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.

Art
We Have Your Back

The Palais Galliera, offsite at The Musée Bourdelle, presents a fascinating look at the back of clothing and our complicated relationship to the side of ourselves we see least in their current show Back side – Fashion from Behind. Where our primary interactions with others relate to the face, it often takes a more intimate relationship to reveal someone’s back. Our backs are strong, holding our entire body up straight, but ultimately vulnerable as we cannot see people coming who approach us from behind. In English we say that a friend ‘has our back’ meaning they will be there for us if we need them, though, if they let us down and cross us we say they ‘stab us in the back’.

Fashion has a long fascination with the back of clothing, leaning towards womenswear in it’s obsession with untapped sensuality and turning to menswear when sending out a message, such as the classic Hells Angels leather jackets, and in terms of pure craftsmanship: for both sexes when tailoring a garment for an impeccable frontal silhouette.

The exhibition is sensitive in its exploration of the theme, featuring standout garments from Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander Mcqueen, Yves Saint Laurent, Schiaparelli and Martine Sitbon to name a few, whilst the Musée Bourdelle setting elevates it to another level, punctuating the sartorial moments with the magnificent sculptures of Antoine Bourdelle.

Fashion
Think Pink!

“Think pink! think pink! when you shop for summer clothes.
Think pink! think pink! if you want that quel-que chose.”

Funny Face soundtrack, 1957

For menswear this season, the fashion houses showed us life through rose-tinted spectacles as the boys blushed their way down the runway, making pink officially punk again. In this gender aware day and age, yellow is the conscious color of choice for a child’s bedroom so as not to lead them towards the more commonly gender associative blue or pink. For women, pink is so perfunctory that it has little impact unless it is – Schiaparelli style – Shocking Pink! Though, for men, it still keeps its deliciously bad boy spirit, which was in high demand for Summer 2020 – expect to see men in rosy tones, from dusky to shocking next season – bring on La Vie En Rose!

Story of the Month
Sustainable Beauty

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Anton Chekhov

Terrazzo was the world’s first example of sustainable flooring, commonly attributed to Venetian workers, who salvaged marble fragments from their construction jobs and mixed them with clay to create the flooring in their private homes. Though, historically, we can see evidence of types of terrazzo as flooring in Turkey that dates back almost 10,000 years! It has been a staple of the coolest interior designers in recent years, after the resurgence of appreciation for the work of the Memphis Group founded by Ettore Sottsass in the 80s.

Our Terr-Glazzo is a contemporary agglomerate interpretation, using modern waste including recycled glass and porcelain, quartz, granite dust, and unusable broken glass mosaic tiles to create a new iteration of this classic material. Much like it’s iconic sustainable ancestor, Terr-Glazzo is 60 – 70% recycled, using a minimum of PE Resin and pigments to bind and color it.

It is available in polished or matt surface finishes that are suitable for both commercial and domestic use and certified food-grade so that it can be used for the preparation of wet foods. The sheets come in various dimensions and can be cut and machined like any other ceramic tile.

Fashion
It’s All in the Details

Couture is defined by the hand-work that it takes to produce it, and each garment has an obligation to be constructed by hand from start to finish. Couture houses have to abide by the following strict rules to qualify as couture: design made-to-order garments for private clients with fittings, maintain a workshop in Paris that employs at least 15 full-time staff members, employ 20 full-time technical people in at least one atelier every season and, finally, present a collection of at least 50 original designs to the public, both day and evening garments, in January and July of each year. At American Supply we celebrate the artisanal act of handicraft, working in-house by hand and with expert artisans on many creative projects, so we always look to the Haute Couture collections for artisanal inspiration at this time of year! Here are some of our favorites from the recent Autumn/Winter 2019 Haute Couture shows.