Anders Byriel to be the Habitare International Friend 2023
Anders Byriel, CEO of Danish textile brand Kvadrat, has been invited to be the International Friend of Habitare in 2023. In this role, he will give a keynote speech and choose the most interesting phenomena and products from the Habitare fair offering. Habitare will be held at Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre, from 13 to 17 September 2023.
Since 2016, Habitare, which annually attracts tens of thousands design and interior decoration enthusiasts, has invited an influential name in design to be its International Friend.
“My mission in this unique task is to scan the status of the business, brands and designs. I am eagerly waiting for new contacts and good conversations with both the established brands and new companies, as well as with craft professionals”, says Anders Byriel, who has visited Finland twice and who keenly follows the appearance of new architectural landmarks in Helsinki, his favourite spot being the Oodi library.
Next autumn’s Habitare will emphasise being and doing things together. The theme, Together, speaks about our need to feel togetherness in today’s world, but also about our duty to take care of the global concerns and security challenges, like climate crisis and inequality, acting in collaboration with each other and with nature. This resonates strongly with Anders Byriel.
“We are leaving predictable and quiet times; the pandemic and the unexpected war have changed our world. We need to stay together; there is a need for dialogue and interaction. Togetherness is our possibility to recalibrate our lives”, he says.
Byriel has worked for more than 30 years at Kvadrat, a company that produces high-quality textiles and textile-related products for both private and public spaces around the world. The company is famous for working with highly esteemed designers, and the company's designs can be seen in some of the world’s most important architectural landmarks, such as the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; the Harbin Opera House, China; and the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
In addition to his own business, Anders Byriel is involved in educating new talents at IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid. He considers his work as a professor important and rewarding, even though it is difficult to find time for it in the busy business world.
“Imagination is the raw material of art and design. I am a victim of beauty and deeply into contemporary art. However, design is not only about creating a beautiful interior, but also things that are driven by values. In Scandinavian design, modernism meets humanism, and these are the values we all share. Now we need to take a more well-being-centric approach to the way we design, since people who experienced the pandemic have become more aware of the space around them and its importance to their quality of life”, he says.
“A big warm welcome to Anders Byriel. It is a great honour to have him as our guest. Kvadrat pushes the boundaries of textile design and design thinking in general through material innovation and colours, and collaborates creatively with designers in the worlds of fashion, architecture, and art. As the International Friend, Anders explores Habitare and the field of Finnish design through global eyes, selects the most interesting content available at the event, and enters into inspiring dialogue with Habitare, exploring todays and tomorrows phenomena”, says the creative director of Habitare, Laura Sarvilinna.
Previous International Friends of Habitare have been a British architect Joseph Grima, the president of the Italian design company Alessi, Alberto Alessi; the curatorial director at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Cara McCarty; the chairman and representative director of MUJI, Masaaki Kanai; and the influential design figure and critic, and author, Alice Rawsthorn.
Habitare will be held at Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre (Messukeskus) from 13 to 17 September 2023.
ANDERS BYRIEL
Anders Byriel is CEO of Kvadrat A/S and a professor at IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid. He has worked for more than 30 years at Kvadrat, a company founded by his father, and has overseen it since 1998. During Anders Byriel’s leadership Kvadrat has grown from USD 16 mill. to USD 258 mill. in revenue.
Kvadrat produces high-quality textiles and textile-related products for both private and public spaces around the world and has won several significant international design awards. Those collaborating with the company include highly esteemed designers such as Peter Saville, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, architect David Adjaye, fashion designer Raf Simons, artists Thomas Demand and Olafur Eliasson, and many more.
The company was established in Ebeltoft, Denmark in 1968, and has deep roots in Scandinavia’s world-famous design tradition. The word “kvadrat” simply means “square”, the primary design unit of all textiles.
Anders Byriel was ranked in the Top 20 influencers by Wallpaper magazine in October 2015, and in November 2015, he received the Owner/CEO of the Year Award from PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denmark. In 2018, he received the ‘Årets Ildsjæl’ award (the most passionate entrepreneur of the year) from Design Awards and in 2019 he received the EY- Entrepreneur of the Year, Denmark award.
He has a Master’s degree in Law from Aarhus University and an Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) degree from Copenhagen Business School (CBS). From 2011 to 2020, he attended the YPO Presidents’ Program at Harvard Business School, Boston, and he graduated in 2020.
More information:
Laura Sarvilinna, Creative Director, laura.sarvilinna@messukeskus.com
Tarja Gordienko, Communications Manager, Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre, tarja.gordienko@messukeskus.com
Habitare, the largest furniture, design and interior decoration event in Finland, will be held at Messukeskus in Helsinki, from 13 to 17 September 2023. Habitare offers experiences and ideas on interior decoration, and on the functioning and look of homes and other spaces. Habitare highlights the ideas and works by a new generation of designers, and sparks discussion. | www.habitare.fi | @HabitareFair | facebook.com/habitare | #habitare2023
