Best Innovation
Hyosung (South Korea)

The jury was unanimous about this particularly innovative achievement. This window covering is woven as a single piece on the loom, meaning that the system is ready to be hung immediately. It can be used in two positions: in the open position and in the closed position, which lets in more light. Ingenious and never seen before, in the jury’s opinion.  Window covering innovation coming from other places as the  U.S. window covering industry  cord issues and commodity challenges. We still can’t seem to get it together.

Best Window Covering
Deltracon (BE)

This window covering in 100% linen was selected by the jury for its subtleombre  print in indigo, which is produced so elegantly that it looks as though it is done by hand. The repetition of the pattern is barely noticeable. The quality is both superior and luxurious. Deltracron is one of my favorite mills.

Best Upholstery
De Poortere Frères (BE)

This fabric was chosen on account of its ingenious weaving technique that produces a very special visual effect. In particular, a slub yarn is woven into the pile and there is also a slub in the weft. This combination creates a relief that visually looks even deeper because the slub in the weft is black. The fabric is not merely a technical stand-out, but is also rich and of great quality.

Best Wall Covering
Konrad Hornschuch AG (DE)

When it is used as a wall covering, this bio-synthetic leather creates a very special effect. It looks just like real animal hide, but in actual fact is an imaginative imitation that makes high demands on the printing technique used. But for all that, there is no denying that Konrad Hornschuch is particularly good when it comes to manufacturing sustainably. The product is also well suited both to the residential and contract markets. The combination of these elements has resulted in a well-deserved Blue Drop Award.

Best Contract product
De Kabels (NL)

It calls itself one of the last companies that does silkscreen printing entirely by hand – which is pretty remarkable for a product suited to the contract market. De Kabels opted for linen on account of this material’s natural qualities. The natural colour of the linen has been retained and black was chosen for the overprint. An unusual and daring choice

Best Première
Hulshof Royal Dutch Tanneries (NL)

The first genuinely organic leather in the world. This Dutch tannery examined all of the harmful substances used during the tanning process and replaced them with organic products. The result is the first ecologically manufactured leather that is totally biodegradable.
Which is your favorite?

I am being swept into the techno world. I am not a full fledged geek yet, but do love me some gadgets and when coupled with design, I’m in. So I was sucker for Microsoft’s  home of the future:

 According to MS, the Microsoft Home is

…a place to explore technology scenarios that could transform the way we live in five to 10 years. Built as a full-scale model home in the company’s Executive Briefing Center, the Home is used to explore practical applications of cutting-edge technical trends, and exhibit futuristic prototype technologies to a variety of industry and government leaders, partners and customers.

While the space is a private testing ground accessible by invitation only, the video below provides a glimpse of what a day in the suburban future could look like in 2025. Among other advances, check out:

• touchscreen, wireless & ‘smart’ charging plates that also read sensors in your products to interpret your personal data, including vital health statistics
• interactive walls consisting of various screens – which are in turn controlled by a simple flip of a light switch
• visual analysis via image-to-image search for each image featured in your home entertainment screen (i.e., ability to search for travel schedules, restaurant information, and backback purchase information for all items featured in a travel show); this is cool – right now, we really just do text-based search
• motion-controlled digital wallpaper capturing your personal digital ecosystem, including real-time texts, Facebook status updates or Twitter feed updates

OK, so we really have to get on the stick when it comes to innovative window coverings to match up to these other elements in the room!. Any ideas?

via Engadget

Karim Rashid has partnered with Velux for a new yet- to- be named collection of blackout skylight shades. These are not your everyday drab shades. The collection includes four unique patterns, each in two different colors. Customers can choose from vibrant pink and acid yellow or more subtle designs of black and white. Inspiration from digital technology on the one hand and floral motifs on the other, adds a modern yet poetic look to the collection. The new patterns bring an abstracted ‘digital nature’ into the home. Four of the designs have decorative metallic details creating a vivid texture. The blinds are not only art on the window but the shades in the new line are energy efficient, generating a 33% decrease in heat loss when closed.

“I want people to see a blind not as a genuine standard product but as a small piece of decorated art that adds beauty and even determines the style of the interior decoration.”

Wow that’s music to my ears! The window covering industry needs to hire him as a spokes person.

Running with the “digital” theme the collection seems to have taken, Velux is crowdsourcing the names of each of the patterns. The competition runs online this month and asks anyone to propose a name for the patterns which can be viewed and voted on by others. At the contest’s close, the most highly voted entries will become the official names of each of the blinds.

Teaming up with one of the design world’s most prolific designers demonstrates a new design approach in the VELUX Group.

“Choosing to work with Karim Rashid came from the recognition that if you want to be innovative, you have to experiment and demonstrate courage in the design process. So working together with internationally acknowledged designers like the ‘King of Colors’ represents a new experience at the VELUX Group. Usually our products serve the purpose of being discrete, but the new designs by Karim Rashid attract attention and add another feature besides quality and value for money to our products.”

Austrian architecture firm hertl architekten recently finished this project- ‘aichinger house’, a multi-story apartment building consisting of two flats in Kronstorf, Austria. The structure, which once housed a restaurant, is treated to a textile skin which lends the building a light, curtain effect by applying a material which is normally reserved for the indoors. The project inspired by today’s use of skins for everything from phones to website design, it explores the flexibility of facades and skins.

The facade appears almost metallic from a distance, the design wraps the whole exterior of the building in the light grey fabric, rendering the layout and form of the interior hidden from the outside viewer. 

Iron embraces strategically placed part the curtain at the window to allow daylight into the apartments. Much like interior draperies,  the skin can be drawn closed to provide shade and diffusion of light. During the night, the fabric provides a paper lantern effect, distributing the glow from the building to the exterior.

I have to say this gives new meaning to tab tops or even rod pocket tops and bottoms!

One of the highlights for me at Paris Deco Off was Jacob Schlaepfer. For me, Jakob Schlaepfer epitomizes the best of both design worlds. They call their textiles “industrially hand crafted “and it is so true- innovative, ingenious design done by the hand of master artisans. Known as the purveyor of haute couture fabrics since 1904 to such fashion houses as Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, Vivenne Westood and Christian Lacroix (That is a whole other story!),  They entered into interiors in 2008 with couture worthy textiles that… well; you have to see it to believe it!   

 I was honored to be invited to experience their 2010 decor line at Galerie Alain  Blondel in the Marias and they did not disappoint.

Artisitc Director Michele Rondelli and Creative Director, Martin Leuthold led us on a mouth watering tour of their third edition interior collection. Each new piece was better than the last. This collection was meant to be experienced by all the senses.

Vada Tulle and Vada Gardinio Blackout

In 2008 they introduced a world first in by Vada Pleats and Vada Giardino. Never before has printing been carried out on three layers of tulle simultaneously. The effect is as beautiful as it is striking, since the three layers give the fabric a 3D look. The collection is supplemented with the flame-retardant Buonanotte fabric for black out draperies, which can be printed with all the motifs in the collection.

Phanton in Motion

Phantom – the world’s lightest textile for windows needs to be thrown up in the air to see how it float swirls around you like smoke rings. Weighing only 10 grams per square meter, this polyester fiber enhanced with metal floats with every movement of the air. Introduced in 2009 and winning several prestigious textile design prizes; they built on its success with a printed version- Secret Garden.

 

 

Secret Garden

Detail Secret Garden

 “The technical perfection of the material, which shows most spectacularly in movement, has here been made entirely subservient to the poetic effect achieved,” commented one member of the Textile Design Jury.

Pollock Wall Panels

Playing with pollock

 

 

 

Pollock must be played with. This textile is like a incredibly beautiful etch-a sketch. Invention is in Jakob Schlaepfer’s blood: it has been  more than thirty years since the St Gallen manufacturer developed the first industrial procedure for applying paillettes(sequins) to fabrics, revolutionizing the entire textile industry. Now a new process has made these same paillettes interactive: by stroking them you can turn them over, from one face to the other, from one colour combination to another,from bright to matt, from plain to printed, from glittering to iridescent – with more than 200 combinations the possibilities are simply endless.  Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and Marc Jacobs, were so enthralled they included the fabric in their new collections just off the runway.

Korsakow close-up

Korsakow is …how do you explain Korsakow-? It is embossed foam tipped with gold or silver leather and applied by hand to transparent black tulle).See what I mean you just have to see it to believe it!

Aluminum Sheer

A layer of aluminum is sandwiched between contrasting chiffons in this sculputural curtain.

Design Confidential: Tell me a little about yourself?

Helena Karelson:I was born in Estonia and now live and work in London. I recently graduated from Kingston University with a Product and Furniture Design degree

DC: What inspires you as a designer?

HK: I am fascinated with light and the relationship between form and shadow.  In fact this series was born from that fascination. When the slats are in the horizontal position light filters through the irregular gaps, projecting a rich tapestry of sunbeams into the interior space. In the vertical position the light from behind the window frames the blinds perfectly in a subtle, warm glow.

DC: Have you played with this category before?

HK: I did another series titled Warm Glow. These are  window blinds that bring warmth into our everyday life. When the light comes through the blinds, the yellow side of the blinds, reflects onto the white side, resulting a warm glow. The First edition of Kontuur blind premiered at this year’s D&AD New Blood exhibition, where it won the prestigious Best New Blood award.  Kontuur window blinds also won the New Design Britain Award.

 DC:  I understand that the Kontuur blinds’ inspiration was your fascination with light and shadow, why did you choose blinds as the medium.

HK: I realized that there have not been many innovations in that medium for a long time and the classical blinds have become a boring window covering solution. I saw the potential to design something interesting and beautiful. I was right, Kontuur window blinds have had and continue to have a lot of interest in them. I have got so much good feedback from everybody, including designers, architects, manufacturers, stylists and buyers from all over the world.

DC: No Kidding!

DC: Have any blind manufacturer shown interest?

HK:It is a prototype. Many blind manufacturers in UK and Europe have shown interest.

DC: Where is the interest from U.S. manufacturers? – hey guys!

Each slat is carefully designed to leave no waste post-manufacture, which, combined with the use of environmentally sound materials ensures that it can be enjoyed without the worry of its environmental impact weighing on your mind.

Wouldn’t you like to see this in our blind offerings?

Not only are Smart Energy Glass windows available in several colors, but they can switch between three modes: dark, bright and privacy, which scatters the light passing through. Even better, the glass serves to collect solar energy, which can then be used directly or fed back to the grid.

 But it also occurred to me that this could also be an opportunity for window covering maunfacturers. How cool would it be if the energy stored in the glass could be used to power motorized blinds, shades or draperies. Somfy and BTX please take note!

Users can control the darkness mode of the windows at will, depending on light conditions and energy concerns. Privacy mode generates the most energy, while bright mode is the least productive. Corporate logos can even be incorporated into the glass, Peer+ says.

Peer+ is currently working on its first pilots in the Netherlands, and is seeking further projects for testing.

See the video below

Smart Energy Glass from Peerplus on Vimeo.

Via PSFK

Plopp stool for Hay- two steel plates welded together and expanded under pressure

Architect Oscar Zieta has developed an incredible new technology (FIDU) that was used to create a series of inflated sheet steel furniture.. The pieces look more like balloon art than furniture, but in fact can take the weight of human.   One of those pieces- Plopp- is being marketed thru HAY. “We completely transformed the way material is processed. In architecture there is a great need for the facility of designing free forms – take blob architecture, for example. The engineers who have the job of constructing these organic forms designed by architects are always looking for the technology which will make this possible and which will give a completely new meaning to the term ’standard”,” says Zieta.

Check out Architonic’s interview with Zieta.

 See more images of his work in the Inspiration and Innovation sidebar.