Designers including Front, Raw Edges, Claesson Koivisto Rune and Benjamin Hubert have unveiled new furniture pieces made using an unusual textile board.
Really's Solid Textile Board – a material created from upcycled end-of-life textiles from the fashion and textile industries – forms a range of items in the Circular by Design exhibition, on show for Milan design week in the Brera district.
The brand, whose parent company is leading Danish textile company Kvadrat invited Benjamin Hubert, Christien Meindertsma, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Front, Jo Nagasaka, Jonathan Olivares and Raw Edges to showcase the potential of the material.
Each took a different approach to the material: Hubert created a shelving system, Jo Nagasaka made chairs, while Jonathan Olivares made a zippable room divider.
Exhibition curator Jane Withers has arranged the pieces across two levels of an old building in Brera.
"The intention behind these Really projects is to show how beautiful things can be made out of the massive global problem of textile waste, and also to foreground the shift in perception, processes and logistics needed as we grapple with the issues of waste and begin the transition from a linear to a circular economy," said Withers.
"As well as providing compelling furnishing solutions, these pieces quietly resonate as emblems of the complexity of our times and changing understandings of waste and environmental impact," she added.
When visitors enter the room, they are met with Christien Meindertsma's installation. Meindertsma used Really's Acoustic Fur to create a tactile piece on the wall.
A piece by design studio Front is located in the same room, but takes a more functional form in the shape of a cupboard.
The studio's Textile Cupboard features a wavey silhouette, intended to represent the movement of flowing fabric.
"We were captivated by the board's stability as a completely new aspect of cloth," they said. "The cupboard should show that the Really Solid Textile Board still has all the inviting and charming aspects of fabric, just in a different state."
Across the rest of the upper level are designers by Claesson Koivisto Rune, Jo Nagasaka and Raw Edges.
Nagasaka wanted his project to focus on colour experimentation. He used the material to create blocky chairs, before using colouring, sanding, brushing and bleaching to create different effects on each surface.
Raw Edges created its small coffee table by laminating layers of the board together. The outsides of these pieces are blue, but the insides are white – so the studio chipped away at the edges to expose the sections of the material.
Claesson Koivisto Rune looked to architectural grids and mid-century skyscrapers when developing its bookcase, which features blue, off-white and white sheets of the material.
Jonathan Olivares and Benjamin Hubert are presenting their offerings downstairs.
Olivares combined curved pieces of the textile board with zips joining each panel of a room divider – citing his inspirations as spatial partitions by Alvar Aalto and Charles and Ray Eames.
Hubert's Shift shelving system is designed in response to the constantly changing needs of retail environments. When not being used as a shelf for display and storage purposes, it functions as an acoustic panel that is held closed by a series of magnets.
"Shift seamlessly adapts to different situations, from high- demand sales periods, during which storage and display areas needs to be prioritised, to launches and openings, when floor space and acoustics need to be maximised for entertaining," said Hubert.
This is the second presentation by Really during Milan design week. The brand launched at last year's event, where its upcycled solid textile board material was used by Max Lamb to produce 12 benches.
Circular by Design is on show at Via Palermo 1 until 22 April 2017.