Nothing beats the look woods bring to an interior, but there whether using wood or alternative products to build most sustainably is still up for debate. The designers at 3form have one environmentally-conscious solution that gives the classic aesthetic from wood interiors modern edge.
The Woods line, launching at NeoCon in Chicago next week, uses 3form’s patented material as a base for printing HighRes patterns that capture light and add optical effect to imagery that mimic classic wood panels and design. The products are designed specifically with clients in mind that range from healthcare to hospitality. Creative director Jill Canales explains “the inspiration behind the collective as a whole was to have optical movement. We know that our clients want a kind of material effect, they want it to do something visually and so these patterns are two-layered wood with an open and a translucent layer so that they interact as you walk by.”
The HighRes patterns are printed on 3form’s Varia Ecoresin, the brand’s flagship material that is ushering them toward carbon neutrality and zero waste with their products. Varia Ecoresin is a resin panel product line with any number of customization options that comes from 40% recycled content. The product is non-toxic and is both GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified as well as LEED V4 certified. With some patterns and colors applied, Varia Ecoresin’s form seems to mimic the foggy feel of sea glass with a precision texture, but with about 40 times the strength of standard glass.
The new line has four different designs: Stroll, Sift, Barque, and Portal and can be ordered in White Oak, Grey Oak, Walnut, and Wenge. “Because they’re woods, they have a natural form which makes them very usable in a lot of interior spaces, but at the same time modern because of the optical quality,” says Canales. The ability for the Varia Ecoresin base building material to be cut, curved, and displayed in a limitless number of ways give 3form’s clients opportunity to give the Woods designs as much modern appeal as they’d like. Canales says the line has been a year in the making, and that in initial design phases most ideas are met by the challenge of designing for healthcare. “It’s our most specific market, so if it works in healthcare it works in most places.”
The brand is also focused on zero-waste production, extending the life of their products to keep them from ever entering a landfill, meeting the standard of several green certifications for their products, and uses sustainably-sourced artisan materials from around the world. Every one of 3form’s base materials has at least 25% recycled content ranging up to 100%.
Pricing for a full 4’x10’ panel of Wood + Double-sided pattern is based on gauge with products starting at $954.80 for 1/16” gauge and go up to $4088.80 for 1” gauge.
Of these designs, Canales postulates that the Stroll is the most applicable to a diverse number of spaces. “Clients love linear looks, it has linearity and so an organic feeling to it, it kind of mimics weaving grasses in an abstract way,” explains Canales. For the whole line Canales notes, “among the collection there are different modern styles and I think there’s a range there from the most usable, wide-range one to the most niche kind of look.”
The Woods designs are already available on the 3form site and can be seen at NeoCon from June 15th through 17th.