October Partnership - From Fashion to Interior Design, Color Gradation Influences All Design Disciplines

submitted by:  Elizabeth Chambley, Mohawk Group

From Fashion to Interior Design, Color Gradation Influences All Design DisciplinesBy-line: Susan Curtis, Senior Director of Color and Design, Mohawk Group

Mohawk's 2012 CZAR Collection by Cesar Galindo

As a commercial textile designer, I am often inspired by the motifs, colors and forms presented in fashion. So, you can imagine how excited I was to see the Mohawk Group’s State of Mind collection of carpet make its runway debut during Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week in NYC in September. While we as textile designers are often moved by the fashion world, I would venture to say that it is a rare event that a fashion designer is moved by a piece of carpet!

The overlapping of the fashion and contract design industries began earlier this year when fashion designer Cesar Galindo designed a series of dip-dyed dresses, ties and scarves that were inspired by Amused and Enthralled, two State of Mind styles that launched at NeoCon 2012 in Chicago. The exciting aspect is how contemporary both the fashion and contract industries are working, drawing on the richness of each other.

State of Mind provided the perfect backdrop for the Spring 2013 CZAR by Cesar Galindo fashion show. The carpet spanned the length of the runway and continued up the back wall in full, undulating effect. It was very rewarding to see our design featured in such fabulous company!

Design-driven industries respond to social trends and often use these as inspiration. We at Mohawk developed State of Mind in response to the DIY trend we see everywhere. This collection, perhaps more than any other on the market today, allows the customer to design their ultimate floor. We think of State of Mind as a personal journey: it is a fun exploration of shifting color and ómbre effect that can be manipulated and managed to meet individual preferences. By creating a collection of textures that allows for myriad opportunities for aesthetic variation, we are opening up the design box, inviting in many more voices.  I believe that by continuing this design dialog we will be able to deliver additional exciting, dramatic and relevant products.

 

October Partnership - J&J Invision Urban Canopy

Submitted By: J+J/Invision (IIDA, AIA, IFMA, EDAC)

Written By: Denise Bennett, J+J/Invision Product Designer

Bring the Calm of Nature Indoors

          

 “There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm.”   Theodore Roosevelt

Now, more than ever, people are recognizing the importance of nature. Today’s urban dweller is no exception. Community gardens and green landscapes are sprouting up in almost every urban city where urbanites are fully embracing the call for green lush spaces to help soothe and calm them from the hustle and bustle of city life.

J+J/Invision’s newest carpet collection, Urban Canopy is a reflection of the need to have a little bit of Mother Nature’s serene atmosphere around us, even in the urban jungle.

This modular only collection is built upon three products – Up A Tree, Branch Out and Barking Mad.  Each is created using 100% J&J Industries Encore® solution dyed nylon and is backed using eKo® PVC-free modular backing.

Up A Tree is an organic but sophisticated pattern derived from a photograph taken of foliage found in Portland Oregon’s own urban landscape.

Branch Out is a slightly less active pattern, reminiscent of a tree’s deciduous nature. When autumn arrives, the leaves begin to fall but the serenity still remains.

Barking Mad, an allover texture, features a subtle grid design that is incorporated as a background in the other two coordinating products.  The result is a classic and timeless product that beautifully compliments the other two organic patterns in the collection but also can be used as a stand-alone product for a more subtle design statement.

Color Palette

The color palette for this new collection is a refined range of earth tones including grays, beiges, greens and blue. Its monochromatic coloring is reminiscent of the peacefulness that you would find in a calm forest.  The predominantly neutral color palette will also compliment a multitude of textiles and finishes.

The patterns can be intermingled and still maintain a calm yet intriguing backdrop for a variety of settings.



Urban Canopy, Branch Out pattern



Urban Canopy, Barking Mad pattern



Urban Canopy, Up a Tree pattern



To learn more about the Urban Canopy collection visit www.jj-invision.com.

October Partnership - Tandus Flooring introduce Needle Tech & DV8 Collections

The NeedleTech Collection responds to our nostalgia for handmade craftsmanship with its textural, hand-stitched look of familiar, comfortable crochet and needlepoint. High and low luster DynexTM nylons create color definition, giving the appearance of a cut/uncut surface.
Four patterns in 12 colors provide a luxurious cut pile look and silky luster that will perform even in high-traffic environments.

NeedleTech delivers a truly innovative broadloom surface texture by borrowing a precise, pin-point yarn processing technique directly from our weaving mill,? said Terry Mowers, Chief Creative Officer, Tandus Flooring.
The interaction of both matte and bright lusters counterbalances the craft-like construction, projecting a contemporary visual.

Moving to the modular category, DV8 is a unique style that accentuates and exposes the needle shifting of tufting machines rather than seeking to hide it. Linear striations are punctuated with flame-stitch and argyle zig-zags that celebrate Tandus Floorings state-of-the-art tufting technology while adding a graphic element of surprise.  Created using Tandus Floorings revolutionary Sero design technology, DV8 produces free-flowing imagery with fluid transition of pattern and color, allowing colors to shift, flow and pool across the entire floor plane.
Utilizing the non-repeating, full six-foot width of our hybrid resilient sheet flooring platform as a design medium, results in a one-of-a-kind
modular install on every project,? added Mowers. ?Available in 24? squares
and 18?x36? rectangles, DV8 gives designers a tech-y brashness that?s
grounded in fashion-forward elegance.?

About Tandus Flooring
Dalton, Ga.-based Tandus Flooring (www.tandus.com) creates innovative
floorcovering solutions through our unique product line of hybrid
resilient, modular, broadloom and woven products that work in tandem to
enhance spaces for learning, working, healing and living. Through inspired
design and leading-edge technology, Tandus Flooring offers its customers a
single-source for innovative product design and technology, comprehensive
services, and environmental leadership. For more than 40 years, Tandus
Flooring has been examining all the ways to be a better corporate citizen
and environmental steward ? and then taking actions that lead to
demonstrable, meaningful, quantifiable results.

UPDATE: Coastal Empire DRESSED in Savannah

UPDATE



submitted by:  Christina Gonano, SCAD Professor, IIDA

Members from the Coastal Empire City Center and the local designed community gathered at Brockington Hall Thursday night for Dressed in Savannah. The historic Italianate-style house, built in 1882, served as the perfect backdrop to showcase garments that were created for the Dressed runway show in Atlanta. Georgia Chapter President Cynthia Hovorka was on hand to welcome guests and announce upcoming IIDA Georgia events.

The reception was just the beginning of the garments being showcased in Savannah. The garments are currently displayed in the storefront of Mason, Inc. on Savannah’s Broughton Street.

About Dressed: The IIDA Dressed Fashion Runway event was established to promote the creativity of the Architectural and Design community by creating wearable fashion by using building materials and to raise funds for the IIDA Georgia Chapter along with one of our local Atlanta Charities. The intent of this event is to showcase the manufacturer’s products by creating fashion in a unique and creative way.

  

 
 

For tickets:  http://dressedinsavannah.eventbrite.com/

Forum Focus: Corporate "Office on the Move"

Office on the Move
submitted written by:   Janet Simpson, Senior Designer @ tvs design, IIDA

Technology has brought a welcome fluidity to our lives.  Increasingly, we have the ability to access the information we need from wherever we are.  Technology has set us free to be on the move and where we choose to go is influenced by what we need to do when we get there.  This mobility creates both opportunity and necessity for work to be accomplished as we move from place to place resulting in new realities for workforce needs. So the question we should be asking is what does the workforce need to do when they go to the office?  The answer to this question provokes an opportunity to embrace progressive workplace design approaches as eagerly as we embrace technology innovations.  Design that fits the function – it’s not a new idea of how to approach the design of the workplace  but the results should be new as changes occur in how we function.

The familiar formula of offices + workstations + conference rooms + ancillary areas  = adequate workplace is being challenged by organizations experiencing the changes brought about by technology, the needs of a multi-generational workforce and economic pressures to decrease operating cost.  These dynamics, combined with the reality that 30% - 50% of employees are not at their assigned workspace at any given time during work hours, are cause to reconsider if supporting the work of an organization requires an assigned workspace for every employee and what types of settings are attune to the way work is accomplished.  After all, the ability to work anywhere anytime doesn’t mean that employees never need to “go to the office”.  Connection and participation are essential to the culture and productivity of an organization and the workplace should be compatible with what employees need to stay engaged as their work process becomes more mobile.  It has become increasingly common for the workplace to have environments that are named and configured to reflect a home environment such as Living Room, Kitchen or Den.  This concept is a response to the need to foster community and dynamic workflow by suggesting that similar to your home, you have the flexibility to move about from “room to room” as you transition activities throughout the day. 

If you think about the changes we have experienced in the workforce in the past five years and try to imagine what changes the next 5 years will bring, it becomes clear that it has never been more critical for organizations to develop a workplace strategy to optimize the use of their real estate and position the wokplace to support the mobile and distributed nature of work.   Recognizing the need for a new approach is a vital step but defining what the new approach is defines the future.  Design professionals have a pivotal role in shaping the workplace to be relevant by supporting the ways that people work while capitalizing on the dynamics of change and the new possibilities it brings.

More thought provoking articles on this topic:

The Big Bold Shift  by Christopher T. Hood   (http://www.scribd.com/doc/105388744)

What Every Senior Executive Needs to Know About Distributed Work, New Ways of Working www.newwow.net  and TelCoa (The Telework Coalition) www.TelCoa.org    (http://www.scribd.com/doc/105388787

)

Reported Jail Break & Board Retreat a Success



Chapter Happenings:  IIDA GA Summer Retreat

August 17-18, 2012 - The IIDA Georgia Board retreat has proven that we are poised for success!  Thank you to our Retreat sponosor, Cooper Lighting, for providing CEUs, Meeting space, and Hospitality support to our Board.  The hospitality provided was high level and professional. 

We were extremely productive. 

• Finances
• Signature events
• GRA
• NCIDQ
• Scholarships
• Member benefits/rewards
• Partnership benefits

Here area a few images to show our intensive meetings to plan the coming year: 



Communications committee presenting their purpose and services to the Board
pictured left to right:  Jarrett Muncy, Phillip Myer, Ashley Weatherstone, Heather Thagaard



Ashley Weatherstone demonstrates our new IIDA GA App for FB and Twitter



Cynthia Hovorka(current President) and Ronnie Belezaire (Pres-elect 2013-2014)




Cooper Lighting, out Retreat host, demonstrates Outdoor Lighting technologies and lighting control to Ronnie Belizaire

 


President jailed on accusations of misbehavior - Cooper Lighting's vingnette
showing solutions for "confinement"

  


Michele Lyden, Past-President, shows her stripes at Cooper Lighting
Great smirk, Michele!!!