Colour, Materials, Trends
EMBRACING FEELING
February 2017
Material libraries in London like the SCIN Gallery and Material Lab understand the need to touch and feel, particularly for clients to find the right substance for a project. We shouldn’t consider it enough to always experience things behind glass, whether it be in digital form or behind a physical casing.
BREAD 'Macrokinetic Plastic' at SCIN & exploring materials at Material Lab
The SCIN Gallery houses boxes of materials labelled by composition. Plastics, textiles, foams, metals, organics. Staff there keep a record of datasheets for each material in order to select the best for clients’ needs based on form and function. Visitors by appointment can pull out boxes and delve inside to find whatever architectural or interior products they desire.
Material Lab is laid out like a store, with surface design samples displayed on counters and walls, available to pick up and examine. It’s open to the public to discover new and innovative materials and explore design inspiration. The design resource studio showcases work from established companies as well as recent graduate projects and offers free samples to take away.
In learning about materials, the Science Museum holds a permanent exhibition ‘Challenge of Materials’ on the first floor. It showcases many uses for many different materials and allows visitors to feel materials and notice properties. Hand-shaped cut outs different fabrics, metals and plastics encourage interaction and exploration.
Features:
scin.co.uk
material-lab.co.uk
sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/challenge-materials