Irreversible Scale looks at the path to net zero in the form of a long-term calendar. Charting Kvadrat’s transitional decarbonisation goals over the course of 16 years to the year 2040, the calendar consists of two frames. The left frame holds rolls of calendars – one roll for each year to 2040. Each year, a roll is moved to the right frame where it is hung, unrolled, for use. As the years go by, and the stacked rolls are successively moved to the right-hand frame, Kvadrat’s emissions targets for each phase of its transition to net zero come into view, printed on the wood behind the left frame’s stacked rolls. As each new phase is reached, the roll colour changes – shifting incrementally from warmer to colder colours.

Each year’s calendar is printed on a roll of Kvadrat Divina 3 fabric, chosen for its durability and potential for recycling. The calendars have an unconventional format, eschewing the subdivision of months into seven-day weeks and lacking the usual indications of days of the week, weekends and public holidays. Instead, months are typographically arranged without hierarchy in parallel vertical rows, with each month at the top of the row represented by a number, from 1 to 12. This deliberately uniform typographical approach is intended to prompt reflection on how little (or how much) time there is in a year, to provide a sense of the number of days in a year, and to reflect the transience and importance of each individual day.

 “I want to convey the finite and irreversible nature of time and resources,” Nagashima says. “I want people to gradually feel this as they watch the rolls diminish. By making Kvadrat’s emissions targets visible on a daily basis, I hope that Kvadrat staff, and people who work with the company, can be constantly aware of this process.”