MATTER Magazine Summer 2008

Volume 5.3 | A publication of Material ConneXionÂŽ | The leading global platform for material innovation and solutions | www.materialconnexion.com

US $5.00

the

luxury

(new)

issue

All that glitters

Non-Precious Materials in Jewelry Design 24 New Materials Ian Callum A MATTER Interview with Jaguar's Design Director Luxurious Necessities Majora Carter and Sustainable South Bronx Plastic Luxe?

LAPEL

DESIGN: CLAESSON KOIVISTO RUNE DUNE FREESTYLE COLLECTION

88 Franklin Street NYC 10013 p: 212.925.6171 www.dune-ny.com

Welcome Volume 5.3

Executive Director

George M. Beylerian Editor in Chief

Richard J. Lombard Managing Editor

Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe Contributors

Andrew Dent, Ph.D. Richard J. Lombard Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe Cynthia Tyler, Ph.D. Alison Zingaro Graphic Design

Studio Dror Director of Publications

Michael LaGreca

MATTER, a quarterly publication, reaches over 30,000 professionals in diverse design fields and material development. For more information about the publication, or for advertising details, please contact: advertising@materialconnexion.com T +1 212 842 2050 Copyright ©Material ConneXion®, Inc. August 2008, Volume 5, Issue 3 MATTER Material ConneXion Inc. 127 West 25th Street, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10001 T +1 212 842 2050 F +1 212 842 1090 matter@materialconnexion.com

Luxury. The dictionary definition of the word speaks to “conditions of abundance or great ease and comfort” and “something added to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary.” In real life, the term is just as ambiguous.

In the last decade, luxury has been redefined in so many ways: the general public has shifted it’s perceptions of luxury versus necessity; advanced production and distribution processes have rendered certain luxury items too easily accessible; and traditional luxuries like private jets and yachts have grown to unbelievable sizes. Today cell phones are now ubiquitous compared to their luxury status 10 years ago, certain handbag brands have lost their luster due to over exposure, and some lucky individual has recently placed an order for the private purchase of an Airbus A380, the exclusive use of which will afford him or her some 9,000 square feet (836 square meters) of space over two floors.

These changing circumstances call for a re-examination of what truly constitutes luxury. Today in a rapidly changing world, the notion of “responsible luxury” is percolating through every industry. With business models expanding to encompass a “triple bottom line”, environmental and social concerns are beginning to take precedence over pure profit as the new status symbol.

Materials have always had a role in the luxury world: whether the gold and precious stones for jewelry, or the carbon fiber that allows Ferrari to create its super-

cars. Designers and architects have long mined the material world in search of new expressions of luxury, looking for both exceptional physical properties as well as intrinsic ones. Luscious leathers, gleaming stone, and ingenious high-tech textiles, all of which can now be responsibly produced, are all part of the palate of luxury.

So, no matter how you define luxury, you can count on materials to play a key role.

George M. Beylerian Founder + President Material ConneXion®

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All that glitters...

Ian Callum

Non-Precious Materials in Modern

A MATTER Interview

& Contemporary Jewelry Design

By Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe

By Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe Jaguar has a long history of producing For many, jewelry is the ultimate

luxurious and sporting cars in the

luxury: expensive, delicate, and

quintessentially British idiom. Ian

serving no practical purpose, it is

Callum has shepherded the marque

difficult to rationalize its allure. Over

for the last decade, and is determined

the years, it has been created from

to keep the company’s image on the

a wide range of materials spanning

cutting edge – another quality that was

the rare and the common, often in

instilled in the company by its founder.

direct correlation to the events of the

Callum spoke with MATTER about

times. Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe

image, history, and heritage and their

investigates some of the more

place in Jaguar’s future.

unusual materials used in more recent pieces.

© The Museum of Arts and Design, New York

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Luxurious Necessities Majora Carter and

The Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center

By Andrew Dent, Ph.D.

Sustainable South Bronx The Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center

By Richard J. Lombard

Plastic Luxe? and Cynthia Tyler, Ph.D.

recently opened its doors, and with them the doors to Material ConneXion

As the world considers the shrinking

Majora Carter was born in the

Daegu. The DGDC boasts a wealth

supply and rising price of oil, the

South Bronx, just across the river

of design and color resources for its

next questions are about how we will

from Manhattan. Though only a few

users, aiming to become a creative

adapt to this new world order. What

hundred feet apart, the two boroughs

hub for not just local designers and

many people don’t think about is oil’s

are separated by a socioeconomic

manufactures, but for all of south-

role in producing the plastic that we

divide of staggering size. Carter is

east Asia. Join MATTER as we take

have come to think of as a cheap

working to bring some simple but

you for a tour of this remarkable

commodity. Our scientists take a

critical luxuries to the neighborhood

facility, and some of the people

look at why materials rise and fall in

that she still lives in: luxuries of clean

that will be bringing the Material

value due to supply issues, and also

air, green spaces, and the promise of

ConneXion message to the people

investigate some of the alternatives

a better tomorrow.

of Korea.

to plastic.

23

29

31

Regular Features

03 Welcome 17 Best in Show 34 Material ConneXion International News

19

24 New Materials

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Alexander Calder ŠPhoto by Maria Robledo, courtesy of the Calder Foundation

All that glitters...

Non-Precious Materials in Modern & Contemporary Jewelry Design

by Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe

Whether found in its most elemental form or in elaborate designs by the most skilled jeweler, for many people jewelry is the ultimate luxury. Jewelry has been worn for ceremonial purposes, given as tokens of affection and brandished about as a symbol of wealth and status. Considering the enormous expense associated with objects that serve little or no practical purpose, the rationale of jewelry is difficult to explain. It can make a distinguished statement, announcing something as serious as an engagement, or be as frivolous and fun as a pair of animal brooches. Either way, one thing is for certain: the allure of jewelry cannot be resisted.

However, jewelry is not just about carats; it’s also about emotion, about what a piece means to someone that makes it priceless to the owner. From the sentimental hair works of the Victorians in which they 6

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wove locks of a loved-one’s hair into elaborate pieces, to the political piety of iron filigree jewelry for which Berliners were encouraged to exchange their gold in support of the Prussian wars, jewelry has always possessed the ability to convey message and meaning whether emotional, political, or conceptual.

Throughout the centuries, ethnic jewelry has always been made out of natural materials, such as shells, beads and feathers, which usually carried symbolic rather than economic value; but since medieval times, the tendency in Western jewelry design has predominately been to incorporate precious metals and stones into classical forms that will endure styles and times.

With the beginning of industrialization, fundamental changes in Western society allowed jewelry to be appreciated by members of the middle class and not just to a small circle of wealthy patrons. These

All that glitters changes ushered in entirely new styles and functions for jewelry as well as opening up the field to the use of non-precious materials.

The increasing ability for a broader section of the population to acquire non-essential goods had a great influence on fashion and jewelry trends but there was still a distinction between fine jewelry and costume jewelry. The advent of Celluloid, Bakelite, and other thermosetting plastics were initially used to imitate precious materials like ivory, onyx and tortoise. It wasn’t until the 1930s when Jazz age and Futurist influences led jewelry designers to treat plastic as a material in its own right, with designs based in geometric abstraction. At this time, the art world was beginning to experiment with nontraditional materials, mostly in sculpture. Though it would take another 30 years for jewelry designers to embrace this trend, Alexander Calder used metal wire, ceramic, string and found objects to create ±18,000 pieces of jewelry. Incorporating bits of broken crockery or even glass from the taillight of a car, his jewelry designs were as whimsical as his sculptures.

When World War II broke out in the 1940s, production of jewelry came to a virtual halt. At the end of the war, designers again responded to peace and prosperity with an outpouring of new (or now, "retro") styles. The modern woman was now part of the workforce and she wanted an accessory rather than an ornament. The large, ornate creations of the 19th Century, therefore, were replaced with smaller, subtler pieces. With an increasingly more organic geometry than that of Art Deco, post-war jewelry moved toward the more graphic style of the Abstract Expressionist movement. Jewelry of this period featured clusters of bright enamel or colored stones in hues reminiscent of Fauve painters era.

True experimentation with materials came to jewelry design in the 1960’s when there was less institutional concern with separating fine and decorative (or applied) arts. This elevated the use of non-precious materials in jewelry to a level on par with fine arts. The epicenter

Emmy van Leersum © The Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Gift of Donna Schneier 1997

of these new jewelry practices was located squarely in the Netherlands, where traditions of an egalitarian society could be traced back to the 16th Century. In the catalogue for Zero Karat, an exhibition of jewelry made from non-precious materials based on the Donna Schneier collection of jewelry made from non-precious materials, jewelry curator Ursula Neuman explains that “with discoveries of off-shore gas deposits in the North Sea in the 1960s, the Dutch came into a new prosperity, which trickled though all aspects of society and provided artists with the security and support to foster experimentation in their work.” Generous government funding allowed jewelers the freedom to experiment, unconcerned with the realities of the marketplace. This resulted in a movement that incorporated new styles, materials and techniques.

Founded by the husband and wife team of Gijs Bakker and Emmy van Leersum, the movement became known as Hollands Glad or “Dutch Smooth”. This movement was inspired by contemporary sculpture, most notably; Constructivism, after Naum Gabo installed his 26 meter high monument, Construction in Rotterdam in 1957. Their underlying ideology was that jewelry should promote equality, and Bakker and Van Leersum sought to make it affordable to all levels of society.

Dutch Smooth jewelers replaced precious metals and gemstones with aluminum, stainless steel, and rubber, often taken directly from industrial or domestic applications. The use of common materials like these also enhanced the artists’ freedom to experiment without the risk of losing their own investment in expensive raw materials. Skillfully crafted and finished to achieve a “high-tech” aesthetic, the look of the Dutch Smooth movement was a body-oriented, industrial look that focused on minimalist forms stripped of extraneous ornament, figuration, or historical reference. A few jewelers like Hans Appenzeller and Louis Martin, experimented with mass producing pieces from Perspex (PMMA) and aluminum, but ironically this proved to be more expensive than handcrafting, and resulted in works that were still perceived as luxury pieces because they were original, well-designed, and made by hand.

Herman Hernsen © Pierre Bergé & associés – 2008

Gijs Bakker © Pierre Bergé & associés – 2008

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All that glitters In 1968, a young Dutch jewelry artist named Marion Herbst (1944-1995) introduced work that contrasted with the anonymity of the minimalist works the Dutch Smooth movement. In December of 1973, she formed the Bond van Ontevreden Edlesmeden (BOE) or the “League of Rebellious Goldsmiths” together with Onno Boekhoudt and three other goldsmiths. They offered a playful counterpoint to the austere and dogmatic culture of the Dutch Smooth group, through the use of materials with greater color, expressiveness and humor. BOE also introduced more tactile materials such as papier maché, and textiles with colorful embroidery.

In the late 1980s, Dutch jewelry designers were spilt into the two camps of either a rational/minimalist style or expressive and humorous works.

At the same time many British designers were rejecting the use of gold as a form of protest to the exploitation of black labor in South African gold mines, and it was their innovative use of fiber that placed British designers at the fore of experimental jewelry design.

One of the most important jewelers working with fiber, was Caroline Broadhead who studied at the Central London School of Art where many Dutch designers were guest lecturers. Broadhead used silver and ivory in her early work in order to create pieces that appealed to a commercial market, but after visiting several countries in east Africa, she began to construct necklaces and armbands made from tufted nylon threads sometimes held in wooden frames encased in silver. Combining elegance and functionality, these works removed the distinction between clothing and jewelry.

Similar to the artists in Holland, British jewelers received funding through the auspices of the British Crafts Council. The flourishing of experimental designs that stemmed from these early movements can be attributed to the government support in many European countries, whereas American jewelry design had predominantly been created with commercial intentions. As a result, the most notable European jewelry designers outside of Holland and the UK hail from Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia. The materials these jewelry artists worked with are as diverse as their geographical locations. For some, the landscape and natural surroundings were inspiration for their material choices, while others created pieces which spoke solely to the qualities of certain materials. Still others were influenced by their social or political milieu.

"In all aspects of design, the use of wood, has a long history in Nordic countries, where organic materials have a huge cultural significance, and are linked to location and local tradition.” Ms. Neuman explains.

Suggestive of nature but in a very abstracted way, the work of Liv Blåvarp (2002) is usually constructed from segments of carved and dyed wood to form an organic theme. The pieces are strung together to allow flexibility and tested to ensure that they are comfortable to wear and sit well on the body.

Unlike most natural materials, plastic carries no connotations about culture or environment; but instead, having chameleon-like qualities, it takes color well and can be molded into any form. Liverpudlian designer Peter Chang is one of the major proponents of working with plastic materials, creating pieces that visually balance the intellect with the intuitive.

Chang’s works include intricate layering and marquetry of plastics, which require what he describes as an "unhealthy and time-consuming process." Using wood as an armature, Chang carves polyurethane foam to shape objects, and then covers the foam with a layer

Liv Blåvarp © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Helen Williams Drutt Collection, gift of the Art Colony Association, Inc.

Sondra Sherman © The Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Museum purchase with funds provided by Marcia Docter, 2008

Peter Chang

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© The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Helen Williams Drutt Collection, gift of the Morgan Foundation

Caroline Broadhead © The Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Donna Schneier Collection

Otto Kunzli © The Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Gift of Donna Schneier, 1997

Maria Philips © The Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Collections Committee, 2005

of polyester resin, heating the form to further mold the shape. The final steps include sanding, polishing and finishing each piece with a layer of acrylic.

Dutch designer Herman Hermsen’s preoccupation with materials goes back to the 1970s, and is based on re-interpreting the meaning of jewelry, objects, or products. Using artificial stones set in black PCV, Hermsen creates an apt, yet playful pictorial language to create a necklace that skillfully depicts the graphic style of the late 1980’s.

Steel was used widely in England in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries, where pieces were cut with deep facets to make the metal shine like precious jewels.

But contemporary German designer Sondra Sherman works with steel in an entirely different manner. In her piece, Corsage: Papaver Somniferum-Poppy (2008), Sherman uses steel to depict a corsage of flowers: she paints poppy flowers with nail polish onto brushed steel. “The materials here are already interesting for a corsage.” says Neuman. “Steel, something you brace yourself against, is used in an expressive way, but then [Sherman] also references the opiate qualities of the poppies, drawing a parallel between anxiety medication and young socialites”.

While the ideas of some jewelry designers stemmed solely from the materials, others started with strong concepts that found their expression in highly specific materials. Otto Künzli, the German/Swiss jeweler felt that gold had become too ubiquitous and lost its artistic value. In his famous bracelet, Gold Makes You Blind, (1980) Künzli carefully weighs our expectation about materials against reality by inserting a single sphere of gold inside a tube of black industrial rubber.

Also at play here is a profound sense of trust, as the buyer has no way of insuring that there is gold under the rubber without destroying the piece.

Verena Sieber-Fuchs is a Swiss artist that has made an elaborate neckpiece called Apartheid Collar (1997) with it a political message from orange tissue paper that was used to wrap fruit from South Africa. The material here is highly symbolic, for it was the humble orange, with its miraculous ability to prevent diseases like scurvy, which facilitated the spread of colonization by allowing explorers to circumnavigate the world leaving oppression in their wake. However, it was also the orange that finally overthrew apartheid when foreigners decided to stop eating Outspan oranges as part of an economic sanctions campaign.

Maria Phillips’ Swell necklace (2005), is a zoomorphic piece, that incorporates pig intestines with rusted steel and tarnished silver. The message here is of cycles and decay. Using various aging processes on the materials, along with the generative practice of electroforming, the process by which various metals can be deposited on non-metallic objects, the designer is exploring the architecture of manmade and natural structures to convey ideas about life cycles and physical transition.

Just like Duchamp’s “Ready-Mades” revolutionized what was considered art, the use of alternative materials redefined the way jewelry was perceived. The decision to use raw materials of little intrinsic value mandates that the value of the piece of jewelry is derived from the quality of the designers’ ideas, design and craftsmanship. Works such as these underscore the belief that materials are never neutral but carry with them associations that give them enhanced value beyond the economic. Whether the work is minimal or flamboyant, the wearer is ultimately the focal point of a piece of jewelry’s existence: for it’s the wearer who interacts with these works and is responsible for the visual and social context in which they are seen.

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As one of the premiere luxury automobile brands, Jaguar is noted for elegance, performance, and modernity.

While it’s quintessentially British image contributed to its success, under the direction of Ford Motors, this also became the brand’s albatross as well.

Ian Callum has a history with both Ford and Jaguar. After 11 years at Ford, and variety of projects (like the Aston Martin DB7) for Tom Walkinshaw Racing, Callum succeeded the late Geoff Lawson, as design director at Jaguar in 1999.

The recent acquisition of Jaguar by Tata Motors represents a new paradox for Jaguar’s image: on the one hand, Tata produces the Nano, which retails for the price of two sets of alloy wheels on an XJ; and on the other, they are interested in reviving one of Jaguars most forward-looking concepts, the F-Type. MATTER spoke with Ian Callum about the struggle for identity for a brand facing more than two decades of foreign ownership.

Interview with

Ian Callum Design Director at Jaguar

by Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe

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IAN CALLUM The XK120 brought Jaguar worldwide fame. What was so special about it was that it was that it wasn't nearly as expensive as some of the competitive models such as Ferrari or even Mercedes.

In fact, Jaguar's was but half the price of Mercedes’ back then.

Sir William Lyons, who created Jaguar, really had an obsession with value for money, but what he wanted to do was bring that expression of something special to a wider audience, and really it's pricing the car that did that. And the way he triumphed on pricing was to pull out what mattered to people in terms of reaction. He worked very hard to get the style of the car looking very, very good and also to highlight some of the materials inside as well.

Rather than putting everything at the highest level, he picked his high points really and focused on them.

DDB In an interview with The New York Times, you spoke about Jaguar as a designer's car, a heritage car, a modern car, a world car but rarely as a luxury car. Do you envision Jaguar as a luxury brand? For you as a designer, what defines luxury?

IC Yes Jaguar’s a luxury brand, and to that end, we treat it as a luxury brand from within. I think with a luxury brand like this, you have to use the word exotic. I don't mean it loosely. And to me, the word exotic, in simple terms, means it's got something very special about it.

There are the obvious things such as materials that we use and the 12

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way we use them in an exotic style.

If we're going to put a wooden appliqué or dashboard in the car, it will be real wood. If we're going to put leather in it, it would be top quality, real leather.

But for us, even more important is that part of this luxury is performance. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. If a luxury brand is a sports car company, then performance clearly has to be an attribute that is part of that luxury.

For Jaguar, this is very important.

Finally, modern luxury is also about intellect. It's about understanding what is right for the time and what is actually good design, and I think that is also part of the luxury experience.

People who look at it understand intuitively it's been designed in a way to be appealing for that period, for that generation.

DDB As well as aesthetics and accessibility, the brand's quintessential “Britishness” has also contributed to its success. Jaguar became synonymous with a Great Britain of elegance, adventure and cheeky get-up-and-go. How does a brand that has been owned by an American company for the last 20 years still manage to produce cars that are perceived so intrinsically British?

IC It's very puzzling to me how people perceive Jaguar.

Foreigners get very puzzled by it because their impression of Britain is that we all live in country mansions and we all can provoke our butlers and drink mid-afternoon tea out of bone china tea cups with scones, and we pop in to see the Queen every week. It's being a bit simplistic, I know, but that is their view of Britain.

I believe that if you're going to create a British product, one that people perceive as being British, it has to come from within the culture of the

U.K. and from where it's built, and that's because it has to contain some of the idiosyncrasies or the charm or whatever it might be that you might call quintessentially English.

I say it's also about discipline. It's about some purity. It's about an elegance that you have to look for and apply. It's also a notion that we want to have a bit of fun under these gray skies of Coventry. That combination of all these elements actually for me creates something that is British.

Now I personally feel that some mistakes were made at Jaguar over the last 20 or 30 years, and I feel quite strongly about this and I've observed it from outside. If you try and force a national trait - what people perceive to be a national trait - onto the original product, it

photos Courtesy of Jaguar

DEENA DeNARO-BICKERSTAFFE The notion of luxury has often been related to exclusivity, yet with the launch of the XK120 in 1950, Jaguar created a reputation as a brand that spanned both the competitive racing circuit and elegant driveways of suburbia. How did the idea of accessibility actually benefit Jaguar's brand recognition in its early stages?

Ian Callum

doesn't work: you have to let it grow organically from within.

quintessentially old, and my belief was that was the wrong thing to do.

The XJ, for example, was designed in 1960 originally and it's very British: and it's designed in the period when British cars and French cars and German cars and American cars all actually look quite different. They all had their own characteristics traits. The world's quite different now: we don't design “national” cars as such. I think we design more international cars because that's the way people observe the world.

We're kind of merging into one great global design world.

I really believe that Jaguars have to be modern cars. They have to be as modern, if not more modern, than any other car in their class.

What Jaguar should have been allowed to do was to grow naturally into what British design was becoming: but it was held back because the perception outside was it should be an old, English car company. So we produced cars which looked

DDB Do you sense that Jaguars are perceived differently, within and outside of the U.K.?

IC I was talking to a German journalist the other day and he was mildly criticizing XF for looking too modern and too much part of the circle of cars that we see around us.

And he said “We in Germany want you, Jaguar, to remain very British and very traditional.” I said, “So you want Jag to remain the same?” And he said “Yes, absolutely. We love Jaguar for that.” And I asked “Do you want one?”

His answer was “No.” I said “But you want other people to have them so

you can see them?” You know, it's all very well people wanting us to be that way for their observation and perhaps for their amusement, but it's actually not a very good way to run a car company.

I said [the XF] isn't a “British car.”

This is what British people want in a car. “But why does it not look like an old British car?” I said “because we don't want old British cars.”

And this is something we have to shake off I'm afraid. But we can't just shake it off and ignore it. We have to earn it. We have to earn the credentials of moving in a different direction.

And that will be my challenge.

DDB Does the notion of craft versus mass production come into play with the image of British luxury cars?

IC There's what we call perceived craftsmanship and perceived quality, 5.3 Matter

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Interview and that perception is everything.

Craftsmanship to me is not just about the way the car is put together and bolted together, which you take for granted is going to be good. We can definitely prove that Jaguars are well-built.

But the quality is not just about how it's actually physically built. It's a perception of how it's been built.

This comes down to design and planning. And what I do here, what I want to do here, is give the feeling, by the aesthetics, that the car is very, very beautifully built. It's almost hand-crafted, and it's the way we use the materials, the way we shape the metal.

Of course, it’s also in the interior, the way we trim interiors. All our cars, for instance, now have stitching in the dashboard, for an example, which actually looks like somebody has given it that craftsmanship, and laid the leather on the dashboard and stitched it up, instead of just injection molding or flush molding and just throwing it into the car. So there's an essence of care going into the aesthetics: the build of the car is driven by the aesthetics really.

There's also other little things: when you create the trim around the outside of the windows, you try not to make it look like it's all parallel in the detail. The moment you give some sort of diverging or converging lines with a chrome piece, it looks like it's been handmade because, subconsciously, it doesn't look like it's been done by an extrusion machine. It doesn't look like it's just been mass produced. The XF is full of little design details like that.

DDB The E-type was characterized by smooth lines and lack of ornamentation, not traditional luxury cues.

How does modernity sit with the equally powerful sense of tradition in Jaguar brand both in the designs of the past and then today?

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IC The E-type was a very emotional car both visually and to drive. On the other hand you could have the Mark II or the Mark X, which are big luxury sedans, and Jaguar lived with that kind of slightly juxtaposed nature for quite a while. I think the notion of luxury in the E-type was its performance and its looks, where the luxury of the bigger sedans was more about the wood and the leather.

William Lyons loved purity and he loved simplicity, and he believed, as I do, that clarity of line and clarity of aesthetic was very important for a Jaguar. He could not afford it to be adorned with too much.

So you can bring the word "classic" into this. It's very trendy at the moment in the motor industry to do cars with lots of lines in them.

I mean Ford are about to come out with a few cars in the future with lots and lots of features and lines of them.

And as I see it, that kind of appeals

to the “Playstation Generation”, you know, as sort of the instant gratification and the—I don't want to say lack of attention span, but it's certainly to do with attention span of a generation of people who want to move on quickly. But if you want classic design that's going to last a longer period than fashionable design, then you have to actually go beyond the immediate and go into the esthetic of purity I think. And I like to think our cars are a bit more subtle than that; they take a little bit more time to digest. It's a little bit more gratifying through time rather than through that instant moment.

I went through a kind of soulsearching period when I first arrived here to try and establish what the modern credentials for Jaguar design should be. I really tried to work out what was it that made these cars so special. I picked up the set of values, not the specific design cues, but the

Ian Callum IC The real thing for me about an XJ has been the sportiness, and that's part of our heritage of course- the sportiness, the raciness, the sense of agility. And with racieness, I don't mean it's just about all out power. It's about agility and it's about drivability.

The original XJ6 was iconic, and it was iconic because it was such a fundamental move away in proportion from what the rest of the world was doing.

It was literally creating a four-door sports car.

I remember when it came out in '68, and I looked at it forever, and I learned so much about how I design cars now just in those hours. The car was full of so many elements of great design and great proportion and great aesthetics.

It was a piece of genius, that car. And, of course, it evolved and evolved and evolved.

I think if Lyons was around, it would have evolved much quicker into something much more special which was

still relevant to today. But it evolved slowly, and because it evolved slowly, every new model was recognizable to the previous one. And while that was partially its success, it was also the danger of being part of its failure as well. I think it probably went a step too far- one generation too far, and actually created this notion of Jaguar as "old British Car Company."

People always say “I love the old Jags, why are you changing them?” And I say “Well if you love the old Jags, go out and buy an old Jag.” There's probably more old Jags around than there are new ones. We don't have to keep repeating it just because we feel warmth towards the old ones. The old ones are still there. And that's why we should stop replicating old buildings to protect the past because there's plenty of old buildings still there to enjoy and we still enjoy them.

I love E-types. I love gothic architecture. It doesn't mean to say we have

values that made them special, and re-created them in a 21st-century kind of discipline really.

And those values are quite simple.

They are about great proportions, about very pure surfaces that are very disciplined and very easy on the eye, and they're about beautiful lines. And they're about not putting anything more in the car than it actually needs.

I think classic luxury doesn't have superfluous styling on it. It's got good styling but not superfluous styling.

That's a luxury I think people really do enjoy. And if you don't need a line on a shape or an ornament or something, then it takes a lot of discipline not to put it in there.

DDB The company has also produced the iconic XJ saloon for four decades, and the model still epitomizes the traditional heritage of the company.

Could it be said that this is a halo car for the brand?

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to design them that way now. It's about learning from that and having the bravery to move on from it. I think as a designer, that is my duty.

DDB With U.K. brands in particular, however, there tend to be specific design cues based in iconic elements or traditional materials: notably Connolly leather, Wilton carpets, acres of burled walnut, and the like. The auto industry seems to hold tightly to these traditions more than other creative industries like furniture or product design. Why is this?

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IC We're changing I think. Cars are changing, but it's not so much what the designer of the car companies want to do. It's what their dealers tell management. We can try and change the wood in our cars, but the dealers will order walnut because they know they can sell it. I think there's always a reluctance on part of the sales side of the business to encourage new materials, because they don't get it. We are trying very hard to change that. We will always offer walnut in our cars, because that's what some people actually want. But the thing I'm trying to do is take some of these

traditional materials, which actually still have a value and enjoy them.

Leather is wonderful. Wood is wonderful. But design them in a modern context.

If you go into any modern hotel, like a W or a Sanderson, they're still using traditional materials. It's just they're using them in a slightly different way and a very contemporary way, the way that furniture designers do. We are embracing other types of wood and other forms of materials, but also embracing the idea of using traditional materials in a more modern way.

Contact information for the manufacturers of the materials on these pages is available in Material ConneXion’s online database, materialconnexion.com.

For information on how to become a subscriber, e-mail us at access@materialconnexion.com.

Best IN Show Once a month, an interdisciplinary team of experts from a variety of design related fields, come together to select new materials for the library.

Out of the over forty materials juried monthly, one is chosen as the Best in Show. Model materials are innovative, eco-friendly, technologically advanced, and have many possible applications.

Here we have highlighted three of the most recent Best in Show materials.

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Fiber Packaging

Paving Stones

natural MC# 6212-01

cement MC# 6202-01

Molded pulped fiber packaging that utilizes rice straw residue from local agricultural crops.

These rigid, relatively tear resistant and smooth surfaced forms are moldable using standard pulp molding machines, though they are able to be drained and shrunk faster than standard pulp, creating faster production times. The material is printable and has a shelf life of 12 months. The resins are certified biodegradable, may be pigmented and comply with food safety codes. Applications are for food and product packaging.

This range of cement paving stones contains microspheres that give high anti-slippage and self-cleaning properties for safety signage and directional markers and curbs by incorporating a lead free pigment in a range of graphic designs that reflect a high proportion of incident light from car headlights. The tiles are modular, durable, waterproof, impact and scratch proof and comply with European standards for exterior safety signage.

Customization of the graphics is possible. They are used for safety and direction marking for parking lots, cycle lanes, traffic circles and other exterior surfaces.

Interlocking Foam Modules polymer MC# 6208-01

Decorative modular system. These synthetic rubber modular pieces can be fit together like puzzle pieces to create many different patterns and designs. The individual pieces come in 8 different patterns, 8 standard colors, 3 metallic colors and 3 velvet colors and the size of each piece is customizable. The modular pieces exhibit good water resistance and can be created with different materials depending on the specific needs of the application. They can be used as interior and exterior decorations, shower mats, lampshades, and floor and wall coverings.

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24 new materials

MC# 0119-03 Aluminum honeycomb panels with a cell angle of 45째 or 30째. The material is nonflammable, has a good service temperature of up to 177째C (350째F), a high thermal conductivity as well as a good resistance in moist and corrosive environments. Used for air grilles for electromagnetically shielded machine and equipment casings. Other cell angles are available on request. Larger amounts are available with a lead time of up to twelve weeks. Current applications are for air grilles for electromagnetically shielded machine and equipment casings.

MC# 2604-20 Coated textile that has photoluminescent properties. This fire retardant polyester knit, tear and burst resistant fabric has been coated with a thin polyurethane (PU) coating.

Embedded with a high intensity photoluminescence powder, needing only 20 minutes charging for up to 8 hours of glow. Available in a range of colors and textures measuring 56" wide. Customization is also possible.

Applications are for upholstery and contract furniture, with future applications in footwear and other soft consumer goods.

MC# 3495-12 The fabric has a parchment-like stiff base and sheen surface that is embroidered with lurex or fleece yarns. It is 100% polyester and is sold in five colors. Available 1500 mm (59 in) wide and a weight of 40 gm/m2, it is washable and may be ironed, and may be dry cleaned. The product was the recipient of an iF Material Award in 2008. It is suitable for interior drapery, as a panel fabric, and for roman shades.

MC# 5304-04 Wool felt carpeting that incorporates LED lights. Comprised of 100% industrial wool felt adhered together using a polyester woven backing, these modular strips are 1.27 cm wide, available in 32 colors, and lengths up to 1 m, and can produce mats up to 220 cm (86.6 in) wide. This flexible mat is nonflammable, water repellent and breathable and may be dry-cleaned or wiped clean with a damp cloth. Damaged strips may be swapped out. Used for flooring, but it also may be used for wall hangings, and other interior surfaces where felt is suitable.

MC# 5692-03 This is a coated strip steel for producing electronic components. Properties such as electrical conductivity, low resistance, corrosion, surface function or decorative appearance can be met or enhanced. The surface layers can consist of any metallic element, for example aluminum, nickel, copper or silver and mixtures of elements or binary compounds, such as aluminum oxide (Al2O3) or titanium oxide (TiO2). A high degree of manufacturing flexibility enables surface engineered strip to be tailor made to customer specifications. Typical electronic applications include tactile domes, shielding and improving the soldering properties of electronic components.

MC# 5808-05 Masterbatch additive that imparts a fluorescent effect in response to UV light exposure.

The additives may be incorporated into PET, PC, PP, PE, and many other thermoplastics.

Also, the effect can be achieved in polymers processed using most common methods like injection molding, blow molding, extrusion, etc. However, the only stipulation is that the part must be translucent, as opaque additives will absorb light and obscure the effect.

Applications for this include consumer electronics, toys, accessories, cases, furniture, and other moldable parts.

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Contact information for the manufacturers of the materials on these pages is available in Material ConneXion’s online database, materialconnexion.com.

For information on how to become a subscriber, e-mail us at access@materialconnexion.com.

MC# 5946-05 100% stainless steel flat wire mesh for interior and exterior architectural applications.

This unidirectional flexible mesh consists of v-shaped flat wire spirals and corrugated rods, can be produced in bronze, copper, silver and gold and is available with matte or glossy surface as well as in various colors.

Applications are for wall and ceiling coverings, room dividers, wire cloth facades (interior and exterior), sunscreens, covering of balustrades, art objects as well as conveyor bands in the food industry.

MC# 6190-01 Three-dimensionally formed polyurethane foams with a special polyurethane (PU) coating. This coating can be produced in any RAL or Sikkens system color as well as with metallic effects. It is waterproof, smooth, abrasionresistant and non-flammable. All 2D cut and 3D machined foam forms can be produced with a maximum size of 2000 mm x 1000 mm x 3500 mm. Larger elements are possible by combining several blocks. Applications are for furniture, display boards in interior design as well as store fixtures and commercial design.

MC# 6197-01 Custom 3D LED modules that can be connected to create spatial display units which communicate 3D designs or animations. The modules snap together to create a display of any size or shape and can be replaced if they burn out. Preloaded animations and interactive components such as audio and video can be integrated with the use of custom software and Serial/USB input. Memory stores up to 5 minutes of video, which can be rewritten allowing the 3D cube to be used again and again for multiple applications including architectural displays and art installations.

MC# 6201-01 Shibori is a process of dyeing fabric that involves stitching, gathering, scrunching and tightly tying the un-dyed fabric before immersing the fabric in a dye bath. Shibori techniques have been used in Japan since the eighth century and are usually used for clothes. Available sizes are 25 x 70 in (610 x 1778 mm) and it takes 1 – 3 months to make – it depends on each fabric material’s dyeing method. Customized colors are possible.

Applications include furniture as upholstered chair backs, interior walls and partitions.

MC# 6203-01 Ceramic floor and wall tiles in a range of tile shapes and sizes, that incorporate LEDs. Single or double light spots embedded in the ceramic tile may be filtered by scrims which screw into the top of the tile, and come in 7 colors. The tiles may be connected in series and to a wall socket and are laid similar to regular ceramic tiling onto screed. The operating temperature range is -40 to 104°F and they are suitable for interior use only as commercial and residential floors, walls and work surfaces.

MC# 6206-01 This glass fiber reinforced polymer is being touted as an alternative to plywood in the building industry. The thermoplastic panels are fitted together inside the metal frames usually used for plywood. In addition they provide higher mechanical properties. Used as a lightweight alternative to plywood in construction, they are highly damage resistant but also easy to repair and recycle and humidity does not cause them to either swell or rot. Outside the building and construction industry, walls and floors in truck and trailers as well as shipping containers could be other potential applications.

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24 New Materials

MC# 5000-02 An extensive range of aluminum metallic hot stamping foils produced on high quality polyester. LuxorÂŽ (gold and metallic colors) and AlufinÂŽ (silver) are suitable for synthetic leather bindings, lipstick covers, low and high density PE (polyethylene) tubes, and containers made from PP (polypropylene). It exhibits high gloss, good resistance to perfumes and chemical content, abrasion and scratches as well as excellent adhesion to PE (polyethylene). Applications include cosmetic packaging, labels, and greeting cards.

MC# 5343-15 Textiles with anti-slip properties. These textiles are 95% PVC and 5 % polyester (PET) with a surface of raised pyramid shaped bumps giving it excellent grip properties.

It is available 135 cm (53 in) wide and at a weight of 1395 g/m2. The product may be customized, either by backing with different TNT-thicknesses or coating one side or making it self-adhesive. Currently used for anti-slip applications but could also find use in the fashion and design industries.

MC# 6005-02 Made of chlorine free cellulose, these FSC certified papers with the feel of leather are fade resistant and pH neutral and offered in sheets and envelopes. Weights that are suitable for laser and inkjet printing as well as offset printing, letterpress, blind embossing, hot foil stamping, laser engraving, thermography, silk-screen printing, and die cutting.

Available in ten colors and two finishes: wild and cult. Wild has leather touch and cult features leather embossing. Applications include stationery and packaging.

MC# 6046-08 Japanese wood veneers which can be laminated to various substrates. Through a proprietary process, these veneers are 0.1mm (.004 in) thin and are made from a wide range of species including Japanese cypress, cedar, beech, Yakucedar, and Paulownia. They can be laminated to substrates including cork, polyester, cotton, leather, silk, aluminum, acrylic and other wood substrates with non-toxic adhesives. Lamination is customizable and available as finished sheets or on finished products. Applications include children’s toys, shoe inserts, handbags, table mats, and clothing.

MC# 6088-02 Ultra thin, flexible, non-woven ceramic fabrics that are typically used as separators in Li-ion batteries to reduce overheating as well as making the battery clearly safer, more powerful, and durable. Alumina, (Al2O3) zirconia (ZrO2) and silica (SiO2) fibers are blended together to create these sheets that are backed with a nonwoven polyester support. The fibers are sintered to improve properties such as temperature stability, and superior chemical and shrink resistance.

Though the sheets are currently used as separators in Li-ion batteries, their high temperature and corrosion resistance lends them to applications in some consumer products.

MC# 6169-02 A process that uses water as a foaming agent and enables the fabrication of physically foamed plastic components with conventional injection molding machines. Unlike other conventional physical foaming methods, the components can be produced regardless of the wall thickness, even with significantly shorter cooling time. Parts with thick and thin walls can be quickly and inexpensively foamed, whereas the consumption of material and energy is reduced. Applications are for highly stressable components in non-visible areas or masked surfaces and certified applications in the automotive industries.

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Contact information for the manufacturers of the materials on these pages is available in Material ConneXion’s online database, materialconnexion.com.

For information on how to become a subscriber, e-mail us at access@materialconnexion.com.

MC# 6173-01 Rotten wood that has been stabilized by the injection of acrylic (PMMA). This hybrid material consists of spalted wood infused with acrylic glass (PMMA) by using pressure or vacuum and thus gains similar properties as tropical wood.

After the treatment, the hardened wood is resistant to water, alcohol (except for acetone) and environmental influences, is odorless, impact resistant and tough and does not absorb water.

Applications are for all consumer products that are manufactured from wood.

MC# 6209-01 A flexible frame LED lighting system consisting of aluminum and macrolon (polycarbonate) with 928 LED lights/m2 Crystal or acrylic inlays (opaque or transparent) are available in a variety of colors and materials. The warm white dimmable LEDs produce flowing light effects, and each diode can be individually controlled with integrated software or a PC video input. Countless versions are available by combining materials, colors and light effects/screen content. Applications are for interior and exterior lighting.

MC# 6210-01 Individually crafted glass composite that permanently fuses photographs between a coverglass and a special high-pressure laminate. This process protects the exhibits of mechanical impact as well as ozone and UV-light. The glass is anti-static, scratch resistant, easy to clean, and repels dirt.

Applications are for doors, wall coverings, partition walls, shower partitions, furniture design, art objects, light objects and ceiling vitrifications.

MC# 6214-01 WPC (wood plastic composite) produced by rotation injection. This composite consists of 2050% wood or natural fiber particles and 50-80% polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP). It has a lower density and a lighter weight than products made of pure polymer. Different wood types create various brown shades and the rotation injection process creates a smooth exterior surface that is smooth and easy to clean. The material can be processed with woodworking tools but is difficult to glue. Applications are for furniture and products that are produced by rotation injection.

MC# 6216-03 This range of ornamental panels and doors are made of 100% solid wood, with scratched, gouged, carved or lined facings of wood. These textured facings are then glued to a plywood core and produced in various timbers. These panels are customizable, no standard size and no minimum orders are required. Sound insulation and/or anti-intrusion and fire resistant grades are available upon request. Applications are doors, cladding, sliding panels, head boards, partitions, operable walls, and ceilings.

MC# 6217-01 Handmade French lace is embedded in clear acrylic (PMMA) cast sheets to create rigid, translucent and transparent panels that incorporate lace. Sheets come in a standard thickness of 15 mm (0.59 in) and are available in a range of patterns. Other thicknesses are available on demand. The panels have up to a 92% light transmittance, are flame retardant, and suitable for indoor or outdoor applications including decorative paneling, furniture, room dividers and event and store design.

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Endless oceans, scorching deserts, towering mountain ranges: these are the usual dividers of markedly different peoples and cultures. On one side may sit cities of glass and steel, while on the other, villages of tents or simple shelters: within each, there will be differing senses of what constitutes “luxury.” Water for parched people and plants or the warm touch of a fire, Nouvelle cuisine or preserved fruit in the winter.

While the Harlem River in New York City might not be as wide as an ocean or as tall as a mountain range it is a similar divide. Measuring a mere 500 feet (152 meters) wide, it is spanned by no less than 8 bridges that carry hundreds of thousands of cars in both directions every day, yet the socioeconomic gulf between the people who live on either side of it

is massive. The southern bank of the Harlem river is home to Manhattan, which contains some of the wealthiest zip codes in the country, encompassing boutique-lined avenues and townhouse-packed streets. To the north lies the South Bronx, which in 2000 was the single poorest congressional district in the United States, posting a median family income of less than US$20,000 a year. In this small section of the world lie two very distinct impressions of “luxury.”

Majora Carter sees the distinctions clearly. The founder of Sustainable South Bronx, she has been committed to bringing fresh air and green spaces —things that are far more plentiful just across the river—to the people of her native (and current) neighborhood.

Luxurious Necessıtıes

Majora Carter and Sustainable South Bronx

by Richard J. Lombard

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With the philosophy that one shouldn’t have to leave one’s neighborhood in order to live in a better one, Carter set out to provide the residents with a luxury that they had been living without for some time – the first waterfront park to be created in the South Bronx in more than sixty years. “Clean odor-free air, access to healthy food, jobs, safe pedestrian walkways where huge tractor-trailers are not liable to run you down, and parks and trees are all in very short supply here compared to Manhattan.” Carter points out, “These things are in short supply in some neighborhoods, and in abundance elsewhere.”

“The two main problems I wanted to address were poverty and environmental injustice,” Carter says, “and there are many points in that cycle which are vulnerable to positive investments in human and environmental capital; but you can’t do everything.” What Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx) have done, however, is create a series of sustainable initiatives that are geared toward providing healthier living conditions in the area, and are also capable of creating economic benefits like jobs and increased revenues.

actually correlate the number of trees and greenery in urban areas to dramatic reductions in crime, as well as improved self-esteem, school performance, and reductions in both violent and non-violent crimes.” Luxury, indeed.

Their Greenway project, for instance, aims to create miles of bike and pedestrian paths around the South Bronx, leading to greater amounts of green spaces, fresh air, and places for people in the area to get out and enjoy. “Crime, obesity, and educational outcomes are all connected through the South Bronx Greenway,” Carter points out. “By creating attractive spaces with benches and domino tables and shade trees where old and young alike can feel safe, we create an environment with more ‘eyes on the street’. This reduces the likelihood that a crime will be committed. Law enforcement statistics bear this out; and other studies by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“Additionally,” she continues, “there is a huge potential for employment and small business development here. And when you keep a person in a job and out of jail, their kids and family require less public assistance and experience better educational outcomes at any age.”

Another project of theirs, a “green roofs” effort, has also led to a number of benefits ranging from better air quality to business development.

“Anytime you can create storm water absorbing surfaces, you reduce the load placed on our rivers and sewerage treatment facilities,” Carter explains. “These facilities are almost always located in or very near poor communities, and the South Bronx has both a municipal treatment operation and a private sewerage sludge pelletizing plant. Once a facility is designated to be built or expanded in a poor community, much less attention is placed on clean or green design because the people in the area have very little political power to resist poor decisions. So the immediate environmental benefit of green roofing has ancillary benefits to property owners who do not even participate in this type of retro-fit.”

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Luxurious Necessıtıes

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Luxurious Necessıtıes

Green roofs are often criticized as being things that cost lots of money, cause lots of problems, and are a luxury that only the wealthy can afford – and even then, they only serve to assuage their own conscience. Carter sees it very differently, and the state of New York agrees: this summer, the New York State Legislature passed a bill that will give New York City homeowners a tax credit for covering at least half of their roof with vegetation. “A secondary environmental benefit comes by keeping the entire city cooler,” says Carter. “If you have enough green roofs, the city temperature can come down by as much as 2 or 3 degrees. This may not seem like a lot, but utility companies keep track of energy consumption based on ‘degree days’ and we can track with some precision, how many fewer watts will be used per degree of temperature reduction.

That means that while green roofs are cleaning the water and air, that power plant emissions will be reduced – and these are located in poor communities where public health problems are the worst.”

Hopefully, in the years to come, the various environments—social, economic, and natural—on either side of the Harlem River will move closer together: so that their differences will be as small as the physical divide between them.

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The Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center June 19th marked the official opening of Material ConneXion Daegu, of the Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center (DGDC) in Daegu, Korea, one of Asia’s fastest growing design hubs.

The opening of Material ConneXion’s fourth International Licensee was observed as part of a larger ceremony to celebrate the new DGDC. More than 300 guests attended, including Kim Bum-il, Mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City, and a notable list of Korean celebrities and politicians.

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George M. Beylerian, CEO and founder of Material ConneXion, and Dr. Andrew H. Dent, Vice President, Library and Materials Research at Material ConneXion, were also among the distinguished guests.

Throughout the day-long celebration, visitors to the center were invited to tour and experience the DGDC’s new state of the art facilities. In addition to Material ConneXion Daegu, the twelve-story, 64,000 square-

foot design center also houses global design and color consulting businesses, an innovation design research center, a virtual reality system, a digital printing center, and multiple exhibition spaces and conference halls. In a time when design has emerged as a driving force behind industrial competitiveness, the city of Daegu was quick to recognize the importance of fostering design innovation among industries within its region and beyond. Currently

home to nearly 6,000 manufacturing enterprises, as well as major conglomerates like Samsung and LG, Daegu is taking great strides to position itself as a nexus of industry and design.

The DGDC and Material ConneXion Daegu are key components of the city’s plan to reposition itself as Korea’s Cultural Industrial Core, and both organizations are poised to become valuable assets to Daegu’s existing industries and companies throughout the nation and abroad.

The man in charge of making this goal a reality is Jung Yong-bin, president of the DGDC and Material ConneXion Daegu. As the former president of Samsung’s Electronic design center, Mr. Jung has devoted his entire career to developing industrial operations. He is the founder of SRI-tech, an LCD manufacturing company, and assumed his role as the DGDC’s president in 2007. Soon thereafter, Mr. Jung began talks with

Mr. Beylerian and Material ConneXion.

Familiar with the company’s position as a global resource for designers and corporations seeking a creative or competitive edge through strategic material selections, Jung saw the enormous potential that existed for a Material ConneXion branch in Daegu. Now fully operational and staffed with a dedicated team of experienced professionals, Material ConneXion Daegu is well on its way to becoming the number one industrial design partner among large businesses in Korea.

The licensee’s new Managing Director, Kim Tae-ho, expressed his optimism and excitement for the new facility in his dedication speech given during June’s opening ceremony. Mr. Beylerian spoke to the same effect, reinforcing the company’s commitment to providing innovative material solutions to Daegu’s booming design industry and citing the endless possibili-

ties for collaboration that exist between Material ConneXion and corporations throughout East Asia.

Martin Beeh, General Manager of Material ConneXion Colonge, participated in the ceremony through a videotaped message welcoming the Daegu office to the Material ConneXion family.

Later that day, a packed audience was treated to a lecture given by Dr. Dent, titled “Current Material Trends from Aerospace to Architecture.” The talk was the first chance for guests to experience the important wealth of information and expertise that awaits them at Material ConneXion. The celebration concluded with a cocktail reception hosted by Material ConneXion Daegu, where government officials and professionals from nearby industries got their first look at the Materials Library and a chance the meet and mingle with the new team.

Previous page, from left: MC Daegu & DGDC President, Jung Yong-bin; George Beylerian; Mayor of Daegu, Kim Bum-il and Andrew H. Dent, Ph.D.

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Plastic Luxe?

For Material ConneXion’s second book, Ultra Materials, we interviewed Philippe Starck on his design philosophy, use of materials, and ideas about the future. In response to a question about the future of petroleum and its impact on his work, he had this to say: "The problem is that oil will disappear in about 40 years. Everyone thinks it’s a crisis for automobiles, but that’s not true. In 40 years, there will be fuels that replace oil: hydrogen, cold fusion and others. However, the real crisis is when plastic disappears—when oil disappears, quality plastic will disappear. So, the little oil that will be left will be reserved for the elite. We will therefore see a social regression where only the rich will have access to quality plastic products and products that could only exist because of plastic. The poor will have to settle for natural materials, very natural, a lot weaker in their capacities, or recycled materials.”

For this issue of MATTER, we have asked our lead scientists to ponder this statement and offer up their thoughts. Interestingly, Andrew H. Dent, Ph.D. and Cynthia Tyler, Ph.D. both approached the comment from different angles: Andrew with a piece on the inherent value of materials, and Cynthia with a piece on the progress in creating replacements for plastics.

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Andrew H. Dent, Ph.D. Though I do not agree with this statement about the impending luxury of plastics, I agree in general with the idea that luxury in materials is based not just upon the quality of a material but also on its rarity and, more importantly, why it is scarce. Is it due to the limited amount we have on the planet, or to the effort it takes to obtain it from its source? Both of these factors have changed over the years and that transformation reveals the close connection between luxury and technology The argument against the natural progression of a scarce material to luxury status can be framed with reference to other materials for which this is the case. In the case of metals, two materials stand out as swaying to the vagaries of luxury demands: aluminum and titanium.

Aluminum, despite being one of the most commonly occurring elements on Earth, was initially considered to be one of the most valuable metals in existence. In the mid-19th Century, the little available pure aluminum which had been discovered (or refined at great expense) was considered more valuable than gold. Bars of aluminum were exhibited alongside the French crown jewels at the Exposition Universelle of 1855, and Napoleon III commissioned a dinnerware set from silversmith Charles Christofle in 1858 which was said to have been reserved a for his most honored guests (lesser guests, it has been said, had to settle for gold utensils).

The reason for its value was that, until the late 1880s, it was near-to-impossible to obtain aluminum metal from its ore in any large quantities. The development of the Hall-Héroult process in 1886 (a high-energy electrical process used to extract the metal) greatly increased its fabrication possibilities.

With the invention of this process, and the subsequent widely-available supply of the material, the price of aluminum plummeted.

In just a few years, its price had dropped below that of silver and continued to fall until it became a low value commodity metal in the early 20th century.

Plastic Luxe?

Technology and luxury in materials Titanium, which came into limited use as an aerospace material was considered a “Strategic Material” by the US government in the 1950s.

While it is more widely used today, it is still a high cost, luxury material mainly used in the world’s fastest aircraft, the Lockheed SR-71, as the signature cladding of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao, and the numerous high-end sporting goods that tout the metal’s strength and light weight.

This status is also due to the difficult and expensive process by which it is produced (the Kroll Process is not only complex, it requires magnesium, another expensive metal).

However, the “luxurious” nature of the material based upon its high cost of manufacture is soon to be challenged. A newly-developed extraction process, called the FFC Cambridge Process, reduces the number of steps the material takes from the mine to the product and will put the value of titanium on par with that of other industrial materials like steel and aluminum – felling its ‘luxury’ status in one stroke.

The recent breakthroughs in the creation of synthetic diamonds are another case in point.

It is now near impossible to tell, by human eye or ultra high accuracy luminescence imaging, the difference between mined and diamonds which are “grown” by depositing atom layers of carbon through a vapor deposition process to build up the stone. The slowly perfected clarity of a diamond as the ultimate in luxury suddenly starts to cloud when one realizes that they can be grown in just 72 hours, or even be “customized” through obtaining the carbon from a lock of a loved-one’s hair.

However, if we are to compare the examples of titanium and diamonds to Starck’s plastics, noticeable differences are clear. Both titanium and diamonds are currently relatively scarce, and are classed as luxurious for that reason, but they also offer performance that lifts them above all other materials (titanium has the highest strength to weight ratio of any material, diamond is still the hardest material we know); something that plastics have never been able to offer us, as they are predominantly used for their ease and low cost. No matter how scarce plastics might become, we always have alternatives in the metals and natural materials they are currently replacing.

There is also the issue of permanence.

Plastics, although creating concerns about their longevity in landfills, do not age well. They tend to scratch, degrade in sunlight, craze in hot water, fade and become brittle over time: properties that currently do not enhance their value.

A diamond is forever, with no change from this millennium to the next. In our minds, luxurious materials – such as bronze and leather – develop a “patina” over time, whereas plastic just starts to look awful.

So, while Starck’s comments are certainly on-target regarding the critical link between oil and plastics, I don’t think that we will see “luxury” plastics in the future. We will, more likely, see a move to alternative materials that will – no doubt – be more expensive and more costly to process.

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Cynthia Tyler, Ph.D. Many believe the era of cheap oil is at an end. While new sources are becoming increasingly difficult to find and extract, growing demand is putting a strain on existing supplies and raising the price per barrel to record levels. Since the raw materials that go into plastics are made from oil and natural gas (another fossil fuel whose price has increased almost 75% since the start of this year), higher oil prices also translate into higher plastic prices. In May and June, the largest U.S. plastics producer, Dow Chemical, announced not one but two price increases totaling almost 50%, which came on top of an increase in freight and transport surcharges – also linked to rising fuel costs.

second drawback is the appropriation of farmland for non-food use (compounded by the fact that even more farmland is used to produce biofuels). This diverting of supply has sparked a wave of higher food prices worldwide and, in some of the poorest nations, riots.

Similar to the efforts made by biofuel companies, NatureWorks is addressing this concern by exploring raw material alternatives from non-food plant sources to make the next generation of PLA. Some examples include lignocellulosic agricultural waste such as wheat and rice straw, bagasse, and corn stover.

As the world’s population grows, and as China and India continue to adopt Western consumption patterns, there is no doubt that materials, including oil-derived plastics, will become more expensive. So, as oil demand outpaces production will products made from plastics become new status symbols of wealth?

Not necessarily. Bioplastics and recycled plastics offer viable substitutes for fossil fuel-based plastics.

With these additions to the available options, designers will be able to specifiy materials with similar characteristics as current plastics, but without the need to be tied to the supply of oil.

In the past few years, advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering have enabled renewable agricultural crops such as corn, sugarcane, potatoes, wheat and other crops to replace the oil and natural gas feedstocks for plastics. Polylactic Acid (PLA), the most commonly produced bioplastic is derived from corn and the largest producer of PLA is Natureworks LLC. By composting the material under industrial conditions, which incorporate higher temperatures and mechanical aeration methods, the resulting compost can nourish the soil to grow more corn. PLA finds application not only in single-use food and beverage containers, but also in durable goods including electronic devices, cell phones and computers currently produced exclusively for the Japanese market.

However there are two main drawbacks to using corn for the production of biopolymers. The first is that, in order to grow the corn that is going to replace the oil, a lot of oil and oil-related products are consumed. Fuel to run the tractors and trucks, and fertilizers and pesticides made from oil-based products are required on an on-going basis. The 32

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A limited infrastructure for composting raises another concern about what happens to PLA when it’s disposed. If placed in a recycling bin by mistake, it could contaminate other plastics and downgrade their recycling potential. If, instead, it ends up in a landfill, a process similar to composting occurs. In this anaerobic process (where microorganisms break

Plastic Luxe?

Plastics—the new status symbol? down the PLA in the absence of oxygen) biogas is created. Biogas has two primary components, carbon dioxide and methane, the latter possessing 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

While some landfills collect this gas and use it to operate turbines that generate electricity, a small percentage of this gas does manage to escape and enter the atmosphere.

Another end-of-life solution is closed-loop recycling of plastics. The most common plastic recycling is done by mechanical means, which degrades the quality of the materials. Recently, however, manufacturers have been exploring chemical recycling

into new PLA resin. The best news of all is that recycling of this type is potentially infinite!

In the last few years, outdoor clothing companies Patagonia and Nau have launched innovative garment-recycling campaigns, like Patagonia’s “Common Threads” recycling program. These give customers the option to recycle their old clothing into new sportswear products.

Developed by the Japanese chemical company Teijin, the world’s first closed-loop polyester chemical recycling technology is called EcoCircle™, which breaks down old garments to create new polyester fibers. After removing zippers and buttons, the process chops worn out garments into pieces, followed by granulation and formation of small fabric pellets. The pellets are chemically broken down to the molecular level and purified to produce new, raw polyester material. The resulting monomer is the same quality as virgin materials. By polymerizing the monomer into polyester chips and melt-spinning them into new filament fibers, the former waste product is now available for knitting into new textiles which in turn can be used to construct brand new garments.

Teijin claims this procedure creates an energy and CO2 savings of between 70 and 80 percent when compared to using virgin fibers. Since launching the Common Threads Recycling program three years ago, Patagonia has expanded their collection efforts to include other materials like fleece and cotton as well as products from other manufacturers who don’t recycle at all. They claim that, including transportation of used garments from the U.S. to Japan, this process creates an energy and CO2 savings of 76 and 71 percent respectively, when compared to manufacturing from virgin fibers.

From these examples, it’s obvious that intelligent product design is more than mere styling. Good design also solves the problem of scarce and expensive raw materials by reclaiming products at the end of their lifecycle, rather than wasting materials in an incinerator or landfill.

methods for post-consumer plastics to create monomers for repolymerization. These polymers are of equal or higher quality than plastics from virgin materials. In fact, NatureWorks is developing an in-house recycling procedure for complete PLA regeneration with no loss of quality. This renders the original lactic acid monomer available for processing

Whether or not we have reached peak oil supplies continues to be a fiercely contested debate. Is the oil barrel half-full or half empty? The designer’s answer to this question is the barrel is twice as big as it needs to be: if we start to reutilize materials wisely, it does not matter how much oil is in the ground.

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Material ConneXion® Bangkok A division of Thailand Creative & Design Center A division of OKMD, Office of the Prime Minister 6th Floor, The Emporium Shopping Complex 622 Sukhumvit 24 Bangkok 10110 Thailand Tel +66 (0) 2 664 8448 FAX +66 (0) 2 664 8459 Email infothailand@materialconnexion.com web http://www.materialconnexion.com/th Apisit Laistrooglai Managing Director Chompoonuj Weerakitti Library Director Yada Mahamongkol Business Development Manager Dararat Mekkriengkrai Materials Researcher Sujiga Chuenjai Account Executive Jintana Choopromwong Client Service Officer

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Smart & Innovative Textiles (Temporary Exhibition) When 17 June - 20 July 2008 | 10:30-21:00 Where TCDC Lobby, TCDC

Smart & Innovative Textiles (Lecture) When 17 June 2008 | 13:30-16:00 Where Auditorium, TCDC

“Smart & Innovative Textiles” is an exhibition about textiles that go beyond beautiful outerwear, but have transformed the world with state-of-the-art innovations.

The core of the exhibition reflects the advance of innovative textile technology for various applications and designs. Also on view is the distinguished collection of new textiles for the global textile market available Material ConneXion Bangkok. Furthermore, the exhibition is a showcase for Thai textiles which are supported by Thailand Textile Institute to ensure Thailand’s competitiveness in the global textile market with local technology. Demonstrating an unlimited creativity of the human mind with features such as air filtration, self-cleaning, light-reflecting, anti-ballistic, and anti-bacterial properties, the exhibition will guides the visitor on a journey through the world of new textiles and the miracles of technology.

Meet Visan Vanasaksrikul, managing director of Covenant Co., Ltd. After graduating from the faculty of commerce and accountancy at Chulalongkorn University, he decided to step into the textile business by opening textile factory and research and development center for numerous brand name garments. However, after opening Free Trade Area, he adjusted his business strategy in order to contribute sustainable development. This prompted him to build his own brand ‘Hidro-Tech’ which used advanced technology in garments manufacturing process. The latest innovation of his brand is the ‘anti-mosquito t-shirt’ with efficiency in repelling and preventing mosquito bites for the wearers.

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The second part of the talk will be delivered by Dr. Chanchai Sirikasemlert, Director of Technology Department, Thailand Textile Institute and addresses anti-bacterial advancements in the research and development of the medical gown, developing processes for self-cleaning automotive upholstery fabric, and nanotechnology applications for Thai textile industry.

Photo Studio Meinschaefer, Arnsberg Germany

Material ConneXion® Cologne A division of SURVEY Marketing + Consulting GmbH & Co. KG Lichtstrasse 43 G 50825 Köln Germany Tel

+49 (0) 221 99 22 28 0 FAX +49 (0) 221 99 22 28 11 infogermany@materialconnexion.com http://www.materialconnexion.com/de

Email web

Peter H. Meyer President Martin Beeh General Manager Karsten Bleymehl Director of Library & Materials Research Anne Farken Senior Material Researcher Marc-Oliver Lieving Business Development Manager Margarete Meyer Account Executive Petra Wellin Office Manager Anke Wöhler Public Relations

Innovation Workshop at the Material Connexion Cologne location

Innovation Workshop – a successful format

Nutec

Innovation is a key theme for all Material ConneXion clients, so Material ConneXion Cologne has recently launched the Innovation Workshop format. So far, this program has been a huge success at MC Cologne and much in demand from our clients.

Material ConneXion Cologne takes an active role in the debut of “NUTEC," a new International Congress and Exhibition for “cradle to cradle” design. NUTEC, which stands for Nutrients, Upcycling, Triple-Bottom-Line, Eco-effectiveness and Community, will open its gates for the first time from November 12-14 at the Frankfurt Fair Grounds/Germany.

The Materials Library, a unique source of materials information and inspiration, is the perfect “tool” to find new materials ideas and to think about their transformations into products. An intense day of creativity-boosting techniques, incorporating exploratory presentations, trend analysis and mood-board presentations are followed by a lively discussion of the most daring and promising solutions. All this helps to foster innovation on both current and future projects. Clients leave Material ConneXion Cologne with a list of new materials they have discovered, new product ideas generated, and definitely a long list of work to be done! Based on its materials expertise, the Innovation Workshop is part of Material ConneXion Cologne’s growing focus on Innovation Management.

The brand-new cross-sectoral platform focuses on the production of eco-intelligent materials which not only combine the aspects of functionality, quality, aesthetics and cost-effectiveness but also allow nearly 100% re-use of all material contents.

Material ConneXion Cologne – the first and only Materials Library offering “cradle to cradle” certified materials in Germany – will be presenting itself at the NUTEC together with the EPEA Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (Hamburg) and MBDC McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (Charlottesville, USA). Visitors are most welcome to talk to the experts at site and to get a “hands on” experience of “cradle to cradle” products.

NUTEC is a perfect chance for decision makers from industry, research and politics, as well as designers, product developers, marketers or CSR representatives to learn more about the principles of “cradle to cradle” design, to swap information with the experts – and of course to be inspired by the new world of the “cradle to cradle” materials.

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Material ConneXionÂŽ Daegu 701-824 3F Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center 107-4 Schincheon3-dong Daegu, Korea Tel

+82 53 40 0032 FAX +82 53 740 0000 infokorea@materialconnexion.com http://www.materialconnexion.com

Email web

Jung Yong-bin President Kim Tae-ho Managing Director Lee Jae-wook Director of Library & Consulting Lee Kyung-nam Director of Education Huh Nae-kyung Director of PR & Communication Park Jun-soek Coordinator of Operation Kim Kang-min Client Access Coordinator

Materiaol ConneXion opens its doors in Daegu

Mr. Jung Yong-bin: President, Material ConneXion Daegu

Material ConneXion Daegu is pleased to present its first installment of MC News. For more information please see the article in page 28.

Born in 1951, the president of Material ConneXion Daegu, Mr. Jung Yong-bin, is a leading businessman in the electronics sector. After studying electrical engineering for four years, he devoted his life to developing industrial operations as president of the Sam-Sung electronic design center.

Building upon that success, in 2005 he founded the SR I-tech, an LCD manufacturing company. Two years later, he was promoted to president of Daegu Kyungbuk Design Center and has recently become the president of Material ConneXion Daegu as well.

In conjunction with the opening ceremony for the Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center (DGDC), Material ConneXion Daegu was pleased to open their doors on June 19. It is expected that Material ConneXion Daegu will become a materials market hub not only for Korea, but for East Asia as well. To celebrate its arrival in Korea, Material ConneXion's executives from the overseas offices in Milan, Cologne and Bangkok, as well as a chairmen's group from its head office in New York, participated in the dedication ceremony.

Several auxiliary events were also organized on the same day, including an 'International Color Exhibition,' a 'Color Marketing Fair' and a 'Color Experience Exhibition.' Many more interesting events and installations will follow in the weeks and months ahead.

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Material ConneXion® Milano, s.r.l. materials library

Via Davanzati, 33 20158, Milano Italy +39 02 39 32 55 85 FAX +39 02 39 32 12 39 infoitalia@materialconnexion.com Web http://www.materialconnexion.com/it Tel

Email

showroom: la triennale di milano

Viale Alemagna, 6 20121, Milano Italy Tel

+39 02 72 43 42 55 FAX +39 02 39 32 12 39 triennale@materialconnexion.com http://www.triennale.it

email web

Michele Perini President Emilio Genovesi CEO Manuela Cifarelli Managing Director Micol Costi Director of Library & Materials Research Claudia Reder Material Researcher Paolo Cancellato Account Executive Muriel Costi Events & Exhibitions Cristina Bacchi Accounting

Salone Internazionale del Mobile Can the word lightness be used to refer to marble?

Marmomacc – the International Exhibition of Stone and Technology organized yearly by Veronafiere- has based its project “Marmomacc meets design” on this challenging notion.

From June 5 to July 13 2008, the Material ConneXion showroom in Triennale Milano has hosted the prototypes of the project of Lightness of marble in an exhibition set up by Cibic Workshop. The event aims to show the development of customized transformations of natural stone for design projects, and to promote the 43rd edition of Marmomacc happening in Verona in October 2-5 2008.

Lightness of marble was the theme of the first edition of “Marmomacc meets design” in 2007. This project involved Riccardo Blumer with Cedal Graniti, Aldo Cibic with Grassi Pietre, Odile Decq with Rocamat, Michele De Lucchi with Pibamarmi, Kengo Kuma with Il Casone, Alberto Meda with Campolonghi, Simone Micheli with Pietra della Lessinia, Marco Piva with Santa Margherita, Denis Santachiara with Testi Fratelli and Tobia Scarpa with Agglonord.

“Marmomacc meets design” is supported by ten leading, pioneering and historic exhibiting companies and ten well-known and highly professional designers.

The objective is to bring together professionals, designers and companies in the natural stone sector through ideas, launching an important new approach to materials and exploiting new agility to ensure further improvements in many applications.

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Material ConneXion®, Inc. 127 West 25th Street, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10001U.S.A Tel

+1 212 842 2050 FAX +1 212 842 1090 info@materialconnexion.com http://www.materialconnexion.com

Email Web

George M. Beylerian Founder & CEO Michele Caniato President Andrew Dent, Ph.D. Vice President, Library and Materials Research Maider Irastorza Director of Sales, advanced material solutions teamsm Henry King Office Manager Michael LaGreca Director of Library Access Programs, Publications & Cultural Activities Richard Lombard Director of Public Programs Carmen Alfred Client Access Coordinator and Receptionist Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe Manager of Public Programs Joel Dodenhoff Service Coordinator Terence Harris Assistant Facilities Management Chris Isabella Account Executive Awa Kamara Account Executive for Library Access Programs Lauren Levinsohn Material Archivist Sarah Natkins Director of Communications and Marketing Beatrice Ramnarine Materials Specialist Jake Remington Library Assistant and Project Manager Hilda Thomas Accounting Cynthia Tyler, Ph.D. Senior Materials Specialist Anika Vorndamme Exec. Assistant to the President, Int’l Licensing Liason Adrienne Wheatley Exec. Assistant to Executive Vice President Alison Zingaro Marketing and Communications Coordinator

IIDEX/NeoCon When September 25-26, 2008 Where Toronto, Canada Material ConneXion will exhibit Tomorrow’s Products from Today’s Materials at this year’s IIDEX conference in Toronto.

The exhibition will showcase the latest new and sustainable materials and explore a wide variety of design themes: sustainability, integrated technology, nanotechnology, and more. The majority of the conceptual products will be drawn from the world of interiors and furniture, but will also include other design disciplines that will inspire cross-pollination and out-of–the-box thinking.

In a lecture entitled 2010 – The Future of Sustainable Materials, Richard J. Lombard, Director of Public Programs will discuss the sustainable materials and technologies that are transforming design today, and the future opportunities that will redefine our built environment. Knowledge of new materials, their comparison to existing solutions, and targeting game changing breakthroughs in the near future are all essential to being a part of this next industrial revolution.

IIDEX NeoCon Canada is the largest exposition and conference for the design, construction and management of the built environment, serving the interests of interior design, architectural, facility management, real estate development and business communities and takes place at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto.

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New inspirations.

Fresh ideas.

Creative environments, panel discussions, gala events, and the magic of New York in December.

Participating Showrooms (as of July 24) Rootstein Mannequins GOLD Sponsors: coloredge DK Display Lifestyle Adel Rootstein Mannequins Alpha Display Alu Architectural Systems B&N Industries Bernstein Display DK Display Elevations Inc. Goldsmith HolidayFoliage JP Metal America Leo Prager, Inc. Lifestyle Look Material ConneXion Mondo Mannequins Patina-V Ralph Pucci International Siegel & Stockman Trimco Universal Display

www.theNADIshow.com

NADI • 4651 Sheridan St., Suite 470 • Hollywood, FL 33021 • 954-893-7300 • Fax 954-893-7500 nadi@nadi-global.com • www.nadi-global.com

For further information, membership or a presentation customized to meet your needs please call 212.842.2050 or email info@materialconnexion.com

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