Transmaterial » furnishings

Woven Horsehair

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:00:47 +0000

Marianne Kemp develops woven textiles out of unconventional combinations of materials. Using small bunches of horsehair interwoven with linen or cotton, Kemp creates curious fabrics in diverse colors and textures. The horsehair is sourced from live horses overseas, mainly from Mongolia. In the weaving process, Kemp manipulates the bunches through knotting, curling, and looping. Each final weaving expresses the unique shine, texture, and flexibility of the horsehair fiber.

Kemp explains, “I’m fascinated by the movement of the weavings, how the horsehair is manifest in the net of the weaving technique. Also, the way the light falls on the weaving plays an important role in the process. Each piece of work has its own unique character.”

Contact: Marianne Kemp, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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Flowerfall

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:00:19 +0000

Michelle Brand designed Flowerfall specifically to address our ever-growing amount of plastic thrown away each year. Flowerfall is an eco-contemporary “curtain” made of the bases of discarded PET bottles and articulated tagger ties, the plastic ties typically used to connect a price tag to an item. In her construction of the soft screens, Brand pays great attention to minimizing processing, and uses no melting, reforming, or molds in her handmade fabrication process. Flowerfall celebrates both form and function in sculptural installations that are decorative without being overly fussy. The material has an unexpected softening quality that can counter hard surfaces or spaces, and its translucent properties harness and filter light in dramatic ways.

Contact: Michelle Brand, UK.
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Based Upon Surfaces

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:00:22 +0000

Based Upon has developed a series of multi-layered textured surfaces in metals, resins, and lacquers that are available to be specified as surface finishes within architectural and interiors projects. Taking inspiration from elements as diverse as stingray skin, laburnum leaves, or the fine lines within a human hand, Based Upon has conjured a rich and varied collection of surface features using construction-ready materials.

Based Upon Surfaces may be hung like wall paintings, although they are often used to create detailed feature walls or monolithic furniture pieces. The surfaces also make visually-stimulating ceilings or hardwearing metal floors that subtly evolve over time.

Working the metal from a liquid to a solid state, Based Upon plays with the changing state of the material, and experiments with the way the liquid metal dries, drips or settles upon a surface. The finishing process is careful, considered, and intricate. Sanding and polishing excavates the metal from beneath the earth-like surface that forms, allowing the application of traditional metal techniques.

Contact: Based Upon, London, UK.
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Delight Cloth

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:00:14 +0000

Delight Cloth is a light-emitting textile comprised of thousands of fiber optic strands. With a diameter of only 0.25 to 0.5 mm, the optical fibers are woven into a large translucent tapestry that can be hung vertically or horizontally. The material may be used for wall or ceiling treatments, as well as banner signage or clothing. Delight Cloth can be fabricated with imbedded graphics or logos, and may be used to emit a wide variety of colors of light.

Japan-based Tsuya textile Co., Ltd. developed “The cloth fiber cross which glittered” in cooperation with Fukui engineering center.

Contact: Lumen Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.
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Living Surfaces

Blaine Brownell — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:54 +0000

With the aim of developing interactive environments, Gianfranco Barban and Gregg Brodarick of B.lab have created a series of tabletop surfaces and floor tiles, which are made of layers of plastic sheets encapsulating nontoxic liquids. These liquids move and bubble in various ways based on touch, depicting constantly changing patterns.

The bichromatic floor tiles generate colorful forms in continuous evolution, so walking on the tiles leaves a trail of footprints. These tiles are comprised of two shock resistant layers of PVC, and the upper layer is treated with a nonslip surface. Welded together, the layers create a rigid tile.

Contact: B.lab Italia, Gallarate, Italy.
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Give Back Curtain

Blaine Brownell — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:00:51 +0000

The Give Back Curtain is part of a series of techno-fabric designs that rethink the traditional and modern applications of portable fabric screens. The Give Back Curtain gives a pliable fabric matrix the capacity to illuminate, define space dynamically over time, and provide a portable form of privacy without partitions.

The Give Back Curtain recycles light through a fabrication process that integrates photo-luminescent pigments in synthetic or natural fibers. Light of a shorter wavelength, such as sunlight or fluorescent light, is absorbed by the fabric, retained, and then released as visible light emitted within another part of the color spectrum.

Contact: Sheila Kennedy with Sheetal Khanna-Ravitch, Boston, MA, USA.
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Dune

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:00:01 +0000

The Dune Project projects a vision of a techno-centric nature and its creative application within public space. Viewers look at, walk around, and interact with a large, undulating field of light-emitting tubes.

Designed by Studio Roosegaarde, Dune is an interactive landscape which responds to the location and behavior of people. This natural-technological hybrid is represented by large numbers of fibers that are brightened according to the sound and motion of passing visitors. Studio Roosegaarde completed a recent installation of Dune which is 40 meters long and filled with interactive lights and sounds.

Contact: Studio Roosegaarde, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Plug.table

Blaine Brownell — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:00:27 +0000

Matthias Demacker’s design for the Plug.table represents the ultimate reduction of an object to its essence. The table is made of three parts, a high-pressure laminate tabletop and two stainless steel legframes, and it may be assembled and modified without any tools. Plug.table may be configured to be either counter or coffee table height based on the insertion orientation of the legframes.

Plug.table utilizes the postforming process of compact forming HPL, and the table surface may be produced in a variety of colors. The table is suitable for interior or exterior use, and multiple tables may be connected by interlocking the legframes.

Contact: Habit, Kuerten-Engeldorf, Germany.
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24K Blown Glass

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:00:38 +0000

Suzan Etkin Enterprises combines refined metals with glass to create exotic material hybrids. Gold is fused to the glass in its molten state, allowed to cool, and then re covered with another layer of glass so that the gold is embedded in the material—creating objects with an internal glow.

24K Blown Glass vessels can be internally coated with clear, flexible, and adhesive antishatter resin, and glass elements can become structural when reinforced with steel embedded in clear resin. Each project is engineered and tested for safety.

Suzan Etkin Enterprises specializes in unique collaborative ventures with architects and interior designers. The design process requires exploration, engineering, and testing to coax the inherently organic material into precise and safely designed structures while maintaining the inherent character of blown glass.

Contact: Suzan Etkin Enterprises, New York, NY, USA.
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Bicicleta

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:08 +0000

Barcelona-based Nanimarquina addresses the problem of waste directly in their carpets. Bicicleta gives a second life to discarded bicycle inner tubes from the city of Panipat, in northern India, where this rug is produced. Its ingenious hand-crafted design makes it possible to transfer rubber from the garbage of village streets to the living rooms, studios, and terraces of houses in various parts of the world. Created by designers Nani Marquina and Ariadna Miquel, Bicicleta requires between 130 and 140 bicycle inner tubes that, once collected, are washed, cut, and woven on a loom.

Contact: Nanimarquina, Barcelona, Spain.
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