x marks the spot

NeoCon is just around the corner – and we are pumped to raise the curtain on our new products. Our new booth is sure to blow your mind in the Windy City.

You’ll find us at Booth #7-4094 – we look forward to seeing you there.

Don’t forget – the first ten people to show up at the booth with our 3form app on their iPad can choose a Reclaim bowl – FREE!

Can’t make it to NeoCon? Ask your rep for the show to be brought to you.
Schedule a presentation.

that ditto sure looks good looks good

ripple wall making waves and rocking the booth

beautiful light art pendants

this timeworn wall was as striking as the chair placed in front of it

Designers from near and far once again flocked to Milan, Italy, for the annual Salone Internazionale del Mobile design fair.

Most notable this year is the shift of energy from the fair itself out into the city. The Ventura Lambrate district transformed into backdrops for designers well-known and completely anonymous to showcase their creations. Stepping out of the generic convention hall setting, raw industrial spaces and decayed courtyards became as equally inspiring as the products themselves. The combination of objects and setting made us feel drunk with inspiration!

so cool

The contrast of timeworn spaces and modern products was captivating.

compare and contrast

check these out

The newer architecture of the Brera district, as well as the Zona Tortona, honored their industrial roots, yet stepped forward with a modern feel. Like the well-known concrete work of Tadao Ando, these walls are both primal and refined. I love this juxtaposition! It really speaks to my soul.

Tadao Ando building | image © Nino di Bari

Shanghai’s shiny new Museum of Glass opened last week as part of Shanghai’s campaign of becoming a globally important cultural and creative centre by launching 100 museums in a decade.

Shanghai-based German architectural firm Logon handled the architecture and exterior of the museum. Germany’s Glashütte Lambets supplied the enameled glass used for the museum’s façade inscribed with glass-industry terms in ten languages.

COORDINATION ASIA, also based in Shanghai, was in charge of the overall museum concept, art direction, design and  supervision of the museum interior. It was also the chief consultant for curation, marketing and operation, as well as coordination of an international team of architects, artists, designers, filmmakers and multimedia specialists.

 
COORDINATION’s Tilman Thürmer tells TCH that they used black lacquered glass for the interior (cases, floor, furniture, walls), but left the existing structure untouched. The museum building is a former glassmaking workshop, one of 30 former bottling-plant structures that the Shanghai Glass Co. still owns.

 
The black, sleek glass of the interior reflects the LED lights and screens positioned throughout the space, creating a shiny and glittering multi-dimensional feel. This emphasizes the interaction, interdependence and influences of periods, continents, materials and peoples involved in the art, craft and industry of glass.

 
The design of the space and exhibits and the use of various media help create an interactive and participatory museum experience where the visitor is directed through the story of glass.

 
“Designwise, we wanted to create a piece of black crystal glass. Sparkling, reflecting, sleek and deep,” Thürmer says. – Tuija Seipell.

Loll furniture | Nice and sustainable

This is some cool stuff – outdoor furniture made from 100% recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE).

As their website says,

“Classic designs are refashioned with modern lines for a contemporary and clean aesthetic… Loll furniture has incredible durability and will not rot or splinter and will never need paint or stain… Loll furniture is entirely made in the USA.”

We appreciate Loll’s commitment to sustainable products!

Jill & Azar accept the kudos

That’s what they’re saying about 3form.

Specifically, at the HD Expo, our incredible booth is taking home an award for “Effective Use of Space.”

Meanwhile, IIDA has awarded LineUp – our new 100 Percent product – with an Award of Excellence in the “Case Goods & Freestanding Furniture – Individual Furniture Items” category.

As if that wasn’t enough, Ripple Wall – the latest 3form Studio product (and part of the Wovin Wall line), has won an award in the “Applied Finishes & Materials – Wallcovering & Treatments” category.

Can you say, “W00T!”?

See the new products.

Wovin | Ripple Wall

Educational Centre En El Chaparral | Alejandro Muñoz Miranda | via dezeen

Here at 3form, there’s certainly no shying away from color!

Check out these colorful structures here and here . . . I love the contrast of the crisp white architecture and playful color combinations.

See our new C3 colors for Spring 2011.

Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture + Design | via Black Eiffel

3form In the Wild | Varia Ecoresin

Translucent is pleased to present a new blog series – “In the Wild.”

“In the Wild” features brief encounters with 3form found out there in the world – in our world – in your world. If someone here at 3form happens to come across an example of 3form products installed in their local area, they’ll snap a couple of photos on their phone, and send in a quick report about the awesome installation they spotted.

But we won’t limit our correspondents to just 3form employees . . . please feel free to send us your own spotting experiences. When you come across 3form “in the wild” – let us know. If we use your photos and comments, you’ll qualify for a monthly drawing to win a Reclaim bowl.

Let’s get wild!

Today, our first “In the Wild” features a discovery by 3form architecture team member Danielle Putz, who spotted 3form in the wild at Bar X in Salt Lake City. Of this installation, she remarked: “I love it. It’s cool to go places and see the product in a real space – to see where your work is going. We all put a lot of time and effort into our work, but don’t always get to see the end product or result… it’s great to be able to go somewhere local and see something gorgeous that I was a small part of!”

Great job, Danielle!

If you’re into geocaching, you can find this 3form In the Wild at the following coordinates: 40.765608,-111.886332.

Get more inspiration.

Black and white are the safe choices in the design world. The color of luxury is elegant and subdued. Yet, at the same time, even top-tier designers, artists and luxury brands have always used bright colors as well. It is not about either or. It is not black-and-white or color.

 
Just try telling those who love Dale Chihuly’s art, Versace interiors, Karim Rashid’s Corian eco-house or Renzo Piano’s Central St Giles facades in London that the “designer look” is always predominantly black and white.

And although bright color is often associated with being a sort of primitive, wild, folk-art aesthetic, and therefore black and white would seem the serious and civilized alternative, color is not just wild, frivolous, and primitive.

 
Just think of your favorite brand’s logo and you will most likely visualize some color. Imagine a weekly market at a Peruvian mountain town, an Indian wedding party, a Norwegian fishing town, Marimekko fabrics, a Cirque du Soleil show or Avatar, and you cannot avoid feeling uplifted and happy because of the colors.

 
In fact, we are seeing a clear increase in the use of color in the broad design world.

We see more color in commercial and residential architecture, interior design, art and installations, events, retail and hospitality. We also see more color in products — from aircraft to fashion to everyday items — and in marketing and communications as well.

All you need to do is click through the various categories on this site – architecture, design, art, kids, Lifestyle, fashion etc. – and you’ll get a sense of how color is gaining ground.

 
The recent super-enthusiastic online reaction to the redesign of the logo of the City of Melbourne in Australia is a good example of this. People are interested and they do see the difference. When did people last get that excited about a city logo? Disneyland’s soon-to-open World of Color and the Dubai Fountain are also great examples of what technology and color are bringing to entertainment experiences.

We are hard-wired to notice and react to color, and marketers (and Pantone and the Color Marketing Group) and psychologists have long known this. Children generally love bright colors. Fast-food restaurants use bright colors because they want us to notice, grab and go. Red is stop, green is go. Colors affect and express our everyday lives, even when we don’t notice it.

 
Throughout history, color has expressed and represented status, religion, origin, feelings and many other things, and its use has been dependent on resources. To be able to afford clothing or other possessions in certain colors meant you were wealthier than most, as some ingredients to produce specific colors were not available everywhere.

 
As we have seen so vividly in the widely circulated “color wheel” by David McCandless and Always with Honor, different colors mean different things in various cultures. And apparently, people from warm climates respond favorably to warm colors while northerners like cooler colors.

 
Perhaps it was the recessionary economy that enticed designers to use more color, and attracted the rest of us to it. Whatever the underlying reasons, we see more color and we love it. – Tuija Seipell

Brands wanting to see ideas and concepts about how to use colour effectively, contact our marketing agency, ACCESS AGENCY.

come see the new stuff

The time has finally arrived – and we are so excited to unveil our new products! And our new booth will blow you away.

We’ve arrived in New York, and we’re less than 24 hours away from showtime . . .

Come experience the new 3form collection at ICFF, this weekend. You’ll find us at Booth #2126 – we look forward to seeing you there.

Don’t forget – the first ten of you to show up at the booth with our 3form app on your iPad can choose a Reclaim bowl – FREE!

Can’t make it to ICFF? Ask your rep for the show to be brought to you.
Schedule a presentation.

A green conundrum? | image via Sustainablog

In order to woo customers and increase sales, companies often design products and packaging to be eye-catching and showy. But a lot of what’s added makes it much more difficult to recycle the materials at end-of-use.

Beyond mere aesthetics, sometimes products are developed with a mix of materials that may make the product more functional or convenient – but the trade-off can be reduced recyclability.

Further complicating matters, there are few regulations or industry standards indicating the recyclability of a product. And what’s “recyclable” varies by vendor and region.

It’s no wonder that, on average, 18-20% of what’s sent to a recycling sorting facility ends up going to the landfill.

Here’s a list of some packaging additions that negatively affect the ability of a material to be easily recycled:

• Adhesively-applied labels
  
  
• Mechanical pumps (hand lotions, hand soap, spray bottles
  
  
• Metal containers with plastic caps
  
  
• Bottles made from more than one type of plastic
  
  
• Toothpaste tubes
  
  
• Plastic-lined paper and cardboard (coffee cups, coated paper plates)
  
  

Can you think of any others?

Pumping up the perplexity . . .