics. An original and very theatrical material is used - woolen twill. The accompanying essay is attached to the series, detailing the history of the production of synthetic pigment and modern textiles, with quotes and excerpts from scientific works.

Olivares conducted research at the Harvard Museum of Art: he studied, photographed and eventually used the entire collection of naturally occurring natural pigments as a basis for selected shades.

He narrowed the subject: from 2500 pigments to 19 shades, ranging from lapis lazuli to Indian varnish. According to the designer's ideas about time, fashion and our sense of nature.

The premiere of the collection will take place during Salone del Mobile 2018.

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