FiberMark Opens Manhattan Design Center

In July of 2008, FiberMark announced the opening of its new Manhattan Design Center.  The Center showcases a library of FiberMark’s richly textured and colored cover materials and the applications they have inspired, and will serve as a collaborative location for designers to sample FiberMark materials and share ideas for integration into their projects.

Situated in New York City’s desirable Flatiron District, the Design Center is located at 20 West 22nd Street, Suite 703.  To celebrate the new venue, FiberMark held opening receptions at the Center in early June that drew 70 guests from the design, packaging and publishing industries.

“We invite designers to the FiberMark Design Center to experience our wide range of inspirational covering materials firsthand and to experiment with them in a relaxed and creative environment,” said Mig Perkins, FiberMark’s U.S. designer in residence. “People are always discovering new uses for our papers, sometimes combining them in wonderful and unexpected ways. Seeing a box wrapped in lacquered crocodile might just trigger an idea for a book cover, or the suede-like red liner of a bag might suggest use of the same suede-like paper as an envelope in yellow.  FiberMark can respond to design direction, and we hope that the inventory of large loose sheets and the changing of a collection of innovative finished products from many markets will excite the imaginations of our creative visitors for their own projects.”

Designed by architect and furniture designer Roger Crowley, the Center embodies the luxury and elegance of FiberMark products and formally riffs off the inherent properties of paper. Simple planar surfaces evoke the aesthetics of large sheets of paper – curved, folded and flat – and create a changeable gallery for the innovative designs set against them, while the materials of the wood cabinetry and cork floor allude to pulp’s forest origin.  Overhead, a spiral of tiny, jewel-like lamps gives sparkle to the graceful curves of the shiny project mounts, and highlights an array of stepped wall shelves that serves as the primary display area for showcase pieces.  The centerpiece of the space is a 12–foot sculptural conference table designed by Crowley and fashioned from scrolling stainless steel and ivory white Corian carved in the evocative shape of a traditional binder’s bone.

“The Design Center is a physical imagination of the FiberMark creative spirit,” said architect Roger Crowley.  “The entire design and décor of the room delivers a still reflection on the qualities of paper and its elegant application in FiberMark’s products.  The company draws on the understated luxury of beautiful materials to inspire its customers, and the Center personifies this creative stimulus.”

Interested designers in the Manhattan area are invited to visit and share their projects with FiberMark representatives when looking to integrate new materials into their work.

For more information about the Design Center, or to schedule an appointment, call (413) 539-5229.

COMING SOON…

FiberMark will soon be opening a second Design Center in its West Springfield Massachusetts location.  Why Massachusetts?  It will be considered an extension to the state-of-the-art ProtoLab – a creative resource for designers and brand owners seeking unique materials that will add a level of differentiation and distinction to their projects.

The premise is fairly simple.  If a designer is looking for a color, finish, texture, or weight that we don’t have, we’ll craft it from scratch, same day, giving designers time to explore everything the Center has to offer.

New materials originating from FiberMark’s ProtoLab are compatible with a wide variety of manufacturing and secondary decorating processes, including die-cutting, post-embossing, silk screening and foil stamping with superior results.

This extension of the ProtoLab, like the Manhattan Design Center, will be a space for designers to create prototypes, experiment with tactile finishes, and will be a great place to unleash the innovation that ultimately leads to better, more inventive covering materials.