Project : INTERVIEW – WBDM 2022
February 2022
A mere ten years after launching her brand KVP, the textile designer Kim Vande Pitte evokes the architectural inspiration of her collection and her vision of design as a vector for wellness.
Your brand is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. How do you view this decade of textile design?
I didn’t notice the time passing. As I decided to self-finance and I have done other activities on the sidelines of this project since, things didn’t necessarily move very quickly. This brand has grown and developed with me. My vision of design goes hand-in-hand with the concept of wellness. In my opinion, a house needs to reflect the identity of its inhabitants. Textiles are also an excellent medium for adding a distinctive touch to an interior. In recent years, people have been viewing their home as a refuge, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. They also want to reconnect with human gestures and what is tangible through the products they choose to decorate it.
You favour a holistic approach to creation: from the development of patterns to monitoring production. Is this a way to control everything and offer a transparent product?
I develop an intimate connection with the items I design. The specifications are different for each kind of product (plaids, rugs, upholstery, etc.). As production processes shift towards greater sustainability and flexibility – in particular, I’m thinking about processes that use less water, as well as digital printing – the ways we work and the techniques are evolving. That’s why it’s important to stay connected with the product.
Your most recent collection, Concrete Landscape, is pure and minimalist. Tell us about it.
It’s inspired by brutalism, an architectural style that I really like. I like the contrast that can come from architecture that looks overwhelming, but which is very accessible on a graphical level. In my own work, I move closer to this trend when the line transforms into volume.