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Textile Field by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Landmark Project

17 — 25 Sept 2011

Interiors & Furniture, Fashion & Textiles

Victoria & Albert Museum

Cromwell Road

London

SW7 2RL

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec chose the Raphael Court, built specifically to house seven enormous works by Italian painter Raphael, to locate their sprawling and immense installation at the V&A in 2011, supported by Kvadrat.

The Raphael Cartoons are really important pieces, but in a way they are kind of difficult to look at because they're from such a different time,' said Erwan Bouroullec, of France's most accomplished design team, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. 'It has this quality of a church,' said Erwan Bouroullec, 'a really wonderful volume, but then in a way it makes you feel too small - a sense of sacré - holiness.' Textile Field was Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec's most ambitious collaboration yet, which took over 240 square metres of the gallery floor with gentle undulations of soft fabric from innovative Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat, and created an expansive coloured foam and textile lounge that invited visitors to spend time relaxing in front of the artworks in a much less formal way than usual. Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec created a space that closed the formal distance between the viewer and the artwork and invited visitors to inhabit the space in contrast to traditional Museum restrictions which normally restrict visitors from touching or sitting on pieces. 'We have decided to provide a kind of furniture element that helps people to relax their bodies and so relax their minds,' said Erwan Bouroullec. 'And then, maybe, the meaning will come.' Following its successful debut at London Design Festival 2011, part of Textile Field was exhibited at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Supported by Kvadrat.

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