There were more designed surfaces at this year's Surface Design Show than ever. That may sound like an obvious statement but sometimes the big design trade events tend to showcase manufacturers of functional and standardised surface coverings as a majority.
As useful as such materials are, we at Material Lab love a designed and processed surface too – those that utilise and perhaps combine processes in such a way as to work into or up from the materials used, or indeed new wholly constructed materials.
There was a trio of trends that we spotted at the show. The first was that of highly crafted surfaces, often by hand, that were rich in texture and a new sense of functionality.
Inspired by weave techniques this Wales based studio use laser cutting to great effect in producing pliable wooden strips that and held in bent form but corresponding slots within the wooden back board. Light and shadow play a huge role in emphasising 3-dimensionality and the new stained versions within the collection offer huge scope for subtle chromatic shifts. Watch this space for the interactive light changing versions later in the year!
What can we say about this varied and sumptuous collection of surfaces? Designed and produced in India there were a whole host of surfaces within the collection that could win the studio a Best Newcomer to the Show award (if there was one.) Hand woven, hammered, stitched, cut and embossed pieces galore all of which had a delightfully 3-D effect.
Not necessarily as beautiful as the other materials shown this new panel from Finsa still caught our eye. The 3-D honeycomb construction is comprised entirely of 3mm through-body coloured MDF and offers a beautiful, strong and incredibly lightweight construction material or even display surface. You can apply a finishing strip to those edges, but we rather like them!
