Repeat. No Repeat.

FilzFelt joins the Knoll family

Knoll had not one but two big announcements this week, including the exciting news that they acquired FilzFelt. The modern furniture giant purchased FilzFelt - a small woman-owned company based in Boston that has been selling felted wood textiles - in order to increase their portfolio of desirable goods and materials for both the commercial and residential markets. FilzFelt joins leather companies Spinneybeck and Edelman as Knoll-owned companies producing luxury goods for the A&D community, and it seems to be a smart pairing.

The wool felt produced by FilzFelt is milled in Germany at a wide width (up to 71") and is available in many different formats. Not just intended for upholstery, felt has structural and dimensional stability and can be used in appropriate thicknesses as an architectural material for screens, wall and ceiling panels, and flooring. It can be die-cut, water-jet cut, laser-cut, laminated, stitched, or receive an adhesive so there is inherent flexibility in the installation of felt as a material. Since the felt is 100% wool, it is natural and biodegradable, renewable as a resource, and is warm and resilient. It has wonderful acoustic properties, and provides insulation. It is also non-directional, which makes it most flexible as a material with little waste factor. It is also water resilient, another feature from the wool fiber which contains lanolin - a natural protectant for sheep's coat. And if that's not enough, wool is also inherently flame retardant. FilzFelt has tested their products tro ASTM E84 standards, and rates as Class A for dyed products (Class B for undyed). It comes in five thicknesses (1/16" up to 3/8") for the various architecural applications, and 58 colors. Speaking of color, since wool is porous as a fiber, it takes dyes beautifully, leaving true clean saturated color behind in gorgeous hues. The color palette used bu FilzFelt was established with a select grouping from the Pantone PMS system, but for a mimimum you can get any custom color. Another bonus working with felted wool is that since it's non-woven, it can be cut without compromising the structure of the fabric, and therefore you can have exposed edges if desired.

FilzFelt screens used in a corporate pantry

FilzFelt wool rug with decorative stitching detail

A Look Back: The Best Stuff of 2011

What a year! With all the product releases and introductions, you would never know the economy is still slow. Manufacturers are meeting the demand for good design by consumers and end users, whether it be intended for personal use or on commercial projects. Good design is everywhere (Amen!), as evidenced by the slew of products that made their way across our desks and into our consciosuness. So what was the best stuff of 2011? Let's take a look back....

Row 1 (L to R): HBF - Nest, B&N - Infused Veneer, Allermuir - Octo, Bernhardt - Apel, B&B Italia - Tufty-Too. Row 2: 3Form - HighRes Imagery, Zero - Fisherman, Sancal - Tab, Lama - LED carpet, Vitra - Jill. Row 3: Brentano - Sputnik, KI- Itoki DP, Vibia - Wind, Axor - Axor Bouroullec, Milliken - Fixate. Row 4: Davis - Gingko, Mutina - Phenomenon, Andreu World - Nub, Tom Dixon - Base, Fritz Hansen - Favn. Row 5: B&B Italia - Husk, B.Lux - Around, 3Form - Timber Latitude, Bernhardt - Forest, Davis - Sola.

Row 1 (L to R): Kartell - Comback, Plumen - Plumen 01, Haworth - Reside, Beside, Belong, Davis - Kontour, Steelcase - Soto II. Row 2: Skyline - 5+ Collection, Carnegie - Pixie Applique, Knoll - Krusin Guest, Unika Vaev - Ilias Collection, Keilhauer - Moss. Row 3: Lori Weitzner - Cinema Posters, Corque Design - Puf String, Leland - Ebb, Infiniti - Loop 3D Vinterio, Martin Brattrud - Kurve. Row 4: Murano Due - IXI Lights, Dune - Asteroid, Bend - Farmhouse, Buzzispace - Buzzihub, Duravit - Darling. Row 5: Geiger - Loophole, Humanscale - Trea, Coalesse - Sebastopol, Lobmyer - One Crystal Chandelier, Coalesse - EMU Pattern.

Snapshots: ICFF 2011

On Saturday we paid another annual visit to The Javits Center for ICFF. Here are some snapshots from our spin around the show. You can look at the entire album here.

Graphic sling chair by Norwegian manufacturer Spinnaker by Hobnebo.

ICFF is all about new emerging designers, such as Shawn Litrell and his Aline Lounge chair and ottoman shown here.

ICFF also is about juxtaposing the new with the classics. Here is the George Nakashima booth looking just as chic as ever.

Need a reminder? LOU, the smart toilet seat, is for you. Brought to you by ModProducts, the same people who introduced ModCat to the world.

Students always steal the show each year with their cutting edge designs. Pratt industrial design student Li-Rong Liao caught our eye with her folded felt table. This was part of a project called "Perpetual Motion" and sponsored by Cappellini.

Wallpaper designer Aimee Wilder standing in front of new design "Kokeshi".

3Form debuted a new stripe pattern for their 100 Percent product, made from 100% post consumer plastic bottles. The striped green table was a hit!

ICFF also brings the world of design together from around the globe. Here is AfricaNow.

Tom Dixon contemplating the fuss everyone was making over his booth.

These orange vinyl bags from Tom Dixon were all the rage. Apparently they are limited and we only given out at intervals, causing a near riot at one point. Sad to say that we at Repeat. No Repeat. were not one of the lucky recipients.

Michelle and Sam hanging out at the LZF Lighting booth in the "Interiors from Spain" area.

Lazer-cut cardboard at Japanese booth D-Torso.

Rinekwall for your Walls

Wired by Rinekwall for Designtex

California photographer John Rinek joined forces with designer Dana Agamalian, and together they formed RINEKWALL - a wallcovering company featuring digital photographic images. Rinekwall then joined forces with Designtex, and now Rinekwall is quickly becoming internationally known for their bold and truer-than-life graphics. The images are photographs taken from real life and then created to fit wallcovering panels with an endless repeat. The images are printed on a sustainable substrate, which is PVC free (as well as phthalate, chlorine, halogen, and heavy metal free). Interior Design Magazine liked it so much they named it Best of Year Contract Wallcovering in December. With over fifty designs to choose from, the designer is now curator and can select the best large scale graphics as art to suit any type of interior space. Our personal favorite is the succulents, as shown below - it's like a living green wall without the need for water. Surely another way to get some "green" into your LEED projects, especially since the substrate can contribute to LEED credits. Check out Designtex or Rinekwall for more designs.

Xeriscape by Rinekwall for Designtex

detail of Xeriscape

Fanny Aronsen sparkles for Kvadrat

 

This coming week kicks off the Milan Furniture Fair, the most prestigious and cutting-edge venue for design luminaries to display their new concepts and products. This year, Swarovski has partnered with ten manufacturers and nine designers to get their Austrian crystals utilized in furniture and textile products that will be more easily within reach than their superb luxury-oriented architectural lighting line. Called Swarovski Elements at Work, this is set to launch in Milan this coming Wednesday, April 14th.

One of these lucky manufacturers is Kvadrat, the Danish textile manufacturer that is the leading supplier of fabrics in Europe.  Kvadrat partners with Maharam in the US as their distributor, so they have a broad base of accessibility to their products.  Kvadrat worked with Swedish textile design Fanny Aronsen, with whom they already collaborate, to create a collection incorporating the Swarovski Elements.  This collection consists of both textiles and wallcovering which feature the loose cut crystals adorning the products.
All we can say is WOW!

Wallcovering by Fanny Aronsen for Kvadrat, using Swarovski Crystal Elements

Wallpaper for Well-Dressed Walls

Depending on the type of interior design you engage in, wallcovering can be a designer's best friend or worst enemy. Having worked with architects for many years, most are not in favor of decorative effects like patterned wallcovering, for they believe it somehow dilutes the purity of a building's design. However, there are many designers and architects who love the viusal impact that wallcovering can provide, especially for a feature wall in a prominent area.  Nowadays, the trend seems to be moving away from small scale textures that ruled the last decade to overscaled graphic patterns, no doubt to align with client's goals of marketing and branding. And with the desire to move away from vinyl as a substrate, this leaves lots of room for wallpaper houses big and small to make a name for themselves in the contract market.

Here we showcase several of our favorites making waves these days, offering unique wallpaper products that could fit in any type of project or setting, depending of course on how you use it (and paying attention to location for durabilty and maintenance).  Having said that, here's what tickles our fancy:

"Changing Guards at Buckingham Palace" by Lizzie Allen

The lifesize "Telephone Box" by Lizzie Allen  

Lizzie Allen is a young British printed textile designer, who having already worked for Paul Smith and Osborne & Little, was then awarded the opportunity by the Crafts Council in the UK to start her own company.  Since 2005 Lizzie has been screening both her line of British themed patterns and custom work (bespoke, as the Brits say) in her own studio.  She uses paper substrates that are sourced from managed forests and recycles the minimal paper waste.

 "Scribble" by Beyond the Valley, printed by Cole and Son

"Stampede" detail by Beyond the Valley,  

Another British design, Stampede, comes from design collective/shop/gallery Beyond the Valley. Sold by the roll on their online shop, this small but hip line features just three patterns of hand illustrated designs and done in collaboration with the esteemed house of Cole and Son.  Also from Cole and Son are some more contemporary patterns, from fashion designer Vivienne Westwood - based on her established prints - and large scale natural graphics such as "Woods".  And while neither of these are brand new (Woods has been out for a couple of years), the time seems right to introduce these large scale graphics into your projects as needed.

"Squiggle" by Vivienne Westwood for Cole and Son
"Woods" by Cole and Son - shown in black and white

Another Brit we like is Deborah Bowness, who we discovered at ICFF a few years ago.  Her wallcovering consists of narrow panels that have photographic images of common household objects, among other things.  Pieced together you can get quite a striking wall mural.  Check out her page of commissioned projects - very impressive!

"Flowerie Coolie", "Semi Drum x2", "Semi Drum", "Round Drum", and "Tassley One" by Deborah Bowness

Vancouver based Rollout, like many of the smaller wallpaper houses, has both a standard running line of patterns as well as offers custom products.  One of their more dramatic, eye-catching patterns is "Sultry Hair", designed by Andrio Abero. They use premium water-based inks with latex-based paper and print the rolls per your project's square footage in order to minimize waste.  Because of the flexibility of the digital process, colors or repeats can be changed easily.  These are also suitable for commercial projects, as the papers are Class A fire rated.

"Sultry Hair" by Rollout

"Words Spoken Quieter than Actions" designed by Chloe Perron for Rollout

Brooklyn based graphic designer Aimee Wilder has a whimsical line of wallcovering that uses a fresh contemporary palette and sustainable substrates.  The papers are responsibly sourced (either FSC or SFI certified) and are chlorine-free.  The paper gets coated with clay and then is silk screened to create the final pattern and colorway.  They are also Class A.  Aimee's designs are well suited to today's corporate cultures, especially those focusing on attracting Gen Y to their staff.  With fun patterns such as cassette tapes, sumo wrestlers, and robots, Aimee's work is appealing to kids as well as the young at heart.

"Baby" in color Tomato, by Aimee Wilder 

"Clouds"  in color Storm, by Aimee Wilder 

Another British house making a splash is MissPrint, designed by the mother-daughter team of Rebecca and Yvonne Drury.  All of their products are silk-screened by hand in their East London studio, referencing mid-century patterns.  They also print on paper which is from sustainably managed forests.  Also check out their lamp shade and pillow lines, with corresponding patterns.

"Dandelion Mobile" by MissPrint 

If all this graphic eye candy isn't enough, take a look at the wallpaper of Tracy Kendall, who is represented in the US by Ted Boerner.  Tracy's wallcoverings fall into two camps: large scale digital graphics, and the tactile three-dimensional collage pieces.  The large scale digital graphics are singular images of subjects such as cutlery (knifes, forks, spoons), feathers, flowers, and stacks - all things suited to the vertical oriented panels.  The collage pieces are spectacular, with such three dimensional materials as sequins, puzzle pieces, and paper folds used in repetition to create a dramatic texture.

"Knife", "Fork", and "Spoon" by Tracy Kendall

"White Room Text" by Tracy Kendall

"Alphabet" by Tracy Kendall 

Other good sources for large scale wallpaper:

Graham and Brown, Flavor Paper, Trove, Madison and Grow, Erica Wakerly, Cavern Home, and Twenty2.

Kari Pei of Wolf-Gordon

 
One of the best parts of the interior design industry is that there is no shortage of extraordinarily creative and talented people who contribute in spades to the community and the profession at large.  If you're lucky, you get to cross paths with them once in a while and share experiences and inspiration.  One such person is Kari Pei, Director of Design for wallcovering giant Wolf-Gordon.  Wolf-Gordon is a manufacturer and distributer of a huge range of wallcovering products, from paper to vinyl to textiles and everything in between, and Kari is repsonsible for getting it all into the company's line for designers and architects to specify.  This is no small feat, as Kari needs to know the industry trends, the vast world of resources and mills, and existing and emerging technologies that contribute to exciting new and viable products.  All while keeping up with designer demands and end user requirements. 

Kari has been working in the field since 1990, where she designed woven and print textiles for Jhane Barnes.  Before joining Wolf-Gordon, Kari worked with Maharam and headed up her own design firm - with clients such as Herman Miller, The Moderns, and Valdese Weavers.  Since coming to Wolf Gordon, Kari has brought her interest in science and engineering to the forefront while developing new products that appeal to designers and end users, and which encompass her passion for sustainability.  Kari lives and works in New York City with her family, where she is married to an architect, and is the daughter-in-law of reknowned architect I.M. Pei.

We sat down with Kari recently to discuss her work and what's new for Wolf-Gordon:

Repeat. No Repeat: You studied engineering in school prior to shifting to art and design, specifically printmaking.  Do you feel that this course of study has served you well as Director of Design for Wolf-Gordon? 

Kari Pei: Absolutely. My approach to design has always come from a fine arts perspective, taking into consideration the techniques employed in lithography, serigraphy and intaglio to create images.  Also, the merging of mechanical tools with printmaking techniques has enabled me to rely on my training to develop new methods of making products that the mills would otherwise not use.  It’s very exciting to be in design now, with so many new materials and inks.  As well as having the opportunity, working for a company like Wolf Gordon, to push the mills to become more and more sustainable.  The science is exciting.

RNR: What is your favorite part of the design process? 

Kari: I don’t know if I have a favorite part, but my least favorite part is not having more mills in the U.S. to compete with the techniques coming from abroad.

RNR: You grew up in Nebraska and now live in New York City.  How has growing up in the Mid West / Great Plains affected your design sensibilities? 

Kari: If it has, I would say that being in nature has always been a part of my life, it has to have influenced my palette and sensitivity to textures and light.

RNR: I know you travel a lot as part of your work.  Where has been the most exciting locale that you have been to and why? 

Kari: I would say Morocco. The colors, landscape, culture, flavors, and variety of ancient and modern all working together is beautiful.  Egypt would be a close second; the ancients had their engineering down pat. Then, Japan is third.  The Japanese are so precise, cool and clean in their aesthetic, throughout their history, with architecture, ceramics, textiles…I’m always impressed.

RNR: Being in a family of architects, do you find that helps or hinders your design process? Do you bounce ideas off of each other? 

Kari: It helps me in being more thoughtful and it hinders me because it’s a bit intimidating.  I try to just stay focused and do what I believe is interesting and relevant.

RNR: What are some of your current design inspirations? 

Kari: Right now, I’m completely absorbed with the textile collection in the Museum of New Mexico.  They have thousands of artifacts of textile craft from all over the world, from all centuries, and so many are hundreds of years old, yet look totally modern.

RNR: What new things can we expect to see from Wolf-Gordon this coming year?

Kari: Lots of new products produced on pvc-free, phthalate-free, halogen-free materials. More recycled wovens with really bold pattern, and hopefully - if testing goes well - something my great-grandmother would adore: embroidered wallcovering. We are also introducing into our customs program totally new materials: photo-etched cement and aluminum tiles. They are super cool.

Maharam Digital Projects

Dutch Clouds by Karel Martens for Maharam

Detail of Dutch Clouds

Textile and Wallcovering giant Maharam always has one leg firmly planted in the Contract design market, and one leg stepping out towards the cutting edge.  Their latest venture addresses walls that require something more interesting than a conventional wallcovering, looking to art for the answer.  Known as Maharam Digital Projects (MDP), the manufacturer collaborated with a broad range of artists, giving interior designers access to some of the world's best contemporary artists.

The program houses a digital image library available as large scale graphics that are printed on a specific wallcovering base. There have been two sets of patterns released thus far  (18 in total) for designers to reference, with more to come.  Intended to be used for feature walls, the MDP works like this: a designer selects the pattern required for the project from the digital library, and then the pattern is scaled to the intended wall.  This is the only feature so far that is customizable, as the patterns and colors cannot be altered, due to the fine art nature of the work.  There will be a second phase to the program where eventually custom artwork can be utilized, but that is still in the works.  

Using a fine art printing press, the pattern is printed on the wallcovering base, composed of 48% cellulose, 35% latex, and 17% nylon (notice there is no vinyl, or PVC).  The base has UV inhibitors to protect the inks from fading, and is washable, can be scrubbed, and is Class A fire rated.  Depending on the pattern, some will have a matte finish, and some will be glossy. The wallcovering comes to the installer in numbered panels, making it easy to hang (but of course you need a reputable and experienced sub-contractor).  A great feature of MDP is the short lead time - just three weeks!  The only caveat is that walls are required to be field measured prior to order, since the wallcovering is made and scaled to order per the designer's specified dimensions which must be verified prior to production.

The artists tapped for this project are from a multitude of creative disciplines, whether it be fashion designers, illustrators, printmakers - and are as far reaching as journalists and collectors.  The first art introduced for MDP is "Dutch Clouds" by Karel Martens (shown above), which is a play on scale. Martens, a typographer, created thousands of unique icons to serve as the modules which create the cloud pattern shown in the mural.  Other artists include fashion designer Paul Smith, who has collaborated with Maharam before on upholstery fabrics for the line; collage artist Fred Tomaselli; conceptual artist Dan Graham; illustrator Marian Bantjes; printmaker Harmen Liemberg (who created a collage of black and white archival engravings on a huge scale); photographers Marilyn Minter and Laurie Simmons (the latter using her Kaleidoscope House as subject); painter Markus Linnenbrink; mass-media artist A.J. Bocchino; and our favorite....wood installation artist Phoebe Washburn.

Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend, Wallcovering a Close Second

Jewels (L) and Diamonds (R)

Wallcovering company Source One has introduced a new eye-catching collection from renowned designer Ulf Moritz called "Charisma".  The appeal of this collection is the glamour effect: perfect anywhere you need to add some drama for hospitality, retail, and residential projects.  Comprised of 15 new patterns both small scale and grand, our favorites are shown above and below: "Diamonds", "Jewels", and "Crown".  The Diamond pattern offers three types of the gemstone within the repeat - round, heart-shaped, and square-cut.  Available in just three colorways - gold, platinum, and graphite - this pattern is high luxe, accented with tiny fine beads.  The large scale gets even larger with "Diamonds", and then even more so with "Crown" - which has the option of using the pattern alone or with additional panels of solid matching ground (sold in a set of three, so you have to plan accordingly).  Ulf Moritz patterns are known for their dazzling array of luxurious touches, whether it be through the use of beads, metallics, intricate weaves, color gradients, and evocative large scale images (both digital and hand screened).

Jewels and Diamonds come in 29-1/2" widths, while Crown panels (either with pattern or plain) are 41-3/4" wide.  All have a non-woven backing and are Class A fire rated for commercial applications.

Jewels (L), Crown (Center), and Diamonds (R)

Detail of Crown