Story Of The Month
An Insider’s Guide To Christmas

Luxury stores make grand gestures when they unveil their Christmas windows, taking us on fairytale-like fantastic journeys, but something we may take for granted is the wondrous interior touches they apply that fill us full of Christmas spirit once we are inside their stores. We took a trip around the department stores in Paris, to check out this years holiday interiors.

Credit Photo: All photos courtesy the stores cited

Materials
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it snow

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful But the fire is so delightful And since we've no place to go Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”   Dean Martin   We’re always dreaming of a snow-filled white christmas, longing to be wrapped up in scarves and hats and bundled into layers of sweaters and coats. Real snow is never a guarantee during the holiday season, as the warming climate continues to extend and push deepest winter further into January, but our hopes remain high, and snowy textures always evoke warm festive feelings! Here at American Supply we are renowned for our high quality luxury glitter materials, and their ability to conjure up the crystalline reflections of the sun on a wintry snow-filled plane - after all, what could be more reminiscent of the perfect winters day?    Below, a curated selection of some of our favourites that we have here to get your festive creative juices flowing!    If you have any urgent holiday enquiries, don’t hesitate to contact us as we hold stock in all of these materials.

GLITTER SKI

 

Glitter Ski is composed of various sized hexagonal glitter in glossy opaque PVC. The glitter is projected onto a 100% cotton toile base and fixed with a water solvent adhesive. The quality of the adhesive process allows the various glitter to adhere at multiple angles, making it multi-faceted, with a superior sparkle and shine.

 

SKI-LUMINIUM

 

Ski-Luminium comprises our Glitter Ski fused onto lightweight aluminium rolls. It retains all of its profound reflective qualities, with the added advantage of sculptural malleability. It is easily manipulated by hand into any form and stabilises, making it perfect for lifelike mountains, or variegated landscapes.

 

GLITTER SNOW

 

Glitter Snow is composed of various sized hexagonal glitter in transparent PVC. The glitter is projected onto a white 100% cotton toile base and fixed with a water solvent adhesive. The quality of the adhesive process allows the various glitter to adhere at multiple angles, making it multi-faceted, with exceptional brilliance.

 

WHITE IRIS

 

White Iris is composed of various sized hexagonal glitter in pink dichroic transparent PVC. The glitter is projected onto a white 100% cotton toile base and fixed with a water solvent adhesive. The quality of the adhesive allows the glitter to adhere at multiple angles, making it multi-faceted, with a superior iridescent shine.

 

GLITTER COCO WHITE

 

Glitter Coco White is composed of finely cut needle-glitter in transparent PVC. The glitter is projected onto a white 100% cotton toile base and fixed with a water solvent adhesive. The quality of the adhesive process allows the needles to adhere at multiple angles, making them multi-layered, giving it a frosted sparkle.

 

GLITTER REGULAR

 

Glitter Regular is composed of a uniformly fine glitter in transparent PVC. The glitter is projected onto a white 100% cotton toile base and fixed with a water solvent adhesive. The quality of the adhesive process allows the glitter to be multi-layered, giving it a superior depth, shine and sparkle.

 

SPARKLE PVC

 

Sparkle PVC is a glitter-effect embossed PVC material, one side is embossed and textured and the other smooth. Semi-transparent, with a low visibility, it can be layered easily. Individual sheets are 45cm x 45cm, with a hot weld to make it into rolls, so it is perfect for small scale intricate jobs, like packaging.

 

Windows
Fall Window Shopping

“Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron, and russet, and the days were clear and crisp under the harvest skies.” Sharon Kay Penman

A time of transformation, when the streets are lined with fallen sodden leaves and our thoughts turn to the warm embrace of indoor life, cozying up to loved ones on the sofa, or dreaming of holidays in warmer climes. One thing is certain, it’s time to switch over to our fall/winter wardrobe at home, and buy some new pieces to brighten up the increasingly darker days… A walk in Paris’ famous luxury shopping streets is enough to lift anyone’s spirits, and what better way to experience shopping than window shopping!

Story Of The Month
All The Fun Of The Fairs

The art world descended on Paris once again for a week long focus on contemporary art, with the fair season driven by the 46th edition of the prestigious FIAC (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain) and the 5th anniversary of the younger, more edgy, Paris Internationale. 

The FIAC took up residence once more in the Grand Palais for their main fair showing works from over 200 international galleries alongside their Hors Les Murs program situated in the Tuileries Gardens, on the Place Vendôme, on the Place de la Concorde, and in the Musée national Eugène Delacroix. 

Paris Internationale, established in 2015 as an innovative alternative to traditional art fairs to support a young generation of galleries, installed for the second year running in an Hôtel Particulier near to Parc Monceau, with a curated selection of international galleries and non-profit spaces. 

Art is an endless source of inspiration to us, with refreshing unexpected takes on materials and their applications, guaranteed to open our minds to new possibilities…

Credit Photo: All photos courtesy the artists and galleries cited

Event
Conference : The Retail Lab at Maison & Objet

“A brand is established on a territory, with its history, its logo & a well-defined color… but what is its material? In the age of digitalization, the allure of the point of sale & the creation of an experience are new challenges for brands.”

Our founder and president Albert Benguigui presented a conference at the beginning of September on “Materials and Brand Identity in Luxury Merchandising” at Maison & Objet in their dedicated Retail Lab conference program. With the dematerialisation of brand identities, due to a rise in online retail, he addressed the issues of materiality in-store and at the point-of-sale. Tracing the history of brand identities through colour, merchandising forms, shop windows, and the new possibilities of Material Identity, he highlighted several projects we have worked on and presented some key materials in our Material Library.

Maison & Objet’s Retail Lab conference program was set up to “explore best practices, studying emerging trends and sharing experiences and cutting-edge debates / workshops conducted by retail specialists.”

Enjoy the conference above, and check out the program's full archives, documented online at Maison & Objet HERE

Design
All Work and No Play?

Maison & Objet took up residence once again in Paris’ Parc Des Expositions for their September edition, with an interior focus on natural feels, replete with wildlife and animals and a new dedicated section investigating the ever blurring limitations between work and home with WORK! by MAISON et OBJET. As our offices imitate our living spaces, and our living spaces become infiltrated by work, new challenges arise for product designers and interior experts to ensure both job and home satisfaction. To compliment this they conducted a survey and produced a paper with Les Echos & Le Parisien, which is downloadable here, entitled: Designing The Future Of Work. 

The Parisian architect Laura Gonzalez was chosen as Designer of the Year, after a prolific few years which has seen her stamping her signature style all over the French capital and beyond, working notably across the network of Cartier retail stores, and recently renovating the iconic 18th century Laperouse restaurant on Paris’ left bank to great acclaim. With a focus on noble materials, artisanal production and a love of decorative arts, her own furniture line can be ordered in bespoke colourways to suit your interior.

The Rising Talent Awards this time focussed on upcoming designers from the US featuring Bailey Fontaine, Alex Brokamp, Green River Project, Harold, Kin & Company, and Rosie Li. 

We took a tour of the salon, selecting some of our favourite stands above and alongside this, our founder and president, Albert Benguigui, gave a conference in M&O’s dedicated Retail Lab, which you can see in its entirety here. 

Story of the Month
The Retail Lab at Maison & Objet Paris

American Supply is pleased to announce that our Founder and CEO Albert Benguigui will conduct a conference: “Materials and Brand Identity in Luxury Merchandising”, at the upcoming September 2019 edition of Maison & Objet – the self-confessed international authority for home decor, interior design, architecture, and lifestyle culture – in their dedicated Retail Lab. The aim of their Retail Lab conference program is to “explore best practices, studying emerging trends and sharing experiences and cutting-edge debates / workshops conducted by retail specialists.”

A brand is established on a territory, with its history, its logo, well-defined color… but what is its material? In the age of digitalization, the allure of the point of sale & the creation of an experience are new challenges for brands.

Please mark 14h00 on Sunday September the 8th in your diary, to ensure that you don’t miss out! For more information, and to take a look at the full conference schedule, visit the Maison & Objet website here.

Materials
Alucore

Alucore is an aluminium composite panel consisting of two cover sheets and a honeycomb core used primarily in the aeronautic, architectural and construction industries as a structural material, it is renowned for being both lightweight and extremely strong. Made from 100% aluminium, making it 100% recyclable, Alucore is durable and ecologic. We have been re-imagining the potential of this versatile material, manufactured by our industrial partner 3A Composites, leaders in the composite material industry, in innovative ways and out of its usual context.

Firstly, we experimented with it as a print support, digitally printing on the face in matt black ink, allowing the unprinted metallic surfaces to shine, and giving a new depth to our graduated halftone print. The application softened the surface, emphasising the raw industrial edges.

Our second application involved cutting it into slices and piling it sculpturally to expose it’s lesser-known honeycomb core, celebrating this new dimension to the material. The light has a complex refraction in this manner, as the raw, dull and polished surfaces collide in the process of slicing, giving us a unique new surface material. The sculptural possibilities in this application are limited only by our imaginations!

To enquire about Alucore, click here.