Calacatta Nuvo

Caesarstone’s interpretation of natural Calacatta marble, Calacatta Nuvo brings you wide, elegant, cascading, grey veins on a white opaque base.

Calacatta Nuvo 5131, available nationwide this fall, comes in 20mm polished slabs 56.5″ x 120.”

Calacatta Nuvo makes an unforgettable impression and upgrades any interior design into a masterpiece. This latest design from Caesarstone offers the beauty of luxurious natural stone with the ease of Caesarstone care and maintenance.

Its hard, nonporous surface makes Caesarstone simple to clean. In most cases, soap and water or a mild detergent is all that is required to maintain its luster. If necessary, apply common, non-abrasive, household cleaners such as Soft Scrub Liquid Gel with Bleach or Comet Soft Cleanser Cream With Bleach directly on a damp cloth or sponge and wipe the surface, rinsing thoroughly after cleaning.

Caesarstone products come with Limited Lifetime Warranty as long as your material is permanently installed inside your primary residence and not used as flooring. If you prefer your local fabricator add a honed finish to your slab be aware that this could void your warranty.

June 4, 2014

Shape The Future of Black

Do you have what it takes to Shape the Future of design? DuPont Corian has established an international design competition that has been launched across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Participants are invited to conceive an interior design solution (such as furnishing, tables, seating, vanities, vertical cladding, etc…) for one of the following with the new DeepColour blacks:

• home environment (kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom, etc…)

• public/commercial spaces (hotels, hospitals and medical facilities, shops, restaurants, bars, yachts, offices, airport and train stations, museums, banks, shopping centers, theaters etc…)

The contest excludes flooring and ceiling applications, lighting equipment, accessories and small objects. Entry deadline is June 15th, 2014.

The result is to give architects, designers and fabricators the confidence to experiment with the material through all manner of volumetric or surface treatments. “The newness of this technology and the depth of these colors offers designers something to play with that they haven’t had before,” says Mark Woodman, lead design consultant for Corian.

Consider the work of the Giles Miller Studio. I saw their amazing tiles at the London Design Festival last fall.

When the LDF needed a feature desk for the V&A entrance , the organizers approached Giles Miller for a solution that was the opposite of “off-the-shelf.” In response, Miller developed a system of intricately patterned, machine-cut panels that could be arranged volumetrically. The triangular panels, each uniquely grooved with a different surface treatment, were laid out in opposite directions, creating a dazzling effect of light and shadow.

Miller, who typically works with metals and other reflective materials was new to Corian, yet he was able to achieve the same, polished metal effect using only DeepColor solid surface. “Before we made the final desk, we laid the tiles out on the floor of our studio and saw the effect of the reflection,” recalls Miller. “We were blown away by the ability to make intricate profiles and have them all reflect light.”

For those who dare to use Corian as more than just sheet goods, you may have encountered “stretch marks” as you manipulated and formed the surface. DeepColor, however, now eliminates those unsightly lines and other imperfections, such as scratches, a constant issue with darker surfaces.

The new collection of solid surfaces is currently available in four dark, lustrous hues—Anthracite, Nocturne, Night Sky and Black Quartz. Still under wraps in DuPont’s labs, an extended palette of colors is about to be added to Corian family of colors.

May 14, 2014

Wilsonart Chair Design Competition

Six talented design students will kickstart their careers during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) May 17-20, 2014.

They will introduce their design entries for the 10th annual “Wilsonart Challenges…” Student Chair Design Competition centered around the theme SPACE and inspired by the Wilson House museum.

The house was built in 1959 by Ralph Wilson Sr., founder of Wilsonart International. Wilson used it as both his home and a test lab to see how many uses his company’s plastic laminate could serve in everyday living. Wilsonart purchased the Wilson House from Ralph Wilson’s widow in 1997, and has since restored it to its original appearance in 1959.

The Wilson House has been recognized as a significant architectural structure by the Texas Historical Commission and the National Register of Historic Places. For more information, check out this circa 1998 article from The New York Times.

The students began the competition period learning about Chair History and Morphorlogy. They toured both a Wilsonart factory and the Wilson House museum.

The Chair Design Competition requires each entrant to create seating products that celebrate the richness of Wilsonart International’s laminate surfacing materials. In this challenge, students have an opportunity to design and build a unique chair around their individual talents. The chairs are required to be built in full scale and must be able to support 400 pounds. Each student is responsible to build their own chair.

The final student chairs have to be constructed with Wilsonart Laminate as surfacing materials but the early mock-ups were made using a variety of materials.

The students constructed half-scale models and full-scale drawings to further analyse design details, strength and the building process.

The final two weeks were spent building the chairs and according to the student blog, whatever time was left was used to create the presentation. (Sound familiar to anyone?)

“We deliberated this year more than any other year due to the outpouring of talent,”
— design historian and materials specialist Grace Jeffers

And The Winner Is…

The winning student was Jenny Trieu with her “Infinite chair” composed of a plywood rib cage, layered with veneer then Wilsonart Laminate flowing continuously like an infinity symbol. Congrats, Jenny!

Jenny’s chair epitomizes mid-century modernism through its unique structure and bold colors. Wilsonart Laminate Zebrawood, 7980K-18 is accented by eye-catching Wilsonart Laminate in Hollyberry, D307-60. Wilsonart Laminate in Black, 1595-60 lines the edges.

About “Wilsonart Challenges…”
Wilsonart sponsors the “Wilsonart Challenges…” student design scholarship program to foster the careers of emerging furniture designers in North America. Each year, this competition challenges students at a designated design school to create a unique chair that uses Wilsonart Laminate to answer a specific design challenge.

Wilsonart selected the College of Architecture at the University of Houston to host the 2014 Challenge. The competition unfolds as a semester-long course, this year taught by Professor Jeff Feng and Grace Jeffers, design historian and materials specialist ( and daughter of a Formica salesman). The students were taught about laminate, its history, technical capabilities, current market trends and sustainability issues as well as the history of chairs as decorative art forms.

(Wilsonart is a sponsor for BlogTour NYC May 2014, but the views and opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and I will be honest in what I share. You, the reader, are my top priority and it is my goal to make sure you can trust the content and integrity of this blog.)

April 23, 2014January 17, 2019

Nanotech Countertops

Fenix NTM ‘Nanotech Matt’ surface recently debuted in many trendsetting kitchen and furniture manufacturers displays at Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Fenix NTM is a thermo-laminate with unique properties, produced in Italy by Arpa Industriale with the aid of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is the branch of applied science that involves controlling materials, at an infinitesimal level: from 1 – 100 millionths of a millimetre. This type of process has only been available for a few decades, but it is already transforming the world we live in, even the furniture sector.

The core structure of Fenix NTM is composed of craft paper impregnated with thermosetting resins. It is produced by the simultaneous application of heat and high specific pressure to produce a homogeneous non-porous high density product.

Fenix NTM is very resistant to scratches, abrasion, rubbing and dry heat. It is also resistance to stress, solvents and household reagents. Its surface is hygienic and easy to clean thanks to its enhanced anti-bacterial properties. Fenix NTM is also water repellant and mold resistant.

Despite its many features, it seems that it’s Fenix NTM’s matte anti-reflective surface, depth of color (especially black) and soft-to-the-touch feel that has designers flocking to it.

Homeowners and facility managers seem to love it because it is self-healing. To repair a scratch, just place a damp paper towel over the affected area and pass over the scratch with a hot iron. Your countertop will look brand new again.

FENIX NTM is available in the following sizes and thicknesses:
4200 x 1600 mm: 0.9, 1.2, 10 and 12 mm.
4300 x 1850 mm: 10 and 12 mm.

About Arpa:
Since 1954 Arpa Industriale has been designing and manufacturing panels with very high quality HPL technology for the most diverse applications: from architecture to interior design, from healthcare to shipyards, from transport to hospitality, from retail to kitchens.

Arpa’s American showroom is located in SoHo, the artistic and creative heart of New York City, the center for contemporary excellence. Arpa’s unique products and colorful collections on display are in this 7,500 square foot showroom center.